Education

Transform America has bi weekly monthly meetings, every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month. You said you were waiting for the opportunity to change the world... Let's go.

This month's meeting will mostly be dedicated to the park party coming up on Saturday. We're meeting this Wednesday at the park, 135th & St. Nicholas Ave. at 6:30pm. Only invite cats you think have a real interest in taking action on social justice issues.

Let's Go!

The official vote of our Wing organizations, 5-1. A better Education in NYC will be our Destination or campaign. Now before we get to the question, “how?”, we get to the question, "What specifically?

What specifically do we wish to change about education and why?

Transform America Wings have come up with the following 5 issues to address. By 6:00pm, Tuesday August 12th, our Wings will vote for the top 3 issues they would like to vote on. Then we will begin the work of developing collaborative action plans to deal with these issues. Weigh in.

* Academic Alternatives[1]
* Political Education[2]
* Purpose Development for Dept. of Education[3]
* College Affordability[4]
* Increasing Counselors and Mentors for Students[5]

[1] To create alternatives to college for students who don't make it academically such as vocational training and giving students the proper skills to begin working after graduating high school and teaching students about self-employment opportunities. Some examples of jobs that do not require a college degree include being an entrepreneur, electrician, web master. etc. Also maybe trying to expand apprenticeship programs.

[2] Teaching students about the social justice issues affecting them such as healthcare and the economy as well as encouraging people to vote smart and be knowledgeable about the candidates and the political process. Getting high school students and young people involved in local elections, encouraging their candidacy in local politics such as the city council, and encouraging activism so that they themselves can create the type of change they wish to see in their communities.

[3] The New York City Dept. of Education does not have a purpose or mission statement. We want to create a purpose and rally the students and teachers and parents around this purpose while at the same time increasing the demand side of education and getting kids to really want to learn and invest their time and energy into education. This mission should include aspects of community control of education and human rights.

[4] To make college more affordable for prospective and current students as well as ensuring that students are aware of scholarship and grant opportunities.

[5] Bringing professionals and college students to the classroom to be counselors and mentors to high school and middle school kids so that students have someone to talk to about their futures and what an education can provide for them. This will also affect the demand side of education by increasing it because kids will see how valuable an education is.

Do not let "the how" determine what you think should change. Think freely. Which of these 3 issues do you think should should be addressed first and why?

Now, whether or not Transform America votes to choose education as its next destination, it is certainly a topic close to many of us. It has also been the main discussion point at our Flight Schools so far.

Here is an interesting article from a few months ago on Slate.com discussing the current state of America's public education system. The author, Jim Ryan, suggests a few strategies for fixing the system:

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