President Obama gave a speech on March 10, 2009 about what he wants to do to turn the public school system around. He calls for merit pay, firing “bad” teachers and raising standards for students. He also wants to increase the school year (or the school day), and focus heavily on early childhood education.
The interesting thing about his speech is that he is very focused on having America become the superpower that he knows it can be, and that only through our children’s education can we get there. This leads me to wonder what our expectations for our students are based on?
Do we want to see our children surpass other children around the world, leading them to be the best and brightest? As a special education teacher, my goals are far from this. Instead, I look to give my students the best education possible to enable them to succeed in today’s society. As a tutor, I seek to have students learn to love learning. This for the sake of learning and self-betterment, though, not for world domination.
Read more about President Obama’s speech.
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