My blogging friend Lewis has raised some very interesting questions about the need to do more about education in this country.
"So where is the outcry? Why isn't education more of a rallying cry for new ideas, better teachers, better pay for good teachers and involved parents? What can be done to change the coarse (sic) of what appears to be a cultural crisis? What can we do to make a difference in education?"
My first question back is: Why is it my responsibility to help those who do not want to try? We all think slavery is wrong, and it is, so we cannot force someone to learn who does not want to. Maybe we need to make parents responsible for their kids entire life support. Then they might push them a little harder. If you have to pay when your kids wreck the car you make sure they have insurance, training, and know what happens if they mess-up.
I went to school. I studied hard. No one forced me to get a good education. I ended up with a PhD in biology from Caltech. There are a lot of people who do that and more. Rarely do you read about someone who was forced to learn, that then went on to great success. I think it has something to do with the attitude from the beginning. Perhaps is people are made to be more directly responsible for their own actions they will begin to see how important an education is.
What we have now, is a system that seems to want to lower entrance requirements, job skill needs, and personal responsibility. Many politicians and social saviors find it very easy to take from others who have, and give it to those who don't want to learn to earn a living. Perhaps if they emptied their own wallets and bank accounts first they would get more of my respect. Why should I have to provide jobs to someone who did not want to learn enough to have a job?
I'm not saying that young children are able to make a choice and that they should be held accountable but once a person has reached the age of 14 they know enough to see that there are consequences. I am saying that we need to push for a better basic education and have the means for those who want to learn more than that to go farther. We should also have a means for those who realize later in life that they need help to get it. Most likely those people have paid taxes and deserve to get the education they forgot to get the first time around.
Maybe we need to start posting job skill requirements, salaries, and the expected living wage when they graduate, so that students can see what they will and will not be able to live on in the future. Of course, if I had known when I started graduate school that a PhD biologist would only make $24,000/year, but a PhD in chemistry would average $65,000/year with no post-doctoral experience I may have tried harder in some of my math classes. Then again, maybe I would have taken that job I was offered after I got my BA in biology - starting salary $24,000! and skipped the 7 years of laboratory work.
These are my quick impressions but some feelings I have had for a while. As an employer I am always willing to help those who try to help themselves. I know that people get in a bind or make bad decisions at times and that we need to lift them up. What we should not be expected to do it to employ those who are unqualified by their own choice.
Roger,
Thank you for adding to the conversation. I am a big believer in personal responsibility; however, we need leadership at all levels, including businesses, to turn our education system around. I do think everyone is responsible to some degree for providing our children with the best educational system in the world.
Posted by: Lewis Green | October 30, 2007 7:12 AM | Permalink to Comment