First a little about myself. I am married to a beautiful woman and we have shared nearly 20 years together. I am a father of four wonderful children, all under the ages of 13 and as you can imagine they keep my wife and I very busy . I tell you this first and foremost because I have started this blog as a concerned parent who has become deeply concerned with the depleting level of education my children and millions of others like them are likely receiving in our nations schools. The education I have received and the research I have acquired have done well to prepare for writing this blog, but I have always believed that children are the real authors of our legacy because they will share with the world of our existence and the mark we have left behind. We must do our part to make sure the stories convey our struggles but demonstrate our successes as well. A failed educational system is quite simply not an option.
Many people have argued that our failing educational system is a monstrosity wrapped in bureaucracy much like the war on drugs and terrorism, poverty, hunger, foreign and domestic failures and political and social injustice. Improving our educational system seems to most as a monumental task that millions of Americans feel can not be solved in our life times. Many people have told me in recent years that we are all going to 'Hell in a hand basket' (a phrase I still can not tell you what it means) and as long as I protect my children I will be okay. Let me be the first to tell everyone who adopts that belief they could not be further from the truth. Do not believe the faceless gibberish of media pundits who have nothing better to do but to help drive this country deeper into the rabbit hole rather than being part of the solution and helping to develop methods that seek to solving our countries problems.
Many people have called me an idealist. Someone with his head in the clouds who does not fully comprehend the fiscal challenges of reforming something so fundamentally warped as our K-12 educational system. What this blog seeks to accomplish is what we can do to take back our K-12 educational system and create a system that is sustainable for the next 150 years. In this blog we are not going to blame those who have come before us but take a long hard look in the mirror and our individual failings that have led us down this path and how we will come together for the sake of the next generation of youth as it is our obligation to them as Americans. We must leave this country better than we found it.
We must always remember that a substandard education will result in a substandard nation. Americans as a culture want the best for themselves and those close to them. All we must do is accept and adopt the philosophy that every child in this country is close to us, they are our extended family. They are not faceless, they are not part of the bureaucracy that has become such an integral part of the American way of life. They want simply to have access to opportunities America has always been known for providing. The American Dream is not a dream at all but a depleted reality. But still a reality all the same. Our task is for every adult in this country to join together as a unified front for the sole purpose of strengthening our educational system. As a stronger nation our grandchildren will speak of the triumphs of the thankful nation.
