Public education which offers instruction and, hopefully, enlightenment to all citizens, is a relatively new thing. In the past, only the wealthy could educate their children. Women were not educated because they only needed to learn how to be wives and mothers. The working class people were taught the family business, farmed the family land, or were apprenticed out to learn a trade. The poor just stayed poor. Public education changed all that although not as well nor as quickly as some of us would like. Still, it offers our best hope for a more equal society.
However, this column asks, as should we all, is public education doing the job? Apparently not. While different perspectives assign blame to different components, I can't recall seeing any group, or individual for that matter, who thinks public school education is just fine the way it is.
So how are we to change our educational system? I've discussed a lot of problems and possible solutions over the last months. There are many possibilities. However, the most important things we can do are identify the source or sources of the problems with education and identify a goal or set of goals that will address these issues. I don't believe we have ever done that. I don't see that the new federal initiatives for education ever asked teachers, local commmunity leaders, business leaders, parents, students, or anyone else actually involved with the system what is not working and what is needed. Until we do, we're not going to solve the problems.
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