A Letter to the U.S Education System

Kids are starting school soon if they haven’t already.

Where I live, there’s not only back to school products everywhere, but parents taking their kids to college for the first time too, packing their shopping carts with all basic necessities for their dorm rooms.

As a teacher, this time of year always feels like a new beginning. A new chapter. A new start.

So in the spirit of new beginnings, can we just imagine for a minute? What it would be like if this school year had the following….

Can we imagine public schools being full of kids who are happy and confident to be in school? Kids who are excited to learn each day?

Can we imagine school is a place where kids get to actually be kids? Where they get to play, and be loud when they need to be.

Can we imagine kids getting choices each day in which learning path they want to be on? Which goals they want to accomplish?

Can we imagine kids getting plenty of fresh air and exercise? Outdoor free play?

Can we imagine on a sunny day, classrooms of children laying or sitting in the green grass reading their books, writing, drawing, doing math problems?

Can we imagine all schools having plenty of trees, plants, gardens for kids to learn about their local ecosystems, how to grow their own food, and how to identify plants in their area?

Can we imagine kids knowing more plant, tree, insect, animal names than business logos and cartoon characters?

Why don’t we study the Finn’s? Why don’t we learn from their system? The best in the world while we are the 20th in the world. Why is the U.S not sending teachers over to Finland to learn and bring back all their wisdom? Why can’t we swallow our pride and accept that we need help changing our outdated system?

Please help me understand.