Is Education Really Important?

I hope the title got your attention. I heard one the presenters ask this question in an interesting manner - "With over 30 hours of debate during the national primary season, there was only 21 minutes dedicated to education." The Gates Foundation and ED08 have not been able to get much traction within the presidential primaries. Does this lack of emphasis show that education is not really important in this presidential election?

The reason that education is not a major issue for any of the presidential primaries is that education does not turn out votes. Gay marriage, abortion, the war, and the economy... these are issues that will get out the vote. Why? People understand or directly impacted by these issues and have a strong opinion on either side of the issues. Children are impacted by education, however, the impacts take years to reveal themselves and children do not vote.

As school leaders we have to speak for the children and help push the education issue to the front of the agenda. We need to educate our communities on the "revenue" impacts of education. Doug Reeves talked about this during one of his sessions. Go to http://www.all4ed.org/ and check out the cost and revenue side of dropouts for your state. Use the Asia, Automation and Abundance information from Dan Pink. Use some of Chris Whittle's information and projections. If you did not get to these presentations, there is an easy solution. Purchase the digital versions or print out the handouts from the conference session. AASA has made it easy for you as a leader to get what you need to inform and communicate with your local community. This is our responsibility. If we don't speak out and get education at the front of local, state and national political races, then we will continue to be blasted for our poor performance.