They will follow when others lead. Likewise, people who teach will do what it takes for their students to achieve when they know that student achievement is one indicator of their performance as teachers. They will respond to being singled out for their successes and held accountable for their shortcomings. Most important, they will respond when their service is valued, when they know that their knowledge of the discipline they teach and their ability to manage a classroom empower them with greater authority over the conduct of their profession. Finally, the nation needs to distinguish between education and schooling, for the two are indeed distinguishable.
Education is all about helping people fulfill their potential, for themselves and for others.
In its most recognizable and structured form, education has always taken place in schools. But the advent of a technological age, combined with the knowledge explosion that challenges current and future generations of American workers and employers and citizens, suggests that the traditional approach to public schooling can be set aside. There is a need to get beyond a fixation with school districts, school buildings, days of instruction, and hours of instruction. There is a need to get beyond the false dichotomy that says you either support public schools with money or support school choice by giving parents vouchers. For the first time in history, it is possible to design education around the needs of individuals and of the people, rather than catering to structures, systems, and processes.