"The public education school system needs to respond and find out why these other options are so attractive."
The past couple of years have pushed me to really reevaluate the things that I have a passion for. As I have worked through different battles and frustrations I have discovered more and more what I have a heart for. I see a pattern in the things that I am drawn to and this gives me an insight into why I am drawn to those things. Education is a big passion of mine that has grown over the past few years. I have been in multiple conversations about the education system in America and I have seen how we have failed and how we have succeeded. I see how we as a nation are not stepping up in the way that we should and how we are failing the future of our nation. I see how people are all talk and no action. I understand that it takes time and that we will not be able to fix it. I get it. I understand that it takes time, but I also see how we have more often than not just let it be a useless cause.
The truth is that we can blame parents and students as much as we want, but the reality of the matter is that the education system itself needs to start taking more of the blame. People everywhere are pushing and shoving to get into private and charter schools. A very good point was brought up as I was listening to two educators talking in Panera a little bit ago on this topic. As parents and students are searching for the way out of the public school system, it is necessary for the public school system to try to understand the reasoning behind this. Why is it that people are fleeing from the public education system? What is it that these others schools have to offer?
It is not necessarily that these other schools are better. It is not necessarily that their teachers are better. It is more so that we are in need. we are longing for our students to have a better life. We want them to have a good education and we want them to succeed. When we see failing education systems in America, we search for anything that might just be a little better for our students. It isn't even a matter of it being the best, but it is the matter of it being just a tad bit better than before. We are searching for improving school systems and schools that will bring our kids to succeed.
With all of that being said, I do not want to see the public education system die out. I do not want to see private and charter schools take over and leave the public school system in the dust. I think that there is value in the public school system and I think that it can be improved. I do see a future in it as long as people do respond. We must respond to the cry of hurting parents and students. We must respond as a nation to this problem. We must see what it is that is appealing to the parents and students in order to improve our education system. As new teachers come in and want to make a difference, we must stand behind them and encourage them to make a difference. We cannot be afraid of change or what they might be "doing to our education system," but we have to embrace that.
Basically I am just trying to say that we need to rise up. In the words of Lupe Fiasco, "If you never are an actor you can never be a factor." This is our future and this should be one of the most important things to us. We need to push ourselves to be the best that we can be and through us pushing ourselves, we must push those who are learning from us.
