Occupy This!

There are clearly a lot of angry and outspoken people in the U.S. right now. With the Occupy movement surging ahead, troops being released out of Iraq this month, unemployment on the rise, the upcoming elections, and a host of other issues, our country has a lot on its plate. One issue however that seems to get plenty of attention, but rarely any sound solutions for its never-ending problems, is our public education system. 


When the Occupy movement first started up, and even now that it seems to actually have some sort of message (at least in some cities) my first question was: "If this many folks sat outside of public schools and demanded better education for our youth, how much of an impact could that have?" The answer I came up with: "A LOT!" You see, many children in our country, the same economically unstable people that our dear Occupiers are fighting for, are not getting the education they need. No, it's not because they need new Common Core standards and it's not because they need more engaged, hard working teachers, and it's not because they need more programs, and it's not even because they need more money in the schools. While some of those things are great, the point is constantly being missed. What they need is people to fight for them by demanding that this cycle of poverty they live in come to an end. 


These kids don't give two cents about school when they wake up in the morning because there are too many other factors weighing against them. This is not news; this is what has been put out there to the public for years and years. The problem is, our government officials, school administrators and other stakeholders are scared. No one wants to talk about the root of the problem because they don't want to appear racist or elitist. Until someone is willing to discuss how our welfare system needs a revolutionary change; how pooling poor people into project housing, locked behind gates is only hurting people by forcing children to mostly view negative things on a regular basis; how not giving kids an opportunity to see the world at work and instead sitting them in a closed-in classroom all day forcing math and language arts down their throats and ignoring everything else is defeating the purpose of education, until then, we will continue to get what we have gotten!


So where is the action? Where are the 99% when it comes to helping children succeed? Aren't children, especially socioeconomically challenged children part of the 99% of people in this country who are being "taken advantage of?" The type of revolution this country needs is within the education system, not on Wall Street. Sure, we need less corporate greed and it's not fair that Bill Gates has more access to the President than I do, and sure it sucks that when I was a teaching, my salary was meager and some guy who barely works and plays golf all day makes a million bucks a year, and blah, blah, blah. However, how can any of this be remedied if we keep processing kids through the system, ignoring the root causes of the problem, and never giving them any skills to move beyond Cayce Homes or any number of other government assisted housing in the U.S.? Couldn't it be argued that creating more quality educated people who are compassionate, giving, and hard working help solve the problems we are currently up against?


At the risk of being redundant in relation to my previous posts, I offer you this thought: If our children walked into school each day to be greeted by community leaders, hopped on buses to go and witness a day in the life of a person at work, had college recruiters in and out of their schools, and learned by doing, wouldn't this make a difference? Wouldn't more children be more excited to come to school each day? Wouldn't teachers be more excited to teach? 


Occupiers, if you want to Occupy something, go walk through a local school and look around. Look at the behavior of the students in the hallways and how they treat their teachers. Witness the look on an urban teacher or administrator's face at this time of year before TCAP preparation starts. Look at the facilities. See how confused everyone in the whole building is because no one really knows what to do. Then, start demanding action for a better way of teaching and learning that doesn't include rote memorization or teaching to a test that will ultimately have zero bearing on that child's life as a whole. Demand children be treated as humans. Demand that our inner-city kids be given skills that will give them zero excuse to "get a check" each month and instead go into the work force, to create jobs, to be somebody, and ultimately survive and thrive in our economy instead of being viewed as a pariah feeding off the system.


Albert Einstein once said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." If that is true, then why do we keep doing it in education? There is an opportunity right now to demand change. I am doing whatever I can with whatever power I have (which is currently limited) to work toward change. I invite you to think about your time spent in school and what you think worked and what did not. Also, if you have children, will one day have children, or if you have a job, own a business, or are even a part of this country to any degree, ask yourself how education affects your life? If you cannot answer that question, give me a ring, I will be more than happy to enlighten you. When you reach the conclusion that education affects all of us every day, Occupiers, community members, PEOPLE, stand up for change in public education and start fighting a battle that can easily be won if the village that is our country can demand it effectively!