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Hello Teresa,
This is Debbie Harbeson, from Clark County Indiana. I always enjoy your
thought-provoking articles and this one on education is no different.
Let me begin by stating my basic belief that for real change and
improvement, we need to get government totally out of education, but for
now, I will accept your idea on how to "reform" the faulty program and
expound on a couple of points.
First of all, IF we are going to have government make the decision on what
subjects are considered to be "core," I'd like to suggest that we cull your
list even further and only consider the traditional "3 R's." These are the
subjects, the "tools" really, that are needed for people to be able to learn
further on their own. And that's our goal isn't it? To help individuals be
self-sufficient and able to live their own lives as they see fit.
We cut down the government involvement even further if we cut down your
"core" subjects to the "3 R's." Besides, a lot of basic science, geography
and history can be taught within the learning of the "3 R's" by simply
reading various books and associating certain math skills to science ideas.
Once a person reaches a certain level of proficiency in reading and math,
then he can go out and find the resources that interest him in the fields of
science, geography and history. These fields are huge and each individual
should be free to pursue the areas within them that are of particular
interest and relevance. And to piggyback on your idea, there would be many
individuals willing to teach these things simply because they are interested
and involved in the subject. They will not be held back because they don't
have government permission (i.e. teacher certification) to teach the
subject. And of course, this free market will make all the choices expand
and improve due to the competition involved.
But of course, if this all works so well outside of core subjects, yours and
mine, it would work for the core subjects themselves, wouldn't it? ;)
Debbie Harbeson
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