How do you get a BOOM going

According to Richard Karlgaard, you need a good education system in place to jump start a boom. He noted in a recent piece that American universities lead the world in upper education. He wonders how this is possible when our K-12 schools are not in the top 10 and in some measures US K-12 want even make the top 20. He goes on to explain this is not in America's best interest with regards to our competitive future. He also points out that the lack of success in the K-12 education is a reduction in our strength as a civilization.

He explores ways to get our K-12 education back into the global top 10 and one way is to "abolish the requirement of an education degree so that any college-degreed person who is motivated to teach has the opportunity to do so." Don't know about how others feel on this issue, but I think Mr. Karlgaard is right on track. I can't think of a better way to draw more successful people from the private sector into teaching. Wonder how many education majors remember and practice all the education theory they learned while attending an institution of higher education? I would be willing to bet they forgot the material as soon as the exam was over! It is the bottom quartile of teachers who do not want to abolish the 'education' degree. If you did then they may not have a place to work. Most teachers are serious about educating children and some are there due to the fact it was the easiest degree plan and by having the 'education' degree they were able to get a job. Schools are filled with bad teachers for this very reason. These are the teachers who continually have a bad day at work. These are the teachers who are not excited about getting up and going to the classroom every morning and can't wait for the summer off time when it is only August.

Outsider has posted in response to public schools "shut'um down". This is not the answer! You can't give up on education. Education provides us with the competitive edge. However, education has a terrible return with regards to funds invested in a student/s attending public schools in general. Some schools are better than others. How do we get a better return on the investment?

Mr. Karlgaard suggests that we fire the bottom quartile of teachers and pay the good ones more. Eliminating the 'education' degree requirement to teacher would go a long way towards bringing in a better crop of teachers and changing the way the education establishment thinks about who is and who is not qualified to teach.