THE STATE OF THE UNION

American education is in trouble. Everyone knows it; it's been a topic of conversation for decades now and yet here we are in the year 2007 and still the system remains broken. Why is that? Why can't we solve this crucial problem? The reasons are numerous and unfortunately there is no easy fix, no one step solution for righting the wrongs.

Having said that, I'm going to toss out some ideas for you to consider. I've been in the trenches of education for seventeen years and I believe that, at the very least, qualifies me to have an opinion, and hopefully an educated opinion. Forgive the pun, I can't help myself sometimes.

Over the years I've taught grades 6-12 in subjects ranging from social studies to math to earth science to physical education. I've seen the brightest of the bright and I've seen the....well, not so bright. I've seen school systems with money to burn and I've seen school systems using textbooks that were twenty years old. I've seen dedicated teachers quit in frustration and I've seen lazy teacher-imposters going through the motions to get to retirement. I've taught at a school in rural Alaska where education wasn't even valued and I've taught for private schools where test scores went off the scale. I've laughed and cried and fought the battles and enjoyed the successes and I tell you this: The system is broken and we need to find a way to fix it soon because let's face it, our children are our most valuable resource and they are being tossed about in a turbulent storm of indecision and poor judgement.

Tomorrow I'm going to begin a series of blogs discussing the training of American teachers and what I think is drastically wrong with the process. I invite you to comment....hell, I beg you to comment. I'm not afraid of criticism. What scares the hell out of me is complacency.

See you tomorrow!

Bill Holland