With the White House pushing its Race to the Top initiative, and Davis Guggenheim's Waiting for "Superman" sparking a national conversation about both the problems plaguing America's schools and the innovative solutions being proposed and implemented all across the country, America is having an Education Moment.
This spring, as I was delving into America's troubled education system for my book (nothing is quickening our slide into Third World status faster than our resounding failure to properly educate our children), Davis Guggenheim gave me an early look at his film. I was deeply moved and saw that by personalizing the crisis (and being willing to point fingers and name names), Superman was going to get people talking. And thinking. And, hopefully, working -- finally -- to reform the broken system.
We wanted to be part of that discussion, and began working on creating a new section devoted to the issue. The result, HuffPost Education, launches today.
Developed in conjunction with the impassioned team at Causecast (our partners on HuffPost Impact), HuffPost Education is being edited by Brian Sirgutz, who has given heart and soul to its creation. And we are delighted that Paramount Pictures, which is releasing Waiting for "Superman", has signed on as its inaugural sponsor. HuffPost Education is designed to be a hub for education news and trends -- and will be home to a spirited, ongoing conversation about what's gone wrong with America's schools, and what needs to be done to fix them. We'll have topical takes from an eclectic mix of stakeholders in the education debate. Among those already lined up to weigh in: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Davis Guggenheim, Bill and Melinda Gates, John Legend, New York City School Chancellor Joel Klein, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and Geoffrey Canada, whose inspiring work at the Harlem Children Zone is featured in Waiting for "Superman".
The section will also celebrate the many teachers who, despite a broken system, are doing heroic work in the classroom day in and day out. We're kicking things off with a weeklong Great Teachers series that turns the spotlight on the personal success stories of some of these exceptional teachers and on the innovative ways they are helping children to learn. We also look forward to providing a real-time platform for teachers and parents to discuss the many issues impacting their lives and efforts to educate our kids.
Education has always been the great equalizer in America. The path to success. The springboard to the middle class -- and beyond. It was a promise we made to our people. A birthright we bestowed on each generation: the chance to learn, to improve their minds, and, as a result, their lives. But something has gone terribly wrong with our education system, and this failure has profound consequences for our nation's future -- both at home and as we look to compete with the rest of the world in the global economy.
Decade after decade, as predictably as a school bell, every election season candidates promise to transform our schools -- and, just as predictably, they fail to do so. And this failure cuts across party lines. Instead of fundamental reform, we get grandstanding and broken promises and reform in name only.
As a nation, we've slowly grown accustomed to our educational system's persistent failures, content to point out the occasional jewel spotted amid the dung: a marvelous charter school here, a high-performing inner-city academy there. We've allowed that old Washington motto to carry the day: "If it's broke, don't fix it."
We have to interrupt this pattern. We have to make it easier for creativity and fresh thinking to flourish in our classrooms. We need to start looking at things in bold and different ways.
What Abraham Lincoln said in his second annual address to Congress in 1862 applies powerfully to today's educational crisis: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present... As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew."
And when it comes to saving our children -- and our future -- there is not a moment to waste. Our nation's education crisis demands "the fierce urgency of now."
That urgency, and the opportunity presented by America's Education Moment, are what animate HuffPost Education.
Check it out. And let us know what you think -- especially you, teachers, parents, and students. We want to hear from you.
We'd also love for you to join us in celebrating exceptional teachers by tweeting or posting on your Facebook wall the name of a teacher who made a difference in your life with the hashtag #myfavoriteteacher.
P.S.: As promised, HuffPost is providing round-trip transportation from New York to Washington for all those who need a ride to Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity on Saturday, October 30th in D.C. Click here to officially sign up for a seat on the HuffPost Sanity Bus -- join the caravan!
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
Between 1962 and 2010, federal education spending totaled about $1.94 trillion. Are we getting our money’s worth? The average spending by the federal government for 2010 and 2011 would support 4.48 million students per year, assuming each student spends $30,000 each.
Free does not mean everyone would get to go to Stanford, each school would maintain its own admission policies. If you qualify for Stanford, great; if community college is what is right for you, that’s free too.
Parents who scrimp, save, and take second mortgages to put their kids through college would be able to focus on their child, not whether they will have the money. Of course, since they will have more disposable income, state and local taxes could increase, providing extra funding for primary education.
This might anger some taxpayers at the local level, good, well that it should. Primary education is administration heavy, spends too little on teachers and the basics - like math, science, languages - and needs a kick in the pants. Did you know India has more honor students than America has students?
Did you know video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E87872nS8Uw
A much-improved primary system along with the promise of a free secondary education should be a major motivation for students as well and will go a long way towards leveling the socio-economic and racial inequalities of the current systems.
I'm disappointed that every time I've clicked on this section, I see everybody: movie makers, comedians, sports figures and the like spouting off about education, and I don't see a whole lot of teachers invited to blog.
"Waiting for Superman" has been reviewed by the New Yorker, and their opinion is that it is uneven and biased at best. After MSNBC's abusive bash-the-teachers week of special programming, I'm evaluating the launch of your education section as the same: uneven and biased at best.
You want to really be fair? Here's a thought: All of these "experts" talk about the need for "extraordinary" teachers. You have some nice pieces on individual teachers and the effect they have, but are you ever thinking about the craft involved in creating what they do? Have a blogger focus on pedagogy, in such a way that introduces the concept to folks who find what we do a mystery, but have such an amazing variety of ways to tell us we're doing a bad job.
I'll even write it for you, for free. Twice a month, I'll give you 800 words on pedagogy, with an audience of Americans who might be interested in learning that what we do is an art, and a craft, and a calling.
You have my email, ma'am. What do you say?
Darwinita
For the record, we have a lot of teachers blog on the section and a lot of them are not fans of the film. We will allow anyone with an opinion to express it here.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5860256/not_waiting_for_superman.html?cat=4
I dropped out of high school at 18 in 1941, and was
very successful financially, until I graduated from
UCLA in 1963. Now I know why Public Schools today
dull the brains!
Uncle Joe
---------------------------------------
PART # 2
Subject: 8TH GRADE TEST, Kansas, 1895
What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895:
8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895
Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of
Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3
ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it
worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What
is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months
at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18
days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and
16 ft. long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace)
at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per
acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a
Receipt.
very successful financially, until I graduated from
UCLA in 1963. Now I know why Public Schools today
dull the brains!
Uncle Joe
---------------------------------------
Subject: 8TH GRADE TEST, Kansas, 1895
What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895:
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in
Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original
document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical
Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by
the Salina Journal.
8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895
Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that
have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give
principal parts of"lie,""play," and "run."
5. Define case; Illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal
marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and
show therein that you understand the practical use
of the rules of grammar.
Just how many times did this article invoke the term "failure"? And presumably, that term is attached to test scores, since non-educators have no other basis by which to make an assessment. As a former high school English teacher, and a current proud labor advocate for a teachers' union, I can assure you that no student's success or failure can ever be reduced to a test score. Those of us who work in education know that. Those who don't work in education take the easy way out and regurgitate what they see in a biased, anti-union film. I just didn't expect to see that on this site.
Students of mine who have seen this film were shocked. But when I asked them, "so who wants to be a teacher and help fix it" not a single one raised their hand.