A Plan Of Action To Save A Cohesive Union

“One Nation” cannot exist if its citizens do not have common language, culture, and understanding of freedom and how it is preserved. Recent attempts to destroy the American public educational system that has provided this cohesiveness may result in the end of our freedom and greatness. The success of those who are destroying public education through choice, privatization, and greed, is in direct proportion to the failure of educators to fight for Kids and Country.

The problem in education that confounds me is that educators do not acknowledge leaders in educational research, education scholars and historians, and those who have documented what is needed for quality education at every level. Educators are not united behind leaders and research. They do not insist on proven, observable, repeatable methodologies necessary for schools to operate and evolve while preserving the foundations of our nation. This essential information is available to learn from and critique. Yet much of it is not taught in teachers colleges. Few teachers are aware of it, discuss it, or teach their communities about it.

Here is the plan:
Educational leaders – whether they are administrators, department chairs, union leaders, or parent teacher groups – must start Book Clubs – reading groups and discussion groups that focus on the works of our most enlightened education leaders. Here are my suggestions for reading that is critical now to saving America’s public schools and countering the shattering of our American educational system.

First selection: Milton Schwebel’s vital work: Remaking America’s Three School Systems, Now Separate And Unequal . 2003. www.scarecroweducation.com. (hard cover).

In my estimation, this the foundation read for all further discussions.

Second Selection: Diane Ravitch’s vital work: The Death And Life Of The Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. 2012. Basic Books. (hard cover or download). Diane Ravitch is one of the few educational leaders who is current and continually evaluating what is happening across America.

My Third choice: Edward F. Berger’s controversial book: Vital Lies: The irrelevance Of Our Schools In The Information Age. 2012. www.millennialbooks.com.(download only). Written to form a base for discussion, this work examines where we are, how we got this way, and what we need to do for 21st Century learners.

Get your reading and discussion group started. Hopefully, you will select other books that have the information you need.

It is my sincere hope that key people like Arne Duncan, Rahm Emanuel, Tom Friedman, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, et.al. will read these works and come to understand the importance of our public schools and how we can improve them.