America’s future ….Education!

I am not one who usually believes in going back to the future, but sometimes it is good to just regroup. While reading an article I came across a passage that struck a chord within me and thought, we as Americans, should all read it. It will, I am sure, make you think about where we are making all of our mistakes. We have become a society that has put Public Education on the back burner because it is not “sexy” to talk about it and admit that we have forgotten the need to focus on the masses instead of the privileged few. We watch TV shows and immerse ourselves into worlds so far away from reality even though many are called reality shows. Shows like Billions, which I love watching, are really dedicated to less than 1% of the population. Can you imagine watching a show showing children getting up in the morning, maybe a very cold morning, and not having breakfast or a heavy overcoat and heading out a door by themselves because their parent has already left to go to work? Then, they arrive at a school that is ill equipped. How exciting is that? That show is more real today and yet nobody would want to watch it because it would leave you in despair with nothing to dream about.

We, as a nation, can fix this, not with idle words, but actions if we choose to go in the right direction. The article below will bring you back to where we have to revisit and re-evaluate our commitment to education for the greater good of America in the 21st Century. We may never be able to bring those jobs back because they are really obsolete, but new horizons through education can open the doors to our needs of today. This Education must be Public Education available to everyone. Free, for the most part, for anyone who qualifies or wants to participate on the world stage. Every day more technology is available with change just around the corner. Let’s be ready for those innovations by putting our monies where it will be reaping the rewards for our future. With Education first Jobs become reality!

{In 1837, a Massachusetts lawyer named Horace Mann became secretary of the first school board and began to imagine how his local schools could be a model for the nation. If only all American children could have access to a common school education, Mann and his fellow education reformers argued, schools could foster equal opportunity, moral clarity, and stability in a young republic coming of age in a rapidly changing, industrialized world. These educational leaders saw a need, proposed a big (albeit sometimes conflicting) vision for change, and set out upon a multi-decade crusade, traveling from city to city to convince as many people as possible of the promise of “common schools."  This crusade would eventually successfully entrench the idea of schooling for all in the imagination of the American public and bring about the public school system as we know it.}                                                Passage written by Dr. Miriam Heller Stone

Thank you, Horace Mann! The reason, I believe, our country is going through the trials and tribulations of today, is because we set ourselves up for it. The fact that our sitting President and his administration are now under investigation for possible association with adversaries during our most valued Presidential Election is not a surprise, at least not for me. All the clues were out there, long before yesterday morning. The news is correct. We have allowed the real problems in our society be used as a ploy for those to gain power in the disguise of a Democratic Election. There really are problems today that Democrats and Republicans have avoided much for the same reason we enjoy that TV Reality show. I was proud to watch our government at work yesterday and I am sure we will get to the truth sooner or later. But, an easy way to heal is to move forward with goals that will really work. Education should be the first on the agenda, and with all politics aside, an achievable goal. Private Schools and Charter Schools should be available for those who choose or can afford to attend, but Public Education is a must for everyone, from Elementary to Higher Education! Part of that education should include a more in-depth program teaching how our Democracy works because I think there are many who have forgotten.