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Fixing Our Schools: Focus on WHY, not WHO

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Have you ever been frustrated and verbally struck out at someone you love? Someone who had absolutely nothing to do with whatever was causing your frustration?

We all have.

I’m hearing a lot of that kind of misdirected finger-pointing in the wake of the recent Chicago teacher’s strike. And I often hear it with regard to the problems that have turned our schools into a national disgrace.

Just like individuals, organizations and groups often strike out at others in their frustration with a given situation.

This is especially true when the direct cause of the frustration isn’t readily discernible: “I don’t know why it’s not working. It’s just not working.”

I’ve been a management consultant for many years. Typically, when I take on the task of helping to fix a business environment that isn’t working, everyone involved starts by wanting to blame someone else. It’s always their fault.

But I’ve learned that when things aren’t working it’s important to focus on why, not who.”

Focusing on who is about assigning blame. And who’s to blame? Well, the other guy, of course. Every single time. Interesting how that works, isn’t it?

It might make you feel better to blame the other guy. But it won’t fix the problem. Ever.

Focus on WHY

Focusing on why is the only way to find a real solution that will actually fix the problem.

If you try to blame me, I’m going to defend myself. Just as you’re going to defend yourself if I try to blame you.

Our schools are a national disgrace. There seems to be a national consensus on that.

Unfortunately we’re caught up in a national debate about who, not why. Some people want to blame the teachers. Or the unions. Or school administrators. Or parents. Or even the kids themselves.

But it’s the system that’s broken, not the people.

Instead of asking who’s to blame, we should be asking why the system is broken. Questions like:

  • Why are 75 percent of college-bound freshman not prepared for college?
  • Why are only four percent of African-American college-bound freshman prepared for college?
  • Why is an institution solely dedicated to education unable to, over a 12-year timespan to teach basic reading, writing, math and science to children of average intelligence?
  • Why do half of all students in America drop out before graduating from high school?
  • Why aren’t we doing more to address the dropout problem when we know a high school dropout is 47 times more likely to be incarcerated than a college graduate?
  • Why do children who grow up in poor families have only a one in 10 chance of graduating from college?
  • Why were a third of African-American high school dropouts in prison in 2009?
  • Why do 80 million to 90 million American adults, about half of the workforce, not have the skills required to get or advance in jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage?
  • Why is our education system so broken, when the United States pays more per pupil to educate our children than basically any other country in the world? Right now it averages over $11,000 per student per year.
End The Education Planation is a grassroots nonprofit organization with one and only one goal: Fixing our broken national education system by giving every parent in America the choice of sending their kids to a school where they have an opportunity to receive a quality education.

Education Freedom Accounts

We’re proposing a federal law requiring every state that accepts federal education funds to create Educational Freedom Accounts for every K-12 student. The Education Freedom Accounts would equal at least 95 percent of the average money spent per pupil in each district. Parents could use these funds to send their children to any state-approved school.

Empowering Parents

Our proposal wouldn’t cost an extra dime. It wouldn’t change school funding or funding sources. It would simply give parents the freedom to choose any state-approved school for the education of their children.

Parents all over America are forced to send their children to schools they know are doing a lousy job because they don’t have a realistic choice about what school their kids will attend.

The present K-12 public education monopoly is simply a poor system for delivering a quality education. The system and the paradigm it’s based on are the problem.

Our proposal would give every parent in America control over which school would educate their children because they would control where the money used for their education is spent.

With this one move we can unleash the creative genius of literally millions of educators. And transform our schools from a national disgrace to a national asset.


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