Our Schools Must Do Better

"Our Schools Must Do Better" a very persuasive title from Bob Herbert from the New York Times discussing what is needed to improve our educational system. The article opens with Herbert asking a high school kid who the vice president of the united states was and the kid's response is " I don't know". The federal test results showed some improvement in public school math and reading scores but that is not enough, there is so much more that needs to be done. specially that now a four-year degree is all but mandatory for building and sustaining a middle-class standard of living in the U.S. says Herbert. Over the next 20 or 30 years, when today's children are raising children of their own in an ever more technologically advanced and globalized society, the educatonal requirements will only grow more rigorous and unforgiving. Herbert says that "What is needed is a wholesale transformation of the public system from the broken down postwar model of the pat 50 or 60 years. Herbert spoke with professor Thomas Kane who specializes in education and economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and this is what he had to say "We're not good at thinking about magnitudes. we've got a bunch of little things that we think are moving in the right direction, but we haven't stepped back and thought, OK.; how big an improvement are we really talking about?" The article goes on about the steps and the things that needs to be improved like teachers and to compare to other successful schools and to maybe learn from them. I really enjoyed reading this article and I am sure that you will too, in my opinion this is a topic that needs to be discussed and which needs to be addressed. What I liked about this article is the examples the author used and the resources and also by talking about this subject with professor Thomas Kane who has a background in education.