The American Education System is Like an Old Building

If there is one thing we can all agree on it is that the educational system is broken. There are plenty of solutions out there but they all feature one fatal flaw, they attempt to build on top of an already collapsing structure.

This type of thinking is pervasive in American politics. Is something not working? Stick some legislation on top of it, that oughta' take care of it! Imagine if a construction company were tasked with fixing a collapsing apartment building and they said "I know! Let's just put some penthouses on the top! That should straighten it right out!"

Our educational system is like a building. No matter how big and beautiful a structure may be it is never meant to last forever. There comes a time when you must stop attempting to prop up the crumbling structure and decide instead to bring the building down in a controlled way and use what was learned to build a better, stronger and ultimately longer lasting structure in it's place. That doesn't mean the original architects failed, it simply means that time has passed and new must eventually replace old.

The educational system has been treated like this since it's beginning. It has had reforms tacked on one after the other. We have never as a nation seen it a a good idea to simply say you know what, let's just scrap this and start again.

Understand that I am not a fan of having Congress create a new school system from scratch, I can't say I fully trust their judgement when it comes to what is best for our educational system. However I do trust our teachers. Why not let the teachers decide what our educational system needs.

Leaders rely on data to show what problems exist at the classroom level. The problem is that there is no way to reliably gather data about what the problems really are. It's like being in a war and the troops on the ground calling for a strike on approaching enemy troops and the people controlling the missiles say "No, we have data that says the problem is actually over this way. Let's shoot there." It's reckless and potentially has vast unintended consequences. Let the teachers have a say, they know where the problems are and can help guide the hand of the government to the right answers.

The teachers are with the students every day. In the trickle down of the system, they are where the proverbial 'sh*t' rolls. We have the power to devise a system by which leaders can crowd source solutions to the plagues of the system from those that truly know what those problems are. Trust the people that know what is happening on the battlefield. Protect the ones that are living in the crumbling building. Don't just build around them, give them a new and better place to call home.