Rethinking the Department of Education
I was challenged last weekend to come up with an idea on how to improve government and I immediately considered the area of education. To follow was my recommendation.
The Department of Education was established by President Carter in 1979 and the first Secretary of Education, Shirley Hufstedler, was an attorney and judge. Since then we have had eight Secretaries of Education and only three of those eight individuals had a degree in education or experience in the classroom. All were political appointees. Many of these individuals came with personal philosophies and points of view in terms of education. Some of these ideas were grounded in the reality of public education experience but others were not. Many of these ideas were imposed on students throughout the country. The basic philosophy of how to approach public education would then change with every administration or appointment leaving ideas in education unexplored and
The Department of Education was established by President Carter in 1979 and the first Secretary of Education, Shirley Hufstedler, was an attorney and judge. Since then we have had eight Secretaries of Education and only three of those eight individuals had a degree in education or experience in the classroom. All were political appointees. Many of these individuals came with personal philosophies and points of view in terms of education. Some of these ideas were grounded in the reality of public education experience but others were not. Many of these ideas were imposed on students throughout the country. The basic philosophy of how to approach public education would then change with every administration or appointment leaving ideas in education unexplored and