What I would change about the education system.

I’m not sure that I have any more answers than I did in my last post, but if I could change anything about the education system in America, it would be that our citizens would truly care about education and make it a priority. We give a lot of lip service to how we care about education, but then we always want someone else to solve the problem. “Oh me, donate some of my time, you don’t understand how busy I am.” or “It is the schools responsibility to educate my child.” We don’t truly care unless we are willing to give of our self for the cause.

The truth of the matter is that here in America; our number one priority is entertainment. It’s were we spend our time and money. Professional Athletes and Movie Starts are our highest paying jobs. The government can do anything they want with education as long as it doesn't cost us any money. We will pay thousands of dollars for Super Bowl tickets, but won’t donate a dollar to an educational program. I would have to say that a teacher is one of the most important jobs that exist, yet the salary they receive would reflect that the American people don’t see it that way. It’s time for us to start putting our time and money where our mouth is.

My mind goes back to when my children were pre-schooled aged and those of us who could not afford to pay for pre-school got together and formed what was called “Joy School.” Each mother took a turn teaching for a week. Our kids still got the benefit of learning all the things they would have in pre-school, but it did not cost us anything. Our kids also benefited from varied teaching styles and ideas of each mother. There is great power in diversity.

Imagine if every parent or grand-parent volunteered time at the school each month.  Every classroom could be armed with education cheerleaders, like the granny’s in the clip we watched. If we ever want to see change in our educational system we are going to have to be willing to participate and make it a priority.