Thanks for all the comments on this EDUCATION thread. Here is my thinking (this is a “rip and roll” so forgive me if leave things out or if there are tons of typos)... 1. Public Schools should be run locally, individually. Each community has different needs, and different ways of allocating resources, and different issues. Federal government should not mandate anything. Neither should state government. In fact, I am even opposed to the Counties doing it. Local. School by school. Federal/State/County governments can offer assistance and ideas and “lessons learned” from other schools, but the decision making process should be done at the individual school level – just like it is for private/independent schools. 2. Despite comment #1 above, and despite my opposition to the government being in the “redistribution of wealth” business, the Federal/State/County governments will need to help with budget allocations. There needs to be some redistribution – as is the case today – of school resources from wealthy districts to poor districts. That’s life. It is for the greater good. And we all (rich and poor) benefit when we have an educated society. Trust me, the rich get richer when the poor get educated. I can’t wait to hear the comments on this one! 3. Hire the best principals possible. It starts with leadership. If we are going to make schools individual, then the CEO needs to be simply awesome. Then give them the freedom to run the school. And then hold them accountable. 4. Stop talking about paying teachers more. There isn’t enough money in the world to pay great teachers what they deserve. After your parents, who impacted your life more than a great teacher? Nobody. They should be millionaires. Thankfully, the great ones don’t do it for the pay. It is who they are. They get their satisfaction from seeing the impact they make on kids’ lives. But we do need to pay them a fair living wage. And give them the ability to do what they love - teach. Don’t burden them with bureaucracy and distractions. Give them flexibility to do field trips (most schools limit field trips not because of money but because of the red tape). Etc. 5. Honor teachers. Not with stupid awards. Honor them. Truly. Genuinely. Appreciate them. Make it part of the culture of the community that these people have one of the most important jobs in the world. The society we have 20 years from now is a result of the kids we raise, and second to parents, nobody influences that more than teachers. 6. Fire the bad teachers. Period. They give teaching a bad name. I don’t care how long they have survived the system. If they are bad, they get fired. Enough said. 7. Facilities Matter. This isn’t a “spend more money” project. This part of the leadership issue. My children are fortunate enough to go to an independent school that has one of the finest facilities in the country. It is a light, bright, cheery, village like campus. It inspires the teachers, the students, and is inviting to parents. On a per student basis, this cost no more than the new school in Wellington FL that looks like a prison. It’s not about money, it’s about decisions. If we have Palm Beach County 4 times as much to build a school, it would still look like a prison. You can’t inspire kids when they go to school in a prison. You can’t inspire teachers when they go to work at a prison. Parents don’t want to visit a prison. 8. Invest in the “extra-curricular” activities. Why do districts keep cutting arts? Sports? Outrageous. Not only do students perform better academically when they are involved in organized sports and arts, they turn out to be better people. When I hire employees at my business, I always look at their extracurricular activities first. A much better indicator about the type of employee they will be. We need to invest in these programs and facilities. Theater. Music. Sports. Other clubs. Etc. 9. This is not about money. Doubling our education spend won’t improve results materially. This is about using what we spend better. Making better decisions. Creativity. I buy bankrupt companies for a living. People always say “you can’t cut expenses any more”. Every time, my partners and I have found that these companies are bankrupt because of bad decisions, not lack of spending. The same is true for schools. We need to spend differently. Not necessarily more. But, if a new structure and new approach proves to be successful, I would be happy to spend more. It could be a great investment. But right now, it is good money after bad. 10. Vouchers. Why do we make kids go to a school based on geography? It is outrageous that we make kids suffer a bad school district because that is where their parents chose to live, or is the only place they can afford to live. Criminal. That may be fine for some kids, but not all. Families that have multiple kids, know that each kid is different. The right school for kid #1 might not be the right school for kid #3. Let parents choose where to send their schools. The bad schools will fail. That’s okay. Painful transition, but long term good. Right now, schools need to be “all things to all people”. Give parents a voucher so they can choose the special ed school that is right for them. Choose the technology magnet that is right for them. Pick the general ed school that is appropriate for them. Pick the English as a Second Language school that is best for them. Competition works. Not perfect. But better than the alternative. 11. Parental involvement. Make schools great, and offer diverse programs, parents will get involved. The parents that don’t care about math probably do care about football. Given them a broad range of reasons to come on campus. They will show up. And if they don’t… 12. Public Boarding Schools. Some kids need to be taken out of their homes. They should be voluntary. And awesome, so they don’t want to leave. It’s possible. Instead of going to war with Iraq, we should have gone to war with Ignorance. There is no greater priority for our country. Every election should be about our education system – everything else is noise. There. I feel better.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 01:53:55 +0000
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