Notes on Education

If we speak with the best teachers in America, with any employer interested in the trainability and work performance of new employees, or with parents who are concerned about how well their children are being prepared for the challenges of the future, we will notice a common thread wending its way through each dialogue: Our schools are failing to educate our children as well as is needed. "Notes on Education" goes to the front lines in our schools to examine some of the key elements that are contributing to a continuing stagnation, if not decline, in the quality of K-12 education in the United States over the last few decades. Numerous specific, potential solutions are suggested by the author, not as a one-size-fits-all program, but purely as a starting place for serious discussions within the community that will lead to constructive actions that benefit our children and their future. As huge government programs and remote experts have failed to provide meaningful help, this author calls for an "education barn raising" at the community level as the only hope remaining for a return to quality education in our nation. Rather than its usual role as an empty slogan, the phrase "It takes a village to raise a child" takes on new meaning in this important book, with responsibility for improvement in education coming home to roost on our individual shoulders.