Effort and Education

by Kevin Ganster

Former IBM CEO Louis Gerstner says it’s time for our political leaders to acknowledge that after thousands of reports and billions of dollars spent, our K-12 public schools system is failing and only four things can turn it around:

1. Set high academic standards for all of our kids, supported by a rigorous curriculum.
2. Greatly improve the quality of teaching in our classrooms, supported by substantially higher compensation for our best teachers.
3. Measure student and teacher performance on a systematic basis, supported by tests and assessments.
4. Increase "time on task" for all students; this means more time in school each day, and a longer school year.

Gerstner says there is wide support for many of these measures, but its the bureaucracy that’s thwarting progress. Therefore, he recommends: abolishing all school districts, save 70 – 50 states and 20 of the largest cities; establish a set of national standards for a core curriculum; set national days of testing and publish the results; establish national standards for teacher certification and require regular re-evaluations of teacher skills; and effectively add 20 more school days to the year. Gerstner writes:

H.G. Wells remarked that ‘history is a race between education and catastrophe.’ For the first time in America's history, we may be losing that race. We can win, but we have to act quickly and decisively.