Education

Despite the expenditure of over $607.2 billion yearly and the best professional efforts of over 3.1 million teachers (statistics from the Center for Educational Reform, 2011), and several recent major Department of Education Programs purported to solve all our educational shortfalls in short order, the American Educational System (AES) continues to fail virtually all American students with unsatisfactory educational outcomes that will last lifetimes and deeply impact our global presence. This inability to implement much needed change occurs because at its root the AES is a series of “givens” that have created a caste-like situation where students are unable to perform to their potential because of inflexible system constraints. This book proposes a new paradigm for the AES, based on existing capabilities aimed directly at the American ideal of life, liberty, and happiness (read that as preparation for opportunity and life) for every student. Interestingly, the resulting solutions can be achieved within the existing resources and capabilities. The author structured this book into three highly documented step-by-step discussions: 1) A review of the elements of today’s caste environment that require attention; 2) A discussion of the paradigm elements that are needed to change the AES culture and environment; and 3) A vision of how these changes would impact the entire AES as a system, not just as single focuses that always seem to miss the mark. Chapter by chapter, the text builds a case for establishing an AES that is so successful that it would be virtually invisible within the American Democracy we all seek to prosper in and enjoy.