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Here, students have both the individual right to aspire to be more than their parents and while subsequently being provided with the tools necessary to convert aspiration into actuality. In this nation, a “sheepherder,” such as I, can serve as a senator.
Today, Americans face risk, in that for the first time, the next generation may have less opportunity than the last. Our American dream is threatened; complacency now stands solidly between aspiration and implementation. Yes, our Montana education system still leads this nation, but we can’t rest on our laurels here as our nation no longer leads the world.
Terms such as “socioeconomic condition” and “cultural disadvantage” have become justification for expecting less, educating less, and achieving less. Education discussions of high standards, accountability, and performance are overshadowed by discussions of “feelings” and “social recognition.” Advancement is unlinked from merit, increasingly uncoupled from performance; high achievement goes unrewarded and unrecognized, mediocrity is the new norm as it is now more acceptable to consider how a student “feels” than to express expectations on how a student “does.”
In yet another paradoxical twist, despite empirical evidence clearly establishing quality teachers as the most crucial determinant of student learning, modern American society fails to hold good teachers in high esteem.
Thus, not surprisingly, teaching is fast losing ground as a career choice, driven down by employment models that refuse to even acknowledge the possibility of differential excellence in teachers, with collective bargaining contracts defining salary and reward systems based solely upon time, rarely valuing to even recognize that there are incredible stewards of learning whose dreams and hard work have elevated them to the highest pinnacles of efficiency and effectiveness in their profession.
A myth of easy interchangeability between teachers now exists, disrespecting the individual talent and effort required to teach well to the point where commitment to the education field is waning. Indeed, given the incredibly dispiriting monolithic employment models offered to teachers today, it is truly testamentary to their professionalism that so many of quality yet persist.
Without stewardship, the “American Dream” of today could evolve to become the “American Memory” of tomorrow. For America, and Montana, to continue to lead the world, we, the people, must demand a “world class” education. We must embrace concepts that challenge our schools, our teachers and our children, even though such concepts are not always comfortable, we must embark upon the pursuit of “good,” knowing that, as we do so, “perfect” is never achievable, we must recognize there will be some failures along the way, but we must remain steadfast in our expectation that today’s students can, and deserve, the opportunity to do and be more.
State driven initiatives of high academic standards, such as the Common Core, are but one reform the Montana Legislature must consider. Others include individualized digital learning, evaluation, accountability, data transparency and choice.
Yes, this will require some investment, yes this will not be perfect, and, yes this will be controversial, but the alternative is accepting complacency in education as the new base for the “American Dream.”
For all our futures, improving education must once again become the mainstay of both the societal and political discussion in Montana, and this nation, and no, this can’t become all about money, rather the focal point must be improving student achievement!
Llew Jones is the Republican senator representing SD 14. He is carrying education legislation in the 2013 legislative session.
http://www.sidneyherald.com/opinion/columnists/article_0abdb90c-3e78-11e2-b9cc-001a4bcf887a.html
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