Why We Need Education Reform in America

Here's what we know now, which is much different than what we knew when public schooling began in this country:

 

• people can learn the same material using different methods, there is no one "right" way
• the traditional way of teaching in schools may seem easy to some but it is causes problems or hassles or struggles for some learners
• if the traditional way of teaching was so great "as is" we'd not have so many struggling learners
• people have different brains which impact the way they learn new information and recall information already exposed to
• our world needs all different kinds of minds to do various types of work or to fulfill different roles in society, thus education should not be just "one size fits all" since what people need to know to live their life varies
• rates of certain conditions which impact children's abilities to learn with traditional methods in traditional settings and typical class sizes are rising (ADD, ADHD, Autism spectrum diagnoses)
• using brain scan technology, the root cause of certain behaviors and learning challenges can be diagnosed
• we have more free or inexpensive information at our fingertips today than any other point in our history
• we have more methods of instruction now, some are free or cheap or readily available, Internet, computers, TV, video, audio, so forth and so on; to teach no longer requires a live teacher lecturing in front of a classroom of students using a teacher manual textbook as the information source; these learning instruments are available in the majority of American homes (even in homes of low literate or illiterate people)
• given the fact that lifelong institutionalization of impaired peoples is no longer done in America, kids who formerly would have been raised by the government in institutions (i.e. mental retardation, Autism, mentally ill), are now being raised by their (layperson) parents and educated in the public education system in inclusive classrooms
• given the government's policy of mainstreaming learning disabled or medically impaired kids in the inclusive classroom the challenge to teach and reach every child seems to be more challenging
• behavior issues in the classroom are not just a matter of manners and respect of authority; some challenges are caused by medical and neurological conditions (impulse control issues, OCD, Tourette's, ADD, ADHD)

If you ponder that list and look at schooling in America you may feel that it would be best for the student's ability to learn and to help prepare them for life as adults in our community if more changes in public schooling were to be made.

With that said, the challenges are so great that it seems even the idea generators are so scared they are having trouble coming up with possible solutions. Even small solutions tried on a small scale barely seem to be happening, which I find sad.

I wish there was more dialogue in our society about this issue of public schooling and the need for education reform. I wish that people would start coming up with ideas and trying them out. Changes are happening fast, such as technology advances that both diagnose brain-based conditions that affect learning and living, and technology changes that allow learning to happen in other ways. Yet changes to the traditional public education system are so slow.

As each day passes without much progress, our nation's children suffer. Those children will grow up to be adult members of our society, we will be living among them and relying on them to run our country. The fear or stubbornness or lack of creativity or whatever it is that impedes real change to reform education is causing a real problem. I say it is time to step up to the plate and really start discussing some changes that need to take place.

I have some ideas but I don't think anyone really wants to hear them. Perhaps that's the issue? The ones with ideas don't know who to share the ideas with or feel they can't really start the ball rolling so they just don't bother.

If you want more reasons to consider education reform, go watch Waiting for Superman and Race to Nowhere then come back and re-read this post.

Also consider reading the book From Crayons to Condoms for an insight as to what goes on in schools today.