Public Education: Changing mental models

Looking at the problems faced by public schools, especially in large metropolitan areas, the future of education is bleak. My oldest brother is a teacher in a public school in Atlanta and I know several other teachers who work in the public system -- their reports aren't encouraging. I've read several reports in the last few years that show findings which suggest when income and social status are compared, the results are similar between public and private, but this doesn't convince me that public schools aren't failing.

It has very little to do with individual teachers and individual students -- my concern has to do primarily with systems. It also has little to do with the existence of some public schools that produce favorable results and some private schools which don't produce favorable results. These kinds of comparisons don't address the underlying problems facing education -- they only serve to keep the argument going to weakly bolster one side or the other. The first order of business seems to be an objective assessment of public education in and of itself as a government controlled system. Then, if results reveal the system is failing, alternatives should be considered. It does little good to wage a statistical war with each side trying to find the best report to use as a weapon -- one only has to observe the public schools to understand that myriad problems exist which seem to be getting worse. Is the public education system capable of meeting US education needs in the 21st century? I don't think it is.

What I've observed and what I've heard reported from those working within the system who have no political motive is that schools in large metropolitan areas are overwhelmed by behavioral problems, bureacratic red-tape, incompetent teachers, lack of innovation, and crumbling buildings. After all the billions of dollars have been thrown at the problem, nothing much has changed except the situation is getting worse. I hate to be hopeless, but I've seen this issue swatted around for years and it seems that unions, bureacrats and politicians resist any real solutions. It doesn't take a 10 million dollar grant to study the issue to know that public education has failed.

How long can we fiddle with symptoms and throw money down a black hole? The system is rife with catch 22s and negative, spiralling loops. Until fundamental, systemic changes are made, the problem will worsen. Peter Senge wrote about mental models in The Fifth Discipline and everyone concerned with the problem of public education, or systems in general, should read and study this book.

Education has been politicized and, as I've written earlier, this is the problem with much of our society. Until we can address the problem in terms of real problems and real solutions, we're supporting an obstacle to kids receiving a sufficient education to meet the needs of the 21st century. It's time to demand solutions outside the political/union realm, because solutions within that realm will be symptomatic in nature and self-serving. The fundamental solutions to education will never be found and implemented until education is removed from government control.

(image from rdr.zazzle.com)