Tag Archives: lawmakers

How Devoted Are You?

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Wake up! We sent the same lawmakers back and expect different results. Well, maybe you are right. It can happen; it must happen. The question is: How do we expect it to happen?

Do we expect “the system” to fix itself? Hum. I personally have never seen it but it does happen in other places in the country and the world; so, yes, it could happen. But I don’t think it will unless we push the issues.

Have we had the conversations we need to have had to get the ball rolling? I haven’t heard them but I’m not in the “in” crowd. I can only hope that the influential have a clue and are listening.

Can we see we are at a crossroads and that it means making choices? I’m not sure that others do understand. And that really is a problem because it is the power of ordinary people coming together devoted to a cause that will bring about the systemic change we need.

You say you want solutions? But how devoted are you to looking for them?

 

Reform: Do Not Pass Go

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Missing something? Then, do not pass go. Instead, step back. Do an assessment of the state of education —a local, state, or nation level assessment.

Now ask yourself; to realistically evaluate and set the direction of reform, why are we looking to and at the same people with the same mindset that created the status quo? How will they create change? Will it be real education reform if it is based on the same principles that led to the same policy types and practices that have failed to show real and lasting progress on the “education reform” front?

It is insane to keep repeating the same mistakes. But it is part of our reality; face it. And face the fact that we must change the nation’s guiding principles of reform.

In Idaho, voters rejected education “reform” laws that lawmakers put in place…. But we sent the same lawmakers back for another round. Face the fact; we need new leaders.

Nationally, we saw congressional obstructionism lead to a downgrade of our national credit rating and overall the nation sent most of those same lawmakers back to face the same issues,… again.

People, there is only one way out — a plan that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Targeted — a SMART plan. And it is essential that it has NOT ONLY the consent of the people, but it MUST BE PUSHED by the people. DO NOT PASS GO; let’s push a plan that measures what matters most to us.

Our participation in governing is the only thing that can stop the insanity.

Get involved. Learn more about reform.

Reforms Should Honor Our Principles

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Here’s a little story about how reforms should honor our principles.

In a conversation with a young nurse the other day, she proceeded to tell me what she thought about public schools. She had been a school nurse while her children were in a regular public school and felt it gave her a different perspective. She then went on to volunteer the information that her children were now in the “charter system.” O.K., there’s a hook I couldn’t resist.

The conversation ran along these lines;

Me: “What did you see as the problem?”

Her: “There is so much waste.” (She didn’t elaborate and I didn’t press it.)

Me: “You see a big difference between the charter school and the regular public?”

Her: “Oh, yes. The kids are so much more respectful at the charter school. The behavior was terrible in the public school and the teachers had this idea that there was nothing they could do about it. And the parents were just as bad as their kids!”

…and the conversation drifted to sports and more bad behaviors. But her points were made; they have been made before.

People want public schools to be places of civility. Respect is a basic principle of real education reform. emmylou-harris-musician-quote-as-citizens-we-have-to-be-more

People want OUR government institutions to be as thrifty with our tax dollars as we working-class people must be with our own.

Reforms should honor our principles.

The policies and practices of education reform must be based on the fundamental truths and doctrines we believe in. So my advise is for us to consider that civility and thriftiness are good starting points for lawmakers as well as schools.