I do a lot of speaking around the country about public education, in particular about how the current trends in academic achievement pose a grave threat to the economic future of our country.
Like any advocate with strongly held views, I sometimes have a tendency to be overly melodramatic. However, having spent the past decade talking to manufacturers around the country, it is clear to me that finding enough workers with both the intellect and the work ethic are their top concerns. It has been so in good times and bad.
Identifying the problem is the easy part. What can we do to fix it? If your initial response is to spend more money, go to the end of the line. Instead, here are some better ideas.
Parental Involvement. The key to improving a school is to ensure that the parents are involved. Without at least one person at home who cares deeply about a child’s education, the odds of academic success are slim at best. It doesn’t matter if that one person happens to be a single mom or a grandparent. As long as there is an adult at home to make sure the child shows up for school, does his or her homework and stays out of trouble, that’s half the battle.
| Once you get the parents involved, then you will have created a climate where intervention by the business community can be effective. |
Parent-Teacher Communication. Schools can help parents by providing a means to keep tabs on daily homework assignments. Remember, kids are kids, and most figure out early in life that telling a parent they’ve finished all their homework (even if they haven’t) only works if the parent has no other way of checking.
Once you get the parents involved, then you will have created a climate where intervention by the business community can be effective.
Here are a few examples of how.
Career Days. When I was growing up, most schools waited until high school, or even college, to begin exposing students to the concept of work and careers. Why not start in elementary school? Make it a class project.
Have kids choose an occupation that interests them and research it on the Internet or in the library. Have them research what the formal education requirements are for that occupation, where the best schools are, what the salary expectations are. When they reach seventh grade, have them arrange to spend a day shadowing an adult who works in that occupation. Do this every year through high school, making the research increasingly more challenging.
Mentoring and Role Models. All people, not just kids, need role models. Kids just need them more. Schools should informally survey the parents about their occupations and occasionally incorporate, say, a 10-minute presentation in a science class by one of the moms who also happens to be a doctor, or a dad who is an engineer or a machinist. You get the idea.
Fill Gaps in Science and Engineering Instruction. Few high schools offer classes in engineering or electricity. Consequently, few students are exposed to those subjects when they enter college. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, a global engineering company based in Pullman, Wash., began a program five years ago that provides equipment and instructors to teach basic engineering to high school students in hopes of increasing the number of people who will go on to pursue an engineering degree in college. We need more programs like that.
None of these are original ideas. They’re just common sense things I’ve seen work in schools around the country. Money alone won’t fix our problems in public education. We need something much more important than money.
We need to give it our time.
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