Set Our Teachers FREE!

Good Morning, Dear Reader!

Ooooh! Do I have a story for you today?!?

As you already know, education has taken a nose-dive in the good ol’ USA. Everybody is scrambling to find the answers and, boy, have some “doozies” been suggested!

In this morning’s edition of ajc.com, there is a reprint of an article from The Atlanta Journal Constitution, written as an editorial opinion piece by Maureen Downey. Very well-written, the article tells about ANOTHER REPORT on how to improve education. And this one is another “doozie”.

First thing I need to tell you is:

“The report was drafted over two years by the nonpartisan New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, chaired by economist and former University of Georgia President Charles Knapp. Knapp and former Cabinet secretaries, governors, mayors, business executives and state and local superintendents were charged with finding the best ways to re-invent k-12 education.”

All those brains! All that manpower! All that time!

And what did they come up with? Is it workable? Is it THE solution?

I’ll let you be the judge.

“End high school at age 16. Take schools away from school districts and school boards and give them to hired private contractors, most likely liability corporations owned and run by teachers. Fund schools from the state rather (than) locally. Pay teachers $95,000 a year, but demand quality.”

Oh, goody! We get to save $60 billion dollars by eliminating 11th and 12th grade! Instead, we’re going to start children in school at the age of 3 years old! And this is in spite of the research that shows that early schooling is actually damaging to many youngsters. (Please see my post of July 26th, “Irresistable or Indisputable”.)

As a BONUS, everyone will graduate at the age of sixteen. Yep! Sixteen years old. See, this commission thinks that ALL of those students will then go on to college. Yeah! Right! Highly unlikely!

So all that brainpower, time and money went into developing a program that STARTS students too young and GRADUATES them too young!

I was so stunned at the results of this commission report, I had to reread it. Basically there are only two statements by President Knapp that I agree with:

FIRST:

“It’s time for truth-telling on this issue. Education is not a train wreck about to occur, it’s a train wreck that has already occurred.”

SECOND:

“. . . such changes . . . they’re vital if American students are to compete in the new global economy.”

Yes, the costs of teaching students has increased 250% in the last 30-plus years. (What hasn’t?)

Yes, grades, standards and graduation rates have all plummeted. (Very true!)

But will we FIX things with more suggestions by bureaucrats and lofty academicians? About the only reassuring thing I could find in the Commission Report was that it will take a long time to implement.

“This is no quick fix; the commission says it would take 15 years to put all the reforms in place. And the success of the reforms hinges on top-notch standards, assessments and curriculum, all of which take time to develop.”

Thank goodness! In the meantime, we can make the needed changes, while the commission is still preparing.

How about a common-sense plan instead? One that is not only workable but proven to work in ALL schools, with students at ALL skill levels and students from ALL societal backgrounds? And, as a BONUS, the plan includes ongoing Teacher-improvement and Parental-skills training. A COMPLETE PLAN that takes the destructive societal issues that are impacting our schools and NULLIFIES them.

NOW THAT’S A REAL PLAN!

In the book “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland this COMPLETE PROVEN PLAN is spelled-out in detail. An entire system of checks-and-balances can be implemented relatively quickly. Within one year massive change is possible. Within two years, we can have our schools functioning at peak levels.

Do we want to wait 15 years to help students? Are we willing to just FORGET ABOUT the students who are failing in the meantime? Do we want to exchange one bureaucratic mess for another?

If the USA is going to start being competitive globally, then the USA needs results NOW! We need excellence in our schools NOW! We need The Kingsland Plan NOW!

Find out more and find out how you can help TODAY! Make your voice heard!

Click Here!

Brennan

Filed under: Education Reform