With a little more than a week until the 2010 midterm election, I would like to present my 6 steps to improve America. These are my general ideas to improve the areas of our country that I feel need to be repaired in order for America to prosper again. They do not contain all the details necessary to implement, they are general thoughts.
I believe that education is the single most important responsibility that a parent has. Yes we have a duty to protect and provide for our children, but it is our duty first to teach our children to defend and provide for themselves. So I will start with my idea on how to improve our national education system.
First step to improving our education system is to privatize it. It has been proven over time that private education supplies a more effective education than government education ever has (report).
People have a habit of being more interested in getting more out things when they put money into it. In the current system taxes are taking unseen to pay for education so parents do not feel like they are invested financially in the system.
It is often cited by parents that the only reason they do not send their children to private schools is money. If we implement the voucher system it would allow parents to choose which school their children go to. This also puts pressure on the schools to provide the best education in their area so that parents choose to spend their vouchers at that school.
Second, now that I have brought up money, we need to reduce the size of the US Department of Education. School curriculum should be set by the community those schools serve. This is another reason private schools excel, they have to adjust their curriculum to meet the needs of their communities. Parents in rural Alabama may want their children to learn more about agriculture than the parents in the inner city of Boston. Targeted curriculum allows those kids to be better able to serve their communities when they graduate.
It is always a good idea to get the distant federal government out of the local affairs. The less money required to power the federal government allows the local governments to spend more money to improve those areas they see each day in their community that need assistance.
Lastly we need to make the parents a larger part of the system. Schools should be structured in such a way as to insist parents participate in educating their children. Some subjects should be taught at home. I understand that parents think they do not have time to do this, but with the high ratings of prime time tv shows I could argue that they do have time.
So to wrap it up. I suggest the following ways to improve education in America:
- Privatize education – vouchers are a good option.
- Remove the influence of the US Department of Education
- Get parents involved.
America done right 