My Great Conversation Answers

Who is responsible for educating? Ultimately it is the individual. Quite simply it is the parent and individual. While children are young the parent needs to be educating their children in: life skills, principles, virtues, good habits, and how to think and learn. The best way for parents to do this is by example. If one wants their child to read then one should read to the child as well as read themselves. If one wants their child to do math then one should demonstrate to the child the day to day arithmetic skills as well as learn stories of mathematicians and try ones hand at various problems while sharing what is learned with the child.

What is school for? Teaching compliant worker skills. Teaching reliance on experts and employers.

What is education for? Etymologically, the word education is derived from educare (Latin) "bring up", which is related to educere "bring out", "bring forth what is within", "bring out potential" and ducere, "to lead". With this derivative in mind education is meant to bring out and enhance the greatness each individual is born with. This type of customization cannot be standardized and regulated.

Are job creation and economic stability really the most important issues of the day? Plainly put, I think reduction of Government spending, regulation and bureaucracy will naturally create a rise in both job creation and economic stability. We should be overhauling the government and reducing the “cultural dependency” on government programs. This starts with education; as the saying goes, “Give a man a fish he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish he eats for life.” Our educational system is teaching children to be compliant and rely on experts and employers to be successful and those are deficient teachings.

Many politicians (whether they run for Senate or School Board) always claim their best for the job due to “experience”, is experience all its cut out to be or are there more attributes we need to be looking for? Experience shows me that our governmental system is in a expansion is the answer rut. It’s top heavy and growing worse. This is the experience most career politicians have and there needs to be an injection of ideas and solutions that lie outside the box of accepted experience. This can often come from those who are not part of the “good ol’boy” system. Experience and accreditation stem from the “expert” mentality that prevents those outside the system from being acknowledged.