A Conversation Worth Having
At Education America, we want to give people access to information, conversations, and opportunities to open their eyes about the state of education in our country. It is, after all, one of the most prolific controversial topics happening in any political or social space. Budget discussions and curriculum decisions lead to protests and escalating tensions in school board meetings and debate floors. Elections have been won and lost on the topic.
Education is on a short list of topics that are always on the agenda and never resolved.
At Education America, we want to be part of bigger and better conversations about education. There’s a lot that we talk about regarding education on our show — and even in our own homes and at coffee shops with friends — that isn’t actually controversial at all.
After all, who would disagree with many of the fundamental beliefs that we hold to:
Education is a right and should not be more available to somebody because of their race, their income, or their address.
Education should prepare students with tools of how to think, and not simply tell them what to think.
Families should have the control in their children’s education.
These and many principles like them are at the forefront of our minds in many of our discussions on and off the air. The obvious point of contention and debate comes with how these principles, beliefs, and values for education should take shape in practical, real-world ways.
If education is a right, how can we make it equal and available to everyone? How do we equally equip and train kids with drastically different points of reference? Where should the government’s control over education and the pedagogy employed in classroom stop? These questions, and many more like them, are dividing us politically and personally.
But there are still good conversations worth having. And there are still ideas we can all agree on.
In every podcast and throughout the various speeches we give and articles we write, we’re constantly referencing our tagline — inspired by the brilliance of the mind of Abraham Lincoln of tomorrow’s government being shaped by today’s schools.
Save the Classroom. Save the Country.
As we continue to host conversations about education in our great country, we invite people of all opinions to join us, to rally around the ideas we all agree on, and to listen with open, honest ears and minds to opposing views.
Our children, and their children, need us to.
Tomorrow’s reality will be shaped by today’s classrooms. It’s up to us to make it all that it should be…and all that it can be.