Education Reform

By Gregory E. "Greg" Michalek

Public education is a fallacy. Restoring the integrity needed to serve our communities begins with you getting involved.

My belief is that we are all acting too proud to admit that we may be part of the problem. We allow the needs of our children, communities and their schools to be ignored in favor of the dictates that come down from the federal government, who dangle our money in the faces of our elected officials as bribery for inculcating government educated children with useless information and little practical experience or tools needed to prosper.

The experimental program being forced upon our children, known as "Common Core" must be stopped. It treats our children like lab rats who are to be rewarded or punished in accordance with their performance as the government sees fit. This program lowers standard and rewards mediocrity. This one test used to evaluate performance is unfair to teachers as it places no value on overall competency.

To begin restoring the integrity and effectiveness of our schools, we need to reinstate local control of funding and curriculum. Is there room for the Federal and State Government to be involved? Yes. They need to make sure we have the freedom to determine what our kids learn.

Parental involvement in the education system is a must. However, they are not the only variable in this equation. Teachers, students, administrators and elected officials are in a position to make or break the outcome. Many teachers are underpaid and under appreciated. Likewise, many are under prepared and need to be replaced. The local schools should have the flexibility to reward excellence and eliminate those who do not meet the basic competencies needed for adequate development of our next generation of citizens.

Granted, any system is only as perfect as its participants. Do you think we can do better for our children? I do. Will it happen? Only if you get involved in the process of determining how we operate our schools, rather than let federal authorities usurp our power over how we educate the next generation.