Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Who Wants to be a B-B-Billionaire?

Me!! That's who! Yesterday, the New York Times announced that
Arne Duncan (just call me 'Arne') will take the reins with mega dollars to dispense 'on the fly!' Well, no need to search very long, Mr. Duncan...darn..., I mean Arne! I'll help you. 
Here's the recipe: Jump-start Head Start. Early education is where it's at, I don't care what the prevailing thought might be. City kids are leagues behind their suburban peers, who are listening to baby Einstein and have Good Night Moon memorized before they utter their first word. Let's see if we can't do something about adding equality to our educational system. Next...how 'bout an initiative that will let Spot and I move around a bit. You know,  for the many of us who'd like to move between city and suburban schools. How 'bout more of a coaching model? Imagine this: Veteran teachers shift to co-teach with rookies in city classrooms. Even if the Republicans can not reach across the aisle...teachers will always help other teachers. Just give us a chance. And then...we have to watch out for our middle school and high school populations. It does not matter whether we're talkin' city or suburb. They're all at risk. Adolescents need validation...but they need programs that will help them to prove themselves responsible in our society. I'm not kidding...they need a rite of passage. Give them unpaid internships, place them in supervised after school programs that will allow them to give back. And give them credit for this real-life learning too. Now, sir, Spot and I have hardly mentioned technology and inquiry-based learning. WE need a think tank. A nation-wide clearing house for best practice...and then grant programs to bring EVERYONE up to speed. Let's do it, Arne. For Spot's sake...and for the future of us all. Bring back American ingenuity!
My dad, an Irish imigrant...and an eighth grade grad (He was far more brilliant than that, though, believe me.) always said, "It's all about education...period." We'll all be billionaires, if we do it right!

2 comments:

  1. I'm beginning to worry about you. You're making way too much sense! Do you seriously expect anyone to listen to you? (Just kidding, I think) Hey, do you think there's a place in your scenario for a retired old war horse? What do you think, Spot? Can old dogs learn new tricks?

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  2. There's definitely a place for a science-techie who splashes around with his grand daughters in the of science...and turns 90-somethings into web-browsers! If you can do that, you can do anything. How 'bout say
    a cool mill for starters?!

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