The teachers need much more of a voice than they have, but they also need to be honest about what’s happening face-to-face with parents. Parents that don’t attend meetings with teachers don’t get to complain about not being told something. We need increased funding for teachers, while holding a high standard as we currently do. They don’t get paid nearly enough, and the workload is insane, so publicly demonizing teachers is exactly how an education systems takes a turn for the worse.

We should try to teach to each students ability, while also trying to lift those struggling up with tutoring sessions and alternative methods of teaching. My suggestion is the occasional use of “gamification”, which is exactly what it sounds like: make teaching into a game rather than a bunch of papers kids have to write on. Education needs to be fun and enjoyable, and the fact that so many kids wish that the fire drills were real days a lot about the state of their health. What needs to be done is a minimum starting time of 8:30, and a reduction of homework (just a bit, anything helps). The last year of high school should focus more on career building opportunities, vastly expanding elective options and reducing core class requirements in the senior year. Specialization by high school should be considered a priority, opening up more options than even our current high schools.