Recently I read an article about President-Elect Obama's priorities, as he has stated them thus far. On his list, education and a reform of the system comes in at a heaping #5! (see article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/opinion/13kristof.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=obama+on+education&st=nyt&oref=slogin) This, at first, made me feel good. I mean, I am certainly aware of the number of challenges that will be awaiting this President as he enters office. Obviously he is, too. There are the obvious issues that were at the forefront of every voter's mind: the economy and the war. But then I thought, wait! Isn't education ALWAYS at the front of everyone's mind. Sure, right now, in this very minute, the two biggest issues facing our country (that our country isn't perennially facing) are a recessed economy and a blundered war. This is true. However, these are, hypothetically, temporary problems. I feel guilty just writing that. It's true that people have given their lives in the war and many have lost everything they've worked so hard for in the stock market and I don't mean to disrespect either of these facts. However, the truth is that they are short term problems. The war can be ended almost immediately if the President made that choice. The recession is a product of quantifiable and qualified elements and is a part of market volatility and historical trends. Right?
But EDUCATION! Education is something that we cannot ignore any longer. We have continued to show greater and greater lack of interest in our system. We still have no incentives for teachers. We regurgitate the same standards for students. We have no true recognition of the home life or the neighborhood and the impact that either has on the education and development of our youth. We are a country that belabors the idea of hard work paying off in the end, but parents still complain when their kids get homework or disciplined. I do not subscribe to the Rich Dad, Poor Dad hypothesis of potential, but I do agree that regardless of whether a young person chooses to work harder in the classroom or outside of it, there is reward for hard work. Sadly, it just seems like we continue to ask less of our students both in and out of the classroom and expect equal results while developing countries the world over are surpassing our classroom performance because they emphasize the fact that education, no matter where you come from or where you want to be, is the best mode of public transport. If we don't focus on fixing our education system in this country- from kindergarten through university- we will have greater problems than a recession. We will have a decline, across the board, in the quality of life of every single person in America which will see no end for lifetimes to come.
