Dear Keith,
Last Monday I was given the opportunity to attend the second
inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, and as I
stood there among the million or so people in attendance I began to think about
just how important education is to this country.
President Obama made a couple of statements that really hit
home for me and reminded me of why I continue to advocate for the education of
all people in this country. He said:
This generation of Americans has been tested by crises
that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is
now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we
possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands:
youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and
a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment,
and we will seize it -- so long as we seize it together.
We are in this together so the future of our country depends on
each and every one of us. What does that mean?
It means that in order to ensure the success of our economy, businesses,
and culture we need to prepare our young people for success; and that does not
mean just educators by trade, but rather each and every one of us who cares
about the future of this country – in short, education is everybody’s business.
Those of us outside of the world of education may wonder why
education matters, but I am a firm believer that education is key to
success. I don’t mean the education of
old either; I’m not concerned whether or not students can recite facts and
figures or characters out of book – it’s 2013, we have Google, so facts/figures
are irrelevant. What I mean is making
sure our young people can identify and solve problems without being given all
of the information; students need to be able to think critically, communicate
and work collaboratively in a team.
Furthermore, we need to accept that the way our parents and
grandparents were educated is totally useless today. “Learning” is not confined to the classroom; it
happens at home, out in the community and in real-world working environments.
So Keith my question is this, how can I help support students? How
can those of us who are not in the classroom help the next generation be more
successful? What can we do? Because
while we’ve established the fact that education is indeed everybody’s business,
I am not sure we know exactly where to begin.
Sincerely,
Ronda
I believe we start exactly where you ended. By helping society understand that we all have responsibility to educate each other. I loved your comment that education is not confined to the classroom. I'll take it further...A childs education is not the responsibility of teachers at school. It's the families responsibility which is supported by teachers. That was so in my family. My grandmother taught how to read, my mother taught us how to reason. Most importantly they ensured that we were READY to learn when we went to school.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment Donna and what Ronda has said. The opportunity we have is not just reaching the students, but reaching the family. The mothers and grandmothers of old are not there to provide the push and support that our students require. I'm a later age parent, so I remember what my parents told me as a child - you can accomplish anything you set your mind too and education was not an option, it was required and expected.
DeleteI would love to have a conversation on how as a community we bring back the understanding that education is the one thing that can never be taken away. You can lose a job, house and money, but you always have a chance to move forward when you have the options that education brings to you.
My son is in the 10th grade and I see this first hand and I'm working to make a difference one student at a time. “Gentle Reminder .....Life has no remote, you have to get up to make changes, take it off mute, and speak positive words, make sure you never press pause on your dreams. “(author unknown) Have we forgotten how to dream? We need to have a global and limitless view of what we can become.