Education Reform Or Educator Reform, Which Does America Need?

In the coming weeks the President is going to be addressing Education and how the Federal Government can improve the quality of education your child or children receive. The President wants to throw more money at “No Child Left Behind”, and give more power to the local school systems. Is this what is needed? Will it work? Or should we be totally rethinking how we as a country approach education?

The answer starts with defining what an education is; with understanding the needs of the individual child, and should be the responsibility of the parent not the State or Federal Government. After all who knows your child best, who is most concerned about the development of your child; you of course. So you should have the most say in the education your child receives.

Yes, yes I hear all of you screaming about those parents who do not care about their child and his or hers education or welfare for that matter. But I maintain that my rights as a parent should not be infringed upon because of the shortcomings of a small minority of parents, those parents should be punished and you and I should be left to do our jobs as parents without government interference.

So, what is an education? Webster defines education as; the action or process of educating or of being educated. But what does that really mean? Simply put it is the time and effort taken by a person to learn a subject, set of subjects, or skills of a trade. It involves everything in life that you have to take time to watch, read, or be instructed in order to learn. Education is a lifelong process that one should never end until you breath your last breath.

What an education is not, is the “assembly line” production method of having students memorize facts and formulas to be reproduced for a test and then forgotten, which is used by all public schools and a few private schools today. We must see education as more than a one dimensional problem, as more than a one size fits all solution. We must look outside the box for answers; we must actually look at our past for unique answers. Starting with our Founding Father, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brother, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, and many other successful men like them. Read about them and see how they were educated. You will be surprised by what you learn.

Over the next several weeks I will be addressing education from several different angles, giving you different things to think about, different options to consider, different answers you will not hear anywhere else. I will tell you my story of the public school system failing to recognize my education needs and challenges. I will talk about the many different education options available to you today without any Education Reform. And I will shock you with how simple and affordable true Education Reform can and should be.

I hope you will join me as I reveal the secrets to not just a good education, but a great one.

Gerald