When Barack Obama gets sworn in as 44th President of the United States, he is going to face a tremendous challenge in tackling several important issues from the economy to war to energy.  Yet, without a sound public school system, future wage-earners will be handicapped to tackle problems that will remain years from now.  To neglect fixing this country’s schools today is guaranteeing a bleak economic future for America.

      Education, that other “E” word, was largely forgotten during the presidential campaign.  In order to correct that omission, here are 10 things the Obama-Biden administration can do in the coming months in order to get public schools transformed from their current moribund state to a 21st century institution.  While much of how schools are run is dictated by state and local authorities, the President of the United States can take on a significant leadership role and mandate certain changes if schools which to receive federal funding.  None of these measures would cost a dime but would require school bureaucracies to rethink their antiquated way of doing business.

1. Make a speech to the American people.  Not since President Reagan have Americans had a president who can convincingly connect with people.  He needs to equate the makeover of the country’s public school system to that of the civil rights movement.  Obama should invite the country’s best teachers to a retreat with department of education officials to brainstorm how best to educate young people.

2. Appoint a veteran classroom teacher to a decision-making position in his cabinet.  No doubt President-elect Obama will have a host of experts forming his education policy.  No doubt that none of them will be an actual classroom teacher.  Having a Good Housekeeping-like Seal of Approval from those who work with children would go a long way in validating his cabinet’s plans.

3. Lengthen the school day and the school year.  There is not enough time to cover all curriculum material in 180 days.  Students from industrialized nations who regularly outperform their U.S. counterparts attend school longer. By adding 4 more weeks to the school year and an hour and a half to the school day, children will have an additional year and a half of education between kindergarten and 12th grade.  And they will still get 11 weeks off.

4. Replace tenure with performance-pay.  Let bad teachers be easily fired and not cloak themselves in the teachers union armor.  The best teachers deserve double the money they earn, while those ineffective ones deserve the door out of the profession. It is time to elevate teaching to a real profession with rewards and punishments.

5. Increase class sizes.  Schools can’t find enough highly qualified teachers so have fewer of them.  Yes this will mean more crowded classrooms but better teachers can handle more kids.  The money saved from fewer employees can be added to the salaries of those instructors who prove themselves invaluable as well as help fund the additional days of instruction.

6. Place a moratorium on No Child Left Behind.  Enough with the testing.  Put the focus back on where it should be—the work students perform in the classroom day in and day out.

7. Bring back vocational education.  Instead of shoehorning everyone into college, provide those students who demonstrate non-academic skills with alternative programs so that they, too, can feel successful.  Private industry can help fund these programs, as they do in Europe, since they will benefit from a better trained workforce.

8. Go back and teach students the Golden Rule and have them employ it in mandatory community service.  Look at our society and the mess it’s in.  Much of this has to do with lax parenting and non-existent social teaching in the schools.  Students can become better citizens if schools mandate community service as a graduation requirement. 

9. Put a lid on special education funding.  Nothing has wreaked more damage to the funding of schools than special ed has.  It costs twice as much money to educate a special ed student than a non-special ed student. 

10. Start charging $500 tuition for public schools.  Too many people take public school for granted:  free learning, free books, free supplies, free child care, even free food.  No wonder many kids disrespect their place of learning. Of course there are families who would not be able to afford this.  However, if even half of the 47 million school children could, that would result in close to $12 billion.

Yes, attention must be paid to the wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan and the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.  However, the best form of homeland security is education security.  

  If America intends on remaining an economic force for years to come, something has to change in our schools to prevent further decline; otherwise, this country will be going from a “nation at risk” to a “save America now” telethon. The education of America’s youth should be viewed as a bulwark against democracy’s demise.
  
  President-elect Obama must make America’s schools a top priority for no price can be placed on the bailout of young people’s minds.