President Obama and Education Reform

I applaud President Obama and his new agenda for education. Education Reform needs to be conducted of schools system nationwide as so many are substandard and need a complete overhaul. I do differ on Education Reform focused on increasing the number of hours that students are in school daily or yearly (shortening the summer break). Children are already in school for over 10 months. We want our children to have a healthy balance of education and life, which is something that they will not have when they become working adults based on the careers of today and the future. The key to Education Reform is the “Work Smarter, not Harder”. By extending school hours we are really working harder.
For true Education Reform to occur, we need to analyze the schools systems and do an overhaul of the educators from the Principals to the Janitors. Most of these individuals have a negative attitude toward school children and their ability to succeed. If you are not a 3.5 – 4.0 student, then you do not warrant the assistance of the Teachers, Guidance Counselors, and Principals in maintaining your educational endeavors in elementary and high school because you lack the potential to excel at a college or university. Therefore, you are relegated to the students that are not “college material” and thus should be concentrating on joining the working class rather than going to college. I gleamed this knowledge when working as a Admission Representative for a school. When approaching the Principals and Guidance Counselors, about visiting the schools, the typical response from many Michigan High Schools was, “Our students are not college material and it would not be beneficial for you or them to visit the school.” If I am receiving these message just image the verbal abuse that the students are receiving on a daily basis.
The strategy for Education Reform should be an analysis of all of the entities that directly or indirectly interact with the students and a determination of whether they are focused on student success or on providing barriers to success for the students that can become so imbedded that the student is destined to fail. Every school system need to develop a strategic plan for how they are going to improve the graduation rates and the federal and state funding that they receive should be determined by their strategic plan and the feasibility of its implementation in meeting Education Reform. Work Smarter, not Harder!!! It is not the length of the school day or the school year that will improve the graduation rates, but the improvement of the school environments that will be more conducive to providing educational services to the generations of today and the future.