By A.C. Smith

Something has to change.  Our schools keep teaching children in the same ways.  Too many kids are dropping out instead of getting a full education.  We need teachers who really care about the students and who are doing things the right way.  We need to further develop criteria and expect certain standards to be met.  Educators should have better training on how to handle and motivate the children, and know how to get the parents more involved.  Many teachers think it’s enough to know subject material.  They need to be able to relate what they’re teaching to how it applies in society.  Furthermore, money that’s set aside for schools should be eligible to go to any of them, and only to those that are producing better results.

Congress always argues about how there needs to be competition in business.  It needs to be that way with education as well.  One company isn’t allowed to grow into a monopoly in industry. We should encourage schools to compete in a similar fashion.  Public schools would probably perform much better, and private ones would likely raise the bar on their own programs too.  My hope is that someday we can get rid of public schools altogether by privatizing them.  That should be the goal. An added benefit is that if all schools are competing with each other, the money will come out of their own funds, rather than our taxes.

Everything should be done by “we the people,” and not the government.  I believe that’s what democracy, and America, is all about.