School System
For my purposes, I am going to be mainly focusing on the Minnesota school system - reforms go for every school system for the most part and I am going to be focusing on what worked in other countries and what might work here. I propose that a lot of the problems we see in America do not come from a lack of education, but a lack of understanding or trying to understand. I do think that schools are somewhat responsible for this, however and I think that they need to be updated in every category.
The first thing that I want to focus on is the budget because I think that we can make SOME changes without changing the national budget, but I don’t think that we can make all the necessary changes without upping the budget of education. If we look at the budget over the last 14 years (2008, 2015, and 2022), we see:
These graphs show that between 2008 and 2015, the defense budget went up by 2% total of the whole budget (52% to 54%), which isn’t that disconcerting, but the fact that it’s already above 50% means that, for some reason, we are scared of someone attacking. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have defense - that would go against a lot of what I stand for, but I’m saying that we need to make cut-backs and start focusing on the inside before focusing on external factors (unless they’re harming us). The next highest IS education, but education is still only 7% of the total budget and we should be aiming to make that higher because a well-educated nation means that we’ll have smarter commanders MEANING that we won’t need to have as many soldiers as long as we can outmaneuver and outsmart them (I know it’s a lot more complicated and some people don’t have the minds for it, but I’m saying that we can change the outcome of the world by focusing on the future generations and there are probably thousands, if not millions, of would be geniuses that were lost to poverty, that were lost because they didn’t have the necessary diet needed).
There are a lot of proposed changes that I want to make and I know that increasing the budget would be the right first step. First off, we can pay teachers more - making it so that they won’t have to worry as much about other factors and can just teach, especially since they work more than 40 hours a week and barely get paid and most of the time they have to take a second job. Then, we can also hire other specialists that can help students with A) mental health, this is going to be an entire paper B) Physical Health + Dieting (which plays into mental health) C) Extracurriculars (including jobs to pay for college, though college should be free as well, but I digress since I haven’t researched that topic as extensively as school systems) D) Apprenticeships/Internships should be offered way more as a part of the school system - seeing different fields and being able to be a part of those fields for a longer period (like 6 weeks or 4 months or something like that) to see if you like it
The first three probably won’t happen unless we get a higher national budget for education, but I can see a world where people get hired for apprenticeships (though I’m not sure what child laws this might infringe upon, so maybe only for Juniors in High School?), but let children see jobs - plumbing, tree working, desk jobs, lawyers. Let them see where they might want to go, regardless of the money, money will always play a factor, but let them make opinions for themselves on what they want to do. We, as a nation, need to do more for kids in poverty, for kids in schools, so that they AREN’T SCARED of being shot at school. Get them the proper help they need and see what happens - hire therapists and have them attend a weekly session regardless of if they “need” it or not. Newsflash: EVERYONE needs someone to listen to them and to not judge them no matter what. Get them the proper diet and have a dietician on the staff, I KNOW this isn’t going to be easy, but we’re supposed to be making a better future for our kids. John Adams once said, “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.” We are here to make the best life for the next generation, so that they can make the best life for the next generation. I’m not saying don’t enjoy life, but I am saying that we need to give every kid a chance, kids act out for a reason, you will barely find any kid that wants to disappoint someone they care about. I will go into more detail for why I think we need everything, but the things I want are fivefold:
Mental health professionals teach kids about mental health and help them understand that it’s ok to feel how they’re feeling and, if it’s not, to help them get the help they need. Have a therapist on every campus.
Physical education - this doesn’t just include working out and getting energy out during school hours, this would include taking care of your bodies and giving you all the necessary tools to make a workout plan that fits YOUR needs and to help you accept the body you have, this would also play into mental health.
Diets - Food and water intake is so important and every kid should have a chance to have a good meal - we are trying to end the cycle of poverty for these families and trying to give them the best chance possible. I know this is going to cost a lot, but I also know that if we don’t do this then we’ll just keep going down the path that we are. If we let kids worry about food instead of their futures and playing and having fun then what are we doing to them, they will slowly die inside.
Grades - School should be focused on LEARNING and learning how to learn. I understand that that was the goal at the start of school, but homework and more school is not helping - a 9-to-5 should not be our goal at the end of school. Make school hours 10-3, you WILL see a difference and I understand that we need some sort of goal for school and I don’t know exactly what that is at this moment, but our focus should not be on grades. One thought I had was to have retakeable tests because in life you will fail but most of the time you get to try again, you get to get back up.
Extracurriculars/Apprenticeships - This one is really important to me because I always felt like I never had a chance to explore my passions and that was my fault, but school did not help. I think there should just be trips to different employment spaces so kids can try and learn what they like and don’t like, kids need to see what they’re working towards and if they want to stick with that or not. This one will be more fledged out in a later article.
This is going to be a lot of work, but everything worth doing usually is.
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