Gary Eby,MSW

The Dark Secret About Education

There are many challenges facing our nation today. One of the greatest is finding an effective way to educate our young people. It's time to unlock the dark secret about our educational system.

Schools with grades K through 12 are largely funded by property taxes, and home owners are increasingly tired of paying this way for basic or higher education.

Colleges and universities base their funding on tuition rates, but middle class parents are finding it increasingly difficult to pay for the ever escalating educational costs. Schools in poor districts are very often inferior to schools in wealthy districts. Colleges in wealthy states are usually better than colleges in poor states.

Discipline problems, crime, substance abuse, violence are increasingly taking their toll on teachers, students, and parents. The quality of education is also declining by significant numbers for many high school seniors. Lots of college students are deficient in reading, writing, spelling, and math skills.

Most frustrating of all, an undergraduate education is no longer a guaranteed passport for a better standard of living. It is long overdue for the educational community to find a way to reform these conditions. I recommend we try using TLP's, Five Steps to Successful Living. Let's take a closer look at this framework for social change.

Admit the Problem:

Our educational system is in serious trouble. We can't define who should pay for it. The present national policy of "Leave No Child Behind" has many weaknesses: emphasis is on proficiency in reading, writing, and math, rather than a more comprehensive view of education.

What happened to social skill training, creativity, physical education, anger management, music, art, citizenship, ethics, nutrition, critical thinking, family living, and a host of other qualities that can help our children become well rounded individuals? We must consider ways to educate our children's hearts and bodies as well as their minds.

Make a Plan:

We need consistent, integrated goals to educate the whole young person from our neighborhoods, cities, states, and federal government. It is time that we get involved in speaking out against a narrow and limited view of education.

Let us develop unified, national, educational policies, which define performance standards based on mind, body, and emotional wellness. In short, education should embrace emotional health, physical health, as well as mental health skills to build character for our children, adolescents, and young adults.

Steps to reach this more liberated view of education might require new financial partnerships between home owners, tax-payers, governmental agencies, and private industry. Other steps might include finding ways to link the value of higher education with service to the community, and on the job work experiences.

A closer relationship for our children with human service organizations, and potential employers, would also broaden the scope of a comprehensive education. In addition, this new bond with the real community could produce better qualified employees for the business sector, government services, and non-profit agencies.

Reach Out For Help.

Why aren't our political leaders reaching out more to experts in the field of social sciences, industry, medical, physical, and the health sciences to guide us in the pursuit of resolving our educational crisis? Let's form study and focus groups to begin to revamp our whole approach.

Our political leaders also need to work more closely with parents, students, and the teachers who know the best ways to improve our educational approach.

Celebrate Strengths.

We desperately need more people who can read, write, think creatively, and act responsibly. We need more creative managers, compassionate leaders, dedicated skilled workers, and altruistic professionals.

We also need people from all ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds, who have values, morals, ethics, and the persistence to get the job done. It is time to believe and passionately feel that our educational system can find better ways to prepare our young people for the challenges of the future.

The very survival of our nation and our way of life will probably depend upon young, caring, bright individuals who know how to think and feel outside of the box.

I will continue our discussion about educational reform in my next article called The Dark Secret About Education Part II.

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