Reforming our Schools

Sorry if my lasts posts sounded very conspiracy-theory-ish.  I know many people are excited about Common Core because it unites states under common standards and "raises" the standards for some states in some subjects.  There are some positives in having a united education for the whole country.  Here is a map of the states that have adopted common core (after much government incentive).

I realized that the educational system is kind of a mess.  On average, the United States spends $10,499 per student per year in public school.  Do you know what I could do with $10, 499 on my children's education for the year?  I could take them to Greece when we were studying Greek architecture.  We could travel to Italy to study art, or to Jerusalem to learn about the Bible stories.

If you compare that to what actually happens with those $10, 499, the contrast is pretty startling.  We know the money is not going to the teachers or to supplies. We definetely could use some reform.  I think people are excited about Common Core because at least it's something different - and different is good!

Now, aside from the agendas that those in high places may have for the education of the young (and I think you have to be pretty naive to think that there are no agendas in the common education of the children of the most powerful, free country in the world), I firmly believe that reform for the education of our children ought to start from the families and not from those whom we've chosen to govern our state or our nation.

I know that national change is more powerful and more quickly effective in a grander scale.  It's tempting to use that power to try to fix things quickly.  It's always tempting to use power to fix things - as a parent or a leader of any organization.  The problem is that power tactics (laws, enforcement) can change behavior, but rarely change hearts.  When an individual heart is changed, their behavior changes, and that invites others to change - families begin to look different, neighborhoods are influenced, cities begin to transform, states are improved, nations rise up and the world is lifted.

People are always trying to change things the easy way - more laws, more punishments - in hopes that the world will improve.  Each of us know we are right in the way things should go, so if everyone just did what we said, then the world would be a better place!  Wouldn't it be nice to have the power to make our children and neighbors always do exactly what we said?  Isn't that the way to fix the world? It's a debate that was begun before the world began - it's about individual freedom and the right to choose.

Who is to blame for the direction our country is headed?  Who is to blame for the government endeavoring to fix all of our problems?  We are.  Whenever we blame the president, or others in power, for the mess we are in, we need to remember that whenever we shrug off responsibility unto someone else's shoulders, we are giving them the power to tell us what to do.  We are giving away our freedom.

So we can choose to reform education by having the government set higher standards and enforce those standards with penalties and rewards.  Or we can choose to reform the schools by taking back the responsibility of our children's education. We can turn off the TV and video games and we can choose to higher the standards of education in our homes (whether we send our kids to school or not).  If we shrug off this responsibility as well, we are giving the government the power to tell us how our children should be educated.  We are giving away our most precious freedom of all.