海角大神

Senator Bernie Sanders is making waves with a big idea to reinvent education: Making public colleges and universities tuition-free.

I couldn鈥檛 agree more. Higher education isn鈥檛 just a personal investment. It鈥檚 a public good that pays off in a more competitive workforce and better-informed and engaged citizens. Every year, we spend nearly $100 billion on corporate welfare, and more than $500 billion on defense spending. Surely ensuring the next generation can compete in the global economy is at least as important聽as subsidies for big business and military adventures around the globe.聽

In fact, I think we can and must go further 鈥� not just making public聽higher education tuition-free, but reinventing education in America聽as we know it. (That鈥檚 the subject of 聽Please take a moment to watch now.)

In the big picture, much of our education system 鈥� from the bells that ring to separate classes to memorization drills聽鈥斅爓as built to mirror the assembly lines that powered the American economy for the last century. As educators know, what we need today is a system of education that cultivates the critical thinking skills necessary for the economy of聽tomorrow.

We have to reinvent education because it鈥檚 not working for too many of our kids 鈥� who are either dropping out of high school because they aren鈥檛 engaged, or not getting the skills they need, or paying a fortune for college and ending up with crushing student debt.

How do we get there?

First, stop the wall-to-wall testing that鈥檚 destroying the love of teaching and learning. Let鈥檚 get back to a curriculum that builds curiosity, problem solving, teamwork and perseverance, and away from teaching to the test. Give teachers space to teach, and give students freedom to learn.聽Limit classrooms to 20 children so teachers can give students the individual attention they need.

Increase federal funding for education. The majority of U.S. public school students today live in poverty. That鈥檚 a staggering figure. Our schools and educators aren鈥檛 equipped to deal with this harsh reality but we know ways to change that. High-quality early childhood education, for starters. Community schools to serve the whole child, with health services, counselors, and after school activities.

Offer high school seniors the option of a year of technical education, followed by two years of free technical education at a community college. The route into the middle class shouldn鈥檛 always require a four-year college degree. America needs technicians who can install, service, repair, and upgrade complex equipment in offices, laboratories, hospitals, and factories.

And Senator Sanders has proposed,聽make public higher education free 鈥斅爁rom community college to state universities 鈥� completely free, as it was in many states in the 1950s and 1960s. Higher education isn鈥檛 just a personal investment. It鈥檚 a public good that pays off in a more competitive workforce and better-informed and engaged citizens.

And critically, we must increase pay and improve conditions for the men and women who power our schools鈥攖eachers and school staff who educate our kids, clean our classrooms, and keep our schools safe.

The law of supply and demand isn鈥檛 repealed at the schoolhouse door. We鈥檙e paying investment bankers hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars a year to make money for Wall Street. We ought to be paying educators and staff a decent wage to develop and guide the nation鈥檚 human capital 鈥� an investment that would benefit everyone.

By reinventing education in these sensible ways, we all gain.