American Schools Need Reform
By Pamela Jordan Lee
Owner, Sir Max

In a past issue of Sir Max and Friends eNews, it was mentioned that Sir Max supports two forums, one of which is education reform. President Bush has stressed in press conferences that education is first on his to list to improve. The problems with our educational system are not just for our government to fix. It is time we, as Americans, accept part of the responsibility that we are robbing our children of a good education.

The book of reference used for this article, of which I truly support in its author's campaign to make a change in education, is "American Schools: The $100 Billion Challenge," by Professor Dwight W. Allen, Eminent Professor of Educational Reform, and William H. Cosby Jr. Currently, this book is available only in ebook format through Barnes and Noble, and cannot be downloaded to print at this time. However, Time Warner, the publisher of the ebook, is working on arrangements to format as a downloadable, printable book. It is a "must read" book, whether you are a teacher, college professor, or parent regardless of opinions on the public school system, or whether or not your child or children attend public schools. A problem is clearly evident with our public school systems, which is demonstratable through increased enrollments in private schools, as well as the increased number of charter shools that are opening, not to mention the fact that more and more parents are opting to home-school their children.

What is education reform? According to Professor Allen, our schools are obsolete by any standards for today's technological world. Our schools were built on the needs of western civilization. Professor Allen stresses that we are no longer are a western civilization - we are now a world civilization. Education reform will be a slow process, because it involves changes, and many people do not want to face the challenge of changes, even if it is in the best interest of everyone. A few of the problems that are mentioned in this book that affect our current school system are:

* Finding the right balance for local, state and national control of schools.
* Outdated and inadequate classroom technology
* Source and amount of funding
* Lack of equipment
* Inadequate faculties
* Unmanageable class sizes
* Teacher selection
* Lack of Educational and Professional Services
* School Schedules
* Curriculum revisions
* Improving school safety
* Student and Teacher diversity
* Family instability
* Moral erosion
* Ignorance, and prejudices

When I first heard about this book I was interested as a parent, then I asked myself what can I do to help so I contacted Dwight and I offer to help by writing this article to let others know how serious this problem is and what we can do to help. Dot Com leadership is needed desperately. and any dot com leader that involves technological training is vital to this project. Another way dot com leaders can help is by creating a National Experimental School Administration otherwise known as N.E.S.A- a system that can have a laboratory to test and evaluate educational reform an become a clearinghouse for our knowledge about educational practices. N.E.S.A. schools would become a frontier for educational change. Here are other ways Dot Com Companies can help implement school reform:

* Provide systematic discounts to teachers for goods and services.
* Offer systematic pro bono.
* Build bridges between schools and communities by instituting personal policies that make it possible that employees can volunteer in schools on company time and receive office calls from teachers.

We are the richest nation in the world, but yet we have a failing school system. It is easy to point out all the problems and point the finger as to who is at fault, but it continues to get us no where. This ebook, which is extremely controversial and has most definitely raised eyebrows, stresses topics on what teachers should be paid, and how all homes should be equipped with computers and internet access. It also lists the following 18 ways to improve the start of school reform:

1. Regular in service training on the internet for all teachers. Compensate every teacher that spends two hours a week on the internet, upgrading their knowledge of his/her subject, teaching methods and new research.

2 . Allow master teachers become mentors for each teacher in training and for beginning teachers.

3. Increase pay to attract and hold a share of the brightest college and university graduates as master teachers.

4. Provide teaching assistants and other staff support for teachers.

5. Create challenge grants for teachers.

6. Require six years of pre-service training for teachers, and increase pay per year for six years of university teacher training.

7. Require a one-year internship for teachers after professional training.

8. Increase pay per teacher to support one year internships for 100,000 teachers in training each year.

9 . Provide higher salaries for more teacher educators.

10. Support development of teacher training materials, which would result in a rich curriculum of the internet pre-service and in-service teacher education modules.

11. Increase current technology labs in all schools, including the purchase, maintance and replacement of equipment. Supply all schools with multimedia technology including computers connected to the Internet with a funding for systematic replacement on a five year cycle.

12. Provide every school child in America with either a lap top computer that can be used at home and at school, or a home computer that is connected to the internet, with a replacement every three years.

13. Provide a computer at home for every teacher that is connected to the internet, and is replaced every three years.

14. Encourage continuous curriculum development for subjects with Internet support.

15. Require year-round schooling.

16. Require extended-day schools.

17. Provide alternative schools for all levels of education. School choice will provide parents more voice in the education of their children.

18. Create a program called Teacher Online Staff Development (TOLS), which would be a for building opportunities for quality control assessment and validation without creating a massive bureaucracy.

Again, this listing is a collaboration of ways to implement school reform, all of which were mentioned in this ebook. However, a very important factor that is missing is the cost for each part listed above in order for this reform to be successful, which is listed in the book in depth.

As a parent of two children, I have many viewpoints on the subject of education reform. Both of my children either attended Christian schools or parochial schools, and now my youngest child is attending a charter school, which I was reluctant about at first, but I like the structure, and so does my son. My oldest child is 21, and what I found out through his school years is that it is not like it was when I was in school.

My first question regarding this is, "Where are these children's parents?" My second question is, "Why is there so much politics in schools?" I do realize that parents today are busy now more than ever, and I can relate to that, but I have never regretted all the field trips (well, maybe some days!) and volunteering my time at school.

Still today, you will only see a certain main group of parents in the schools. Politics needs to stay out of schools and school sports. I have seen so many young kids have a low self-esteem effective with being told, "you can't make it, you didn't try hard enough," or "maybe next time." I've also seen instances where a kid that was good enough to make a team, but was overlooked because another kid's parents gave their life's saving to the school and their child was placed on the team.

A year ago, I knew that a local school here used to have crossing guards. When I didn't see them anymore, I asked a teacher why, and her reply was that they didn't have anyone that was responsible to do that. Now isn't that a slap in the face for our children. Obviously, they didn't have any teachers that were responsible enough to teach them.

In another instance, I was told by a first-year teacher that my son could not learn anything and that he would have to leave the school because she didn't know what to do for him, and the principal agreed. The problems were not behavior issues, and no other options were given to us, but being the person that I am, I did not accept that and I took my child out of the school, and he is doing fine today.

Briefly, the following is a listing of a few articles I've seen in my local newspapers:

1. School system employs a toy as a learning tool (Play Station-2) and it is now considered a educational component.

2. Governor gets high marks for emphasis on education; issues being addressed are school funding, school building/construction and repairs, and economic development.

3. Public schools lack of special teachers to be investigated; not enough qualified special education teachers are available.

"American Schools: The $100 Billion Challenge" is definitely a controversial piece, and has undoubtedly raised eyebrows of most readers, but is a "wake-up" call to many of us who sit back and let things happen in which we don't approve or support. It is definitely possible to continue on and on regarding the issues facing our schools today. Instead of pointing a finger, though, please, let's work together to solve these issues. It will be a hard and slow process, but rewards will be even greater. We all were put on this earth for a purpose. Take the time to take a good look within yourself to see what you can do to help this project and our children's futures.

Pam's note: I would like to thank Dwight and Bill for the honor and opportunity to write this article.