We can cram more school days into the calendar ,start kids going to school at a younger and younger age but , it's not going to make your kids any smarter without quality teachers , quality education programs ,and a safe environment to learn in. This fad to send 4 years olds to school seems stupid to me when I see the results walking down the city streets. These kids look less able to deal with lives problems then we were at that age. Most seem burned out educational wise , sick of school . Is that a good way to stimulate young minds? If your hearts not in to learning your more likely to not learn very much. But what makes kids more likely to learn is a quality teacher that can make learning fun and can inspire a kid to want to learn. The GOP doesn't get that , programs like no child left behind sounded great but without the support of the right teachers it was meaningless. Sadly the best teachers are the ones that get alienated by the system and leave the education system or lose faith and give in to the status quo.
How can we change that?
Well not be destroying the teachers union like they did in Wisconsin. Taking a teachers voice away and a way to bargain with the state weakens the education system. Not by stuffing classes with an overload of students so a teacher can't give one on one education to the students that need it.
For parents to support the teachers who do inspire children to learn.
For a teachers pay to be equal to what they do everyday ,a teacher is our best hope to create a person who will do great things and bring about a better future. If you talk to most successful people you will find they have a teacher who inspired them to make them the way they are.