Diversity education basically started as a reaction to the civil rights movement and violent demonstrations by activists determined to send a clear message to Americans of European descent that black people would no longer remain voiceless regarding their treatment as citizens. Social change in order to achieve a more stable society prevailed was the rationale for the education, which primarily focused on training to increase sensitivity towards and awareness of racial differences.

Inspired by the growing realization that the productive potential of machinery driven by coal was limitless, some began to fear the menace of ‘overproduction’, since traditional American culture encouraged a surplus of manufacturers, and entrepreneurialism was the heart of the economy.

Originally schools were for rich boys of rich parents.  Education then spread to the general population, including women.  The Supreme Court in 1954 reversed an earlier ruling that separate but equal was acceptable.  This led to the desegregation of schools.  The 1965 Immigration Reform Act changed significantly the ethnic mix of immigrants.

The education programs in the US spend too much money training teachers to coach instead of teach. Our educators are trained to perpetuate the notion of the acceptable amount of knowledge rather than to enlighten children with critical thinking. No longer are youth taught to question, to revise, to better their predecessors, but to attain the bare minimum required by outdated modes of thinking; student’s miss out on a broader learning, an understanding of the world and a drive to better the evolution of society. Students who are not taught to question their learning will never question the words, the implications, of their environment.

Many developing countries, which normally follow the western trend, could not keep up with changes that involved constant adaptation of new teaching methodologies. Reprinting of new textbooks and retraining of teachers, for the implementation of those groundbreaking new techniques, were not within their budget. As a result, they had no other choice but to stick with what was working for them, and kept the ball rolling. Why try to fix what is not broken?

The Board of Education Tuesday quarreled over the process of searching for a new superintendent, voicing differing opinions on what should be public and what should be private.

Four of the board’s seven members spent several minutes voicing concerns about becoming too focused on test scores and the dangers of raising standards without supporting increased classroom time, improved instruction and student engagement.

In countries with the most advanced systems like Finland, Canada, Australia, Japan and our neighbour in the south, they attract the best people for the job because  they have made teaching a profession of high-level knowledge workers, and that – not higher salaries – is what makes teaching so attractive.

In order to walk the path of world-class education, we really ought to look into uplifting and strengthening the teaching profession into a respectable one. We need to take better care of the nation’s most important builders. The future of this country depends on the seeds that the teachers sow today.

The Education Department money will add on to HHS’s roughly $12 billion for Head Start and child-care funding, and it will give the two agencies the ability to set universal standards for early learning centers, moving away from the state-based “patchwork” of programs currently in place.

Given the scarce resources, did the Education Department make the right choice in focusing on early learning? Did grades 3-12 get the short shrift? What can states do to boost their enrollment in early learning among disadvantaged kids? How can child-care centers and pre-K programs improve such that the kids are ready for kindergarten? Are there adequate measurements to assess how early learning programs are performing?