What is an Education for the 21st Century?

Education for the 21st century in America should be the study of wealth and power by the middle-class.

Professionals in middle-class suburbs like ours in North Dallas have a special contribution we can make to America's future: we can educate our children to grow our economy and provide the leadership to safeguard America's future.

Wealth

Americans need jobs. We can best help our fellow Americans, especially those struggling to get out of poverty, by educating our children to start businesses that hire Americans. Children of professionals tend to follow in their parents footsteps. My father was an engineer, and then I became an engineer. If my father had been a lawyer, I probably would have been a lawyer. I never thought about starting a business.

I had a great education, yet I was not taught about starting a business. We prepare our children to be employees, not employers, and that should change. A one year course on business creation and management would be far better for our our society than a 4th year of high school science .

One contributing factor to our recession was the lack of businesses for investment. If there were more businesses for investors to invest in, there would not have been as much money placed in collateralized debt obligations. Our country is hurting badly because we do not have enough businesses hiring Americans, and not enough for businesses for investment. We can and should prepare our children to grow our nation's wealth.

Power

To keep America a great nation, our children must understand what made it great.

The key ingredients that made America successful in the past have their roots far in the past. America's founding fathers were keen students of ancient Greek and Roman history. They were well versed in the progress of liberty in England, from the Magna Carta to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the English Bill of Rights. A keen grasp of history led our founding fathers to the U.S. Constitution and the great debate over its ratification.

Our children need to understand the same history our founding fathers understood. They need to understand the controversies surrounding the U.S. Constitution as debated in the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers. In order to keep the ship of state afloat, our children must know why it floats.

Our children should understand the rise and fall of empires so they can prevent America from falling. To be great leaders, our children should study the great leaders of history.

Education for the 21st century in America should be the study of wealth and power by the middle-class for the benefit of all Americas.


Robert Canright