CHAPTER 10 - REAL SOLUTIONS
- PROBLEMS, CAUSES, SOLUTIONS
- FOUR OVERARCHING PRINCIPLES
- RATIONALITY
- FLEXIBILITY
- ESSENTIAL EDUCATION FOR THE ESSENTIAL HUMAN BEING
- STAND-ALONE COMPETENCE
- TEACHER-CENTERED SCHOOLS / SHUCKING THE FALSE INDUSTRIAL MODEL
- ELIMINATE OFFICIAL TEACHER CERTIFICATION; ELIMINATE DEGREES IN EDUCATION AT THE BACHELORS, MASTERS AND DOCTORAL LEVELS; ELIMINATE SCHOOLS AND DEPARTMENTS OF EDUCATION
- ELIMINATE THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
- ELIMINATE STATE, COUNTY AND CITY DEPARTMENTS OF EDUCATION
- ESTABLISH PEDAGOGICAL RESEARCH CENTERS
- PLACE SPECIAL EDUCATION COURSES IN PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENTS
- TEACHER APPRENTICE
- TEACHERS' REVIEW BOARD
- TEACHER INTERN
- TEACHERS' COUNCIL
- ALTER SALARY TRACKS
- TRIM NUMBERS AND SALARIES OF ADMINISTRATORS
- MAKE FULL USE OF VOLUNTEERS
- ELIMINATE EMPTY RHETORIC, ELIMINATE YEARLY GOALS; ELIMINATE MANDATED LESSON PLANS
- ELIMINATE IN-SERVICE COURSES
- ELIMINATE EDUCATIONAL FRAUD
- INTERPRET EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CAREFULLY
- LIMIT SCHOOL BOARD SERVICE
- DECENTRALIZE TO CREATE SMALL-SIZED SYSTEMS
- REGIONALIZE
- NATIONAL CORE, STANDARDS AND EXAMS
- COMMUNITY CAMPUS: SCHOOL BUILDINGS AS CLUBHOUSES AND SOCIAL / CULTURAL CENTERS
- MATERNAL SCHOOLS: AN ANSWER TO MANY PROBLEMS
- MAINTAIN CONTINUITY OF LEARNING
- OUTSOURCING
- STEERING CLEAR OF COMMERCIALISM
- PUT ALL EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AFTER CLOSE OF SCHOOL DAY
- THE MISSING LINK: APPRENTICESHIPS
- SOCIETY'S MEETING GROUND: POST-SECONDARY NATIONAL SERVICE
- FREEDOM OF CHOICE
- INEXORABLE LOGIC AND JUSTICE OF VOUCHERS
- FREE EDUCATIONAL MARKETPLACE
- THE ETERNALLY VIGILANT AREN'T LOOKING FOR NIRVANA
The first step in achieving real education reform is a sober recognition of the phalanx of opposing forces -- a virtual Great Wall of China: teacher and administrator unions and associations as well as a variety of other professional education associations who see education reform as a threat to their personal and professional comfort; the plethora of commercial interests who fear education reform would disrupt their profits as suppliers to schools; laws on the local, state and national levels designed to thwart real/true substantive education reform; apathy on the part of too many citizens; an American cultural resistance to any substantive change in the way schools are structured and operated.
After recognizing the forces opposing education reform, we can then turn to the avenues actually open now to work for change. The home school movement and the charter school movement, along with magnet schools, are current realities that can and must be built upon.
In some instances, there has been momentum towards enriching the teacher base through having qualified professionals join teaching staffs. There has also been at least some move towards allowing parents a wider choice through vouchers, however limited at present, a small step toward the goal of recognizing a free education as an entitlement that belongs to children, not to a school bureaucracy. Now that would be real education reform!