In my to visits to school districts around the country (California, Indiana, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Iowa, New York, Kentucky, Arizona, and others), I have been seeing and sensing a much higher degree of anxiety and stress among educators across the board. From regional superintendents to teachers in the classroom, schools are cutting programs left and right just to keep their heads above water.
I can’t tell you how heartbreaking it is to sit with superintendents over dinner, and see tears well up in their eyes as they talk about the difficulty of handing pink slips to some of their best teachers; or to hear a young teacher, who feels called to teach, tell me she has been fired even though her students had been getting higher test scores. Most of the tens of thousands of teachers losing their jobs are not being fired because of poor performance, lack of commitment, or some personal moral failure. Rather, they are being fired because we don’t have money to pay them (while millions of our tax dollars are padding the pockets big bank executives via bonuses or to build another jail).
We need to make sure Congress understands that investing in education is not only good for the economy, but for society as whole. We can reduce costs LATER on by ensuring we have a well-educated, competitive workforce NOW!
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What are your thoughts about the current state of education in America? What do you think needs to be done?