First, read this blog post from author and education reform advocate Will Richardson: “9 Elephants in the (Class)Room That Should Unsettle Us” http://willrichardson.com/9-elephants-classroom-unsettle-us/
Then watch this 11 minute animated speech by another author and education reform advocate, Sir Ken Robinson: “Changing Education Paradigms” https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=zDZFcDGpL4U.
Our topic of conversation: As parents we typically want our children to receive a good education. But the above pieces alert us that the standard model of public education has some problems. So, as parents (or potential parents), what are we to do?
Do some serious thinking about it, and try to answer that question. What should we do about the fact that our public education has problems? If you were a parent right now of a school-age child, what would you do to ensure that your child could get a good education? Be as specific as you can. Your solutions should also be practical (i.e., your solutions should not be too “pie in the sky”, but should be solutions that real people in our real world here in the US could implement). Try and address at least some of the specific problems listed in the “9 Elephants” article.