November 3, 2008

I thought about waiting to publish this new blog until after the election, but then thought it would be relevant, hopefully, no matter what the outcome. So, here goes….

We live in both interesting and challenging times in Kansas, the United States and in the world at large. Education has never been more important in my opinion, yet it has hardly been mentioned in an election which has focused on the war, the economy and health care. The simple fact is that an educated citizenry can be instrumental in solving all of the above mentioned challenges.

With that in mind, we must be zealous in our efforts to educate our new and returning leaders about the critical importance of education in our twenty-first century world. The world is shrinking; our once enviable competitive advantage is no more; we are competing on an equal footing with many other countries in the world for both goods and services.

Education must be the cornerstone of our new economy as we recover from our recent setbacks. We must provide our students with a wider array of educational opportunities and connections with the world in which they will live and work. They must be technologically savvy. They must possess a strong work ethic. They must be problem solvers, critical thinkers and team players. None of these traits are currently assessed through No Child Left Behind. We must come to grips with the fact that focusing on making adequate yearly progress each year does little to instill our students with the critical skills and abilities which they need to be successful.

And, somehow, we must do a better job of connecting our students to real life. Perhaps it means the return of mandatory internships or apprenticeships for every student; maybe the institution of a four day academic week followed by field based work experiences by which students can explore the ever changing world of work.

Whatever the format, we must do a better job of connecting academic and potential careers for our students. We probably need to rethink the relevancy of the senior year of high school. We need to begin acquainting our students in elementary schools and middle schools about the incredible number of career options which will be available to them in the future…..some of which we cannot begin to imagine at this point.

Please join me in this blog to express your thinking about the future of education in Newton, in Kansas, the United States and the world. Together, we can further the dialogue and create a new educational infrastructure which will serve all of our 21st century learners.

John Morton