Fixing Education

I have received a number of emails from people who know me asking when the Minneapolis Shadow will start focusing on education. Just so everyone knows that my background on this subject comes from at least 5 years serving on site issues boards, district advisory councils, and my interaction with kids, teachers, and administrators at all levels. Well hold on because here we go!!!
In a state where over 45% of the state expenditures go toward K12 education the largest city in having major problems with getting children properly educated. Two more high schools in Minneapolis are required to do thru “reorganization”, and having to hire all new teachers. I don’t agree with this method of addressing the issue, because it goes deeper than just hiring all new teachers. God bless these teachers because I don’t think I’d want their jobs. They take a lot of crap from kids, don’t get paid enough, and work within a bureaucratic quagmire. There are a lot rewards that do come with teaching, but we need to fix the system and the players. The problems require a great deal of overhauling not patch work fixes that already have proven not to work. I’m going to create a series of posts regarding this because the subject is too in depth for just one post.
First: Disciple in the classroom. The teacher needs to run a classroom that is orderly, and fosters learning instead of chaos. Most of the problems that are in education are from the kids that come from broken homes. This issue requires a balance between understanding and disciple. Parents and children need to be held accountable for their children’s actions in the classroom. Parents need to be told and contacts signed that there is a strict behavior code at the school, and punishment will be carried out upon infringement of the code. This must be done in order to give these children a chance at learning. The concept is that the school has these kids for 6-8 hours a day, and during that time they are required and allowed to focus on their work and forget about the problems at home. Without a good education they are left with a sense of hopelessness, which is the fault of the parents and school. The only way out of a bad situation is by demonstrating that there is something better and proving that education is the key to that path.