Are We Putting All Our Eggs In One Basket?

With the pace of 'reform' in education today, and the driving force behind education being Washing D.C., our nation's education is being forced into one basket.

Especially in this economy, where states are looking for every dollar they can put their hands on for education, more and more are willing to dance to Washington D.C.'s tune. The problem, as I see it, is if all districts across the U.S. are reading from the same script, everyone's story will end in exactly the same way. Now if we are fortunate enough to have a happily ever after ending, then we're sitting pretty. However, if we end up with the story line falling apart, or the 'bad guy' ends up winning, then we're in the rapids without any oars and a hole in the raft! We need different stories for our various states' education systems!

Education was not covered by the Federal Government to begin with. I don't believe that was an oversight. I think most people will agree; the farther one gets from people, activities, communities, the less intimate the knowledge. The less intimate the knowledge, the less informed decisions become. Take large corporations as an example: when multiple layers of management exist between the CEO and the 'line' workers, a lot is lost in translation between what is possible (bottom up communication) and what is expected (top down communication.) Another variable is added when people's own agenda adds misleading, erroneous, or misinterpreted (due to fear or a hyper developed desire to please) information can cause much unpleasantness, missed goals, and possibly lead to goal changes in the wrong direction.

In education there are even stronger emotions and more diverse agendas at play. Stronger emotions because we are dealing with the futures of people's children; because unions have a vested interest in maintaining optimal compensation and working conditions for educators; because publishers of educational texts have a vested interest in selling their wares; because some researchers are more interested in proving their thesis than seeing what is; because there are politicians pushing an agenda for any number of reasons. Communities across our nation all have their own cultures, strengths, challenges, and resources. Shouldn't we allow these communities, along with their state, to define what is important to them? Wouldn't a sense of ownership provide a sense ownership and motivation to succeed?