We have so much to be thankful for in this country. I have heard that if you own a two room house and a vehicle that runs then you are among the top 80% of the world's wealth. That is just amazing to me. What are the things that we take for granted? Do we ever stop to reflect on how much we have been blessed?
This month we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. This is a wonderful time for us to step back and consider all things for which we should be thankful. I hope that you will take this time and remember to give thanks for all of the blessings we have in this life. Spend time with your families and loved ones during this holiday season and don't lose a moment of happiness.
I am thankful for the community of Harleton and the opportunity to work with a great staff and students. I am thankful for our schools and will continue to do all that is in my power to continually improve. Thank you for letting us be a part of your child's life.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Creating a New Vision for Public Education
What do you want for your child? If you are like me and many others, then you want your child to have every opportunity for success possible. That's what all of us want for our children or grandchildren. So, how do we ensure this happens? That is the question that a group of superintendents throughout the state have asked themselves and are attempting to answer. I am working with a group of superintendents in Education Service Center Region 7 to determine what and how we will have to better utilize public education to prepare students for the future, and we are finding that the current system utilized for public education will have to fundamentally change in order to meet the needs of today's students.
The current public education system has remained essentially unchanged since its beginnings in the late 1800s and the turn of the 20th century. The system was created to prepare a very few students to enter the colleges or universities while preparing a majority of students to enter the factory workplace. At this time only about 3% of students actually finished school and graduated. Today over 80% do so with millions more students in our schools than ever, and that's not counting those students that receive their High School diplomas after 4 years or receive GEDs. During the first World War the army had to conduct two different test to new recruits. One for those that could read, and one for those that were functionally illiterate. Today that is not the case. Most students are completely able to read by the end of the 3rd grade. That is a vast improvement, but it's not good enough. The expectations have changed...and rightly so. Today we want all of our students to graduate from High School with the skills and knowledge base to allow them to be successful in their endeavors, whatever they may be; however, we have never fundamentally changed the system of schooling that was put into place over a century ago (Schlecty, 2011).
How many of you have heard the saying "It's just not like the good ole' days?" How many of you have made that statement yourselves? Can you truthfully say that the education system was better for all students in "the good ole' days?" During the 1950s we did not even attempt to educate all children and had a dropout rate of over 50%. Now, I know that some things were better, and we had more support from families and more support for certain discipline strategies. But, honestly, how many of us can say that our 2nd grade children don't know more than we did at that age? Have you seen their homework lately? Students of today are required to learn more than ever in the history of our country, and most of them do it very well.
Technology and research conducted over many years allow us to have a better understanding of the workings of the brain and get a glimpse of how the brain learns. We need to utilize this knowledge to help our students become even more successful. Did you know that the top 10 jobs today were not even in existence in 2004? It's hard to prepare someone for a job that does not exist; therefore, we must prepare our students with the skills they will need to be creative thinkers and problem-solvers who are able to succeed no matter the job they pursue after graduation.
I will be sharing information about the journey as we work to redefine our system of schooling, and I ask that you share your thoughts and feelings with me, as well. We will have to question some of our deeply held beliefs, but I believe a healthy discussion about these topics will be beneficial for us all. After all, we shouldn't be focusing on our education but that of our children. They will be the ones who need the knowledge to carry on after we're gone.
The current public education system has remained essentially unchanged since its beginnings in the late 1800s and the turn of the 20th century. The system was created to prepare a very few students to enter the colleges or universities while preparing a majority of students to enter the factory workplace. At this time only about 3% of students actually finished school and graduated. Today over 80% do so with millions more students in our schools than ever, and that's not counting those students that receive their High School diplomas after 4 years or receive GEDs. During the first World War the army had to conduct two different test to new recruits. One for those that could read, and one for those that were functionally illiterate. Today that is not the case. Most students are completely able to read by the end of the 3rd grade. That is a vast improvement, but it's not good enough. The expectations have changed...and rightly so. Today we want all of our students to graduate from High School with the skills and knowledge base to allow them to be successful in their endeavors, whatever they may be; however, we have never fundamentally changed the system of schooling that was put into place over a century ago (Schlecty, 2011).
How many of you have heard the saying "It's just not like the good ole' days?" How many of you have made that statement yourselves? Can you truthfully say that the education system was better for all students in "the good ole' days?" During the 1950s we did not even attempt to educate all children and had a dropout rate of over 50%. Now, I know that some things were better, and we had more support from families and more support for certain discipline strategies. But, honestly, how many of us can say that our 2nd grade children don't know more than we did at that age? Have you seen their homework lately? Students of today are required to learn more than ever in the history of our country, and most of them do it very well.
Technology and research conducted over many years allow us to have a better understanding of the workings of the brain and get a glimpse of how the brain learns. We need to utilize this knowledge to help our students become even more successful. Did you know that the top 10 jobs today were not even in existence in 2004? It's hard to prepare someone for a job that does not exist; therefore, we must prepare our students with the skills they will need to be creative thinkers and problem-solvers who are able to succeed no matter the job they pursue after graduation.
I will be sharing information about the journey as we work to redefine our system of schooling, and I ask that you share your thoughts and feelings with me, as well. We will have to question some of our deeply held beliefs, but I believe a healthy discussion about these topics will be beneficial for us all. After all, we shouldn't be focusing on our education but that of our children. They will be the ones who need the knowledge to carry on after we're gone.
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