Education Reform K-16

Posted by on June 10, 2005

[posted from Public Education Network newsblast]

PUBLIC SCHOOLS NEED A LIFT

While American universities have long been acknowledged as the best in the world, our public schools have not. Endowments amounting to billions of dollars at the high end support faculty whose work garners Nobel Prizes and changes the quality of life. Meanwhile, parents of children attending urban public schools in New York and other states have had to sue to secure adequate funding of K?12 education. Elite institutions of higher education selectively recruit top students not only from U.S. high schools but also from secondary schools around the globe. Public schools under standards-based reform strive to educate every child to high levels of achievement. The contradiction between high-performing universities and struggling public schools cannot be allowed to continue, writes Linda Wing. Now is the time to bring our universities and schools together so
that our entire system of education is the best in the world. It is not enough to leave no child behind. Today?s imperative is college for all, with college preparation starting in kindergarten and with well-defined, university-level opportunities to continue professional and personal learning over the course of a lifetime.

http://www.scholastic.com/administrator/may05/articles.asp?article=opinion