We can grow education in the United States with educational leaders who possess the political will needed to establish networks that will promote the necessary educational changes required to make America number one in the world.
The Big Problem in Education
Michelle Rhee emphasizes in her December 6, 2010, Newsweek article, "What I Have Learned," that American schools are in bad shape. Most importantly, Rhee feels that a strong political network is required in order to transform education in the United States.
Additionally, The Huffington Post of December 30, 2010, the article "Shocking: Nearly 1 In 4 High School Graduates Can't Pass Military Entrance Exam," by Christine Armario and Dorie Turner emphasizes the failure of the American education system.
Considering the above bad news about education, we have three serious problems developing in the United States that relates to education:
- Our schools are falling terribly behind in international scholastic competition. This means our kids and future adults will be at a terrific disadvantage when it comes to competing for jobs in our global economy.
- Job creation in this global economy will continue to be a dismal statistic on the American economic ledger. Who wants a bunch of academic challenged youngsters that can barely figure out how to balance their checking accounts?
- The security of the United States is being threatened because our Armed Forces are receiving applicants that can barely read or work basic mathematical computations.
Turn Around Education
A turn around in education can be accomplished, but it won't be easy. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix on the horizon. Michelle Rhee tried to straighten out Washington D.C. and look what happened to her.
She was hired to be the chancellor of Washington D.C. public-schools in 2007 and she resigned three years latter, near the end of 2010. The gutsy politician that hired her was Mayor Adrian Fenty. He was just beaten by the newly elected mayor of Washington D.C., Vincent Gray. Subsequently, Michelle Rhee resigned her position so that Gray would have the opportunity to select his own chancellor of schools.
Rhee's short reign as chancellor was controversial. She made tremendous progress with her students. Specifically, she brought her students in her District from scoring last on the National Assessment of Education Progress exam to leading the nation at both fourth and eighth grade in reading and math. During the process of fixing problems in her District, Rhee fired a bunch of teachers, whom she thought were not doing a good job. This made the local teachers' union angry. The union responded with a strong retaliation against Mayor Fenty's re-election bid, who lost the election to Vincent Gray. Gray publicly gave strong support for teacher job security. Naturally, this made Mr. Gray a darling of the teachers' union.
Mrs. Rhee believes a realistic strategy for turning around education in America is to approach the matter the way most big important things are accomplished in the United States. She points out the way large powerful organizations like the tobacco industry, the National Rifle Association and the pharmaceutical industry get what they want in Washington D.C. These successful organizations make use of lobbying and working through powerful networks that will influence powerful political leaders. She intends to work at creating a powerful political network that will work on the behalf of education reform.
We Can Grow Education in America
The education system in America is ready for a radical transformation. We can grow education in America with leaders like Michelle Rhee. Recruiting and keeping great teachers in the classroom is key to making a successful reform of the U.S. education system. Overcoming the good old boys' culture within the educational bureaucracy, requires a very strong reform minded political network. Mrs. Rhee has begun a political national movement, Students First, which is dedicated to putting children's needs in the classroom first.
John A. Marinchek - John is a student and writer of Social-Economic issues, the Human Potential movement, and Martial Arts. His specific interests deal with ...
