I normally don't "talk politics" online. Our system allows us to vote anonymously. This presidential election I will write in John Kasich for president. I have no trust for the two offerings that the two main parties will list on the ballot.
Now that my personal plan is explained, I would like to explore the issues facing our government and offer my opinion on how they might be addressed. I am not a professional policy developer. The last office I ran for was editor of the student newspaper in seminary. I’m hoping to turn the discussion among my friends and family off the tawdriness of the candidates and onto the issues.
Education is the key to so many parts of our republic. Jobs, tech, immigration and more are aided by a thoroughly educated population. Churches need members who can read and think well. Local, state and federal politicians have to be forced to face big ideas by a thinking electorate.
Our schools in the United States are operating from a model that worked well 40 years ago.The school year runs from late summer to late spring. The school day runs from early morning to mid afternoon. Sports and specials run throughout the evening. However, we need to update our educational model to match 21st-century realities. We no longer have 30 to 40% of our families producing our food. That number is now less than 1%. Thank you 1%.
Since this is the case, we no longer need three months in the summer for harvesting. In fact, knowledge has been doubling at a rapid pace over the last 4 decades. Even the brightest of our kids need more time to learn more information and skills. The public school year should be lengthened to 10 months. The Feds should set that expectation and release money to those schools who get there. Here in the north it would make sense to take a month off for Christmas/New Year to save heating cost and the other month in the middle of summer to save heating.
The school day also needs work. Too many studies show that early morning is not a conducive time for learning. Schools need to be encouraged to shift the start and finish later, at least 9-4 and perhaps 10-5. Those who play sports and pursue academics will thank you. Funding can be used to leverage these changes.
Finally, families need the freedom to choose the best school for their kids. Public schools have grown into a monopoly in the worst way. Computers have sat in schools since the mid 80s, yet too few programming or robotics courses exist. Tech class in many schools uses the cutting edge gear from the early 20th century. Computers in classrooms wait in the corner as a reward for the smart, instead of as a tool for the struggling. In many counties and cities a wide range of experience is found between sister schools. Parents need to be free to evaluate their schools and chose the best education experience for their child without economic penalty. A child's funding should follow that child from one public school district to another, so that those schools willing to teach in the 21st century are rewarded, and those who can't change pay the price.
In Canada, doctors who practiced their first few years in under served areas were helped to pay off their medical bills entirely. We could offer that same sort of incentive to education students to bolster the options in underperforming districts. Just being able to slice the education offerings more finely to the kids being taught would make a great difference for kids outside the norm on either end.
Please respond, comment and share to get us all thinking deep about the important issue of childhood education.
Thanks.
