The Future of American Education is Failure Part IIIThursday, May 18, 2006Denial is rampant. It is not surprising that 33 states are in denial and say they have quality teachers. These states say that 90-99 percent of their classes have "highly qualified" teachers. The lowest range is around 70% in the remaining more self-aware states. Scott Palmer, a consultant for the Council of Chief State School Officers was quoted as saying "I know the states have made great efforts in trying to meet all the prongs of the highly qualified teacher requirement, I've got to believe there are some that are very close." Why? This guy must think we are all idiots. The failure of educational system makes this an overwhelming if not an impossible task. When are we going to wake up as a country and face the fact that we have a system that does not work and never will? Businesses fail when their basic model is flawed. They are forced out of business because they are not making money. If we looked at the educational system as a business, it should have declared bankruptcy within the first year. Study the history of education in this country and you will find that it has been an experiment that has been failing since its inception. The business model is flawed. Trying to fix a system that has never been really successful seems incredibly stupid to me. The bottom-line is simple. The less educated we get, the worse our workforce becomes. As our workforce gets worse we lose our competitive edge. Our workforce is degrading; just take a look around your office. It is harder to find qualified workers than it was just ten years ago. I work in a profession that is rated one of the top five. Bill Gates didn't fight for bringing people into the workforce from other countries because we had a shortage of American workers. He realized, like most top CEOs in this country, that we have a shortage of qualified American workers. Sound familiar? Why do we have a shortage of qualified workers? Why do we have a shortage of qualified teachers? Hmmm. Several years ago I read something that really concerned me. The number one concern CEOs had about their businesses was the lack of a "quality workforce." This problem has not been quite as acute recently because of the tech fallout. Focus has been on getting businesses healthier financially. I was reading on the plane on Sunday as I headed to San Francisco for a conference. I read an article in Business 2.0 about The Next Job Boom. The magazine cover headlines read "New Studies Say Everyone's Out Looking" and "The Latest Data Says Everyone's Hiring." Hype, hype, hype. Ughhh... On page 88 of this month's issue the author of the article attempted to tell me what workers and their bosses needed to know. If there is such a boom coming, where am I going to find the qualified workers? posted at 5/18/2006 08:00:00 AM |
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