Al Gore: We can change the conversation

american schools are horrible...

i went to a highschool where teachers told me not to take the sat's. WTF the school needing more funding and they need to be fixed.

how about we fire the high-paid "bad" teachers and hire fresh "good" teachers. you will save on costs and have a better school system. in all my years going to school in america i can honestly say ive only had 1 teacher who was simply amazing and 2 possibly 3 that were good

colleges are accepting fewer and fewer students.
so it's increasingly more difficult to attend college.
not attending college results in well, a lower chance of having a job that pays well and what not...

what am i going to do? i have to apply to schools next year, my dad just lost his job, the economy isnt that great (okay it sucks), and california insists on slashing education funds.

thank you california.

it is all about cultural vocabulary,eficency,integrety and comunity strengthening, a conversation about the above words is the only way to swing culture in line with the global changes that need to ocure," a core vocabulary''
will help define direction ,not one of opinion, one of direction and momentum.

lol our children need education or they'll turn up like bush

Mr. Gore, with the Financial Meltdown during the last month, your words are resounding more than ever now!

I believe we CAN grow ourselves out of this mess!

The Bush Philopsophy of keep them scared and stupid has reduced our standard of living over the last 8 years, but I firmly believe we can OVERCOME it!

Bless you Al Gore!

I BELIVE TO CHANGE THE WORLD WE NEED TO LOOK AT THE TIES THAT BIND CULTURE TOGETHER THE THINGS THAT STRENGTHEN
CULTURE.

I BELIVE I HAVE A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO DO JUST THAT, CREATING COMUNITY, JOBS ,INDUSTRY WHILE CREATING A CLEAR WORLD DIRECTION ,INDEPENDENT OR TOGETHER,

IT WILL WORK,

I AM LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT VOICE NOW,

STOP BY ANY TIME,

GENT JIM

• Stop Immigration--Destroy the Public School Incentive Program

The decimation of California's public schools is really a step toward immigration reform and will ultimately stop our "immigration crisis." As public schools deteriorate, there is less incentive for families to risk illegal immigration just to have their children educated here.

• Why should you pay to educate those other people's children?

Let's face it: Saving public education will require people to pay more taxes, or to redesignate a larger percentage of current taxes. You cannot have a system of public education in a state (or nation) unwilling to pay for it. Any discussion of improving public education must begin with re-educating all citizens about the necessity of paying taxes. Right now, Californians do not want to pay taxes to educated "other people's kids."

• Spend and Don't Tax versus Tax and Spend
(or Spending money you don't have versus Spending money you actually have...)
It is a privilege to live in a democracy, but democracies are not free. In fact, they are expensive. The single most significant test of a citizen's loyalty to his or her government is not a loyalty oath, it is each citizen's willingness to pay taxes. It is clear California's citizens lost faith in state government long ago.

• Can't "Separate but Equal" be Equal Again?

Would we be facing this crisis in public education if it weren't for integration? Since the move toward racial integration of public schools, the California middle class of all races and ethnicities have largely removed their children to private schools. Those that have not moved their children, live in low-diversity, expensive neighborhoods and pay out-of-pocket to boost the budgets of their low-diversity, local (semi)public schools. Their children are immune to public education funding cuts.

The parents of children in public schools in California, whose children are endangered by funding cuts, are less likely to vote or contribute to political campaigns. This is one of the vicious cycles we are fighting.

• Instability is Good, Right?

Another is the way in which public schools are funded, a relic from the 19th century. In many ways, the globalization of the economy has rendered locally funded public education obsolete. The California State Budget Crisis proves that state and local funding of public education is too unstable to support the level of public education we need in order to compete in the global economy.

We need a stable source of income with which to fund public schools. We need citizens willing to pay taxes to that end. Clearly, at this point, Californians are not willing to pay those taxes.

• The "Hanging" Chad in the U.S.

California is a state with the size and resources of a nation. There are many nations in the world without free public primary education available to all school age children, for example, Chad, Myanmar, Nicaragua. So what if California is gradually becoming one of these.

Proposals for a Substantive Dialogue on Quantifiable Educational Reform
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-Ten Ideas for Creating a Superior Education System in Los Angeles and Elsewhere in the United States-

9. The budget of the Los Angeles Unified School District is larger than the budget of the City of Los Angeles. One of the only justifiable reasons to allow such behemoth innercity school districts to exist is to take advantage of the economics of scale in purchasing educational materials and the construction and maintenance of schools. The reality of LAUSD is quite different. There is a list of agreed upon vendors from which LAUSD buys, even though any individual could walk into a local store and get a better price than the school district. When we tried to purchase computers at our school for $300 less per computer, we were told that we could only buy from the higher priced district approved vendors.

Rather than “manhattanize” the construction of future schools on existing school sites that are presumptively more likely to be clear of toxic waste as was suggested by then LAUSD CEO Howard Miller almost 10 years ago, LAUSD has chosen the far more expensive alternative of using eminent domain to build new schools on often contaminated sites without examining far less expensive alternatives. It is also worth noting that something as simple as staggering the starting and ending times of school to ensure greater utilization of the existing schools might obviate the necessity of building more schools while accommodating many students who have to work nights to help support their families. These students would be much more likely to be engaged and stay in school, if they were allowed to get adequate sleep before coming to school later on during the day.

10. The exclusive source of school administrators in LAUSD, with the exception of the last two superintendents who have no formal public education experience, is school teachers who have a totally different skill set than what is necessary to effectively run a multi-billion dollar business. The reason that this system exists is that becoming an administrator is the exclusive form of upward mobility for teachers that are burned out by the intolerable present conditions in our schools. Furthermore, as the cost of home ownership continues to rise in Los Angeles, we cannot hope to attract less transient teachers unless we adequately compensate them, so that they will stay with the teaching profession. Administration of schools should become a totally separate educational track that prospective administrators should commit to and be educated for during college, rather than the sole source of upward mobility for the teaching profession.

Colleges and universities could assume a much more fundamental role in the aforementioned issues if they were not compromised by taking money from the same school districts they are supposed to oversee through the promulgation and implementation of effective pedagogy and practices.

Sincerely,

Leonard Isenberg

Leonard.Isenberg@gmail.com

Proposals for a Substantive Dialogue on Quantifiable Educational Reform
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-Ten Ideas for Creating a Superior Education System in Los Angeles and Elsewhere in the United States-

7. All testing should be limited to one assessment to determine appropriate class placement- irrespective of age- and a secondary assessment at the end of every grade level to determine if the student has achieved the minimum mastery of subjects necessary to allow promotion to the next grade- if this was instituted, you might actually have a chance of meaningfully teaching to standards. Supplemental expenditure for early identification and tutoring of students that are having trouble should receive a top prior and the best teachers. Presently, the newest teachers are given the most difficult classes, while the older more seasoned teachers teach the easier or more intellectually stimulating classes- this has lead to an average 50% turnover of teachers in LAUSD within 5 years.

Although the District says it wants highly qualified teachers, the reality is that they are not unhappy to see a higher priced teacher quit for a less expensive first year teacher. The sophistication necessary to calculate the exorbitant cost of this constant turnover of teaching staff, which dwarfs the savings derived by paying lower salaried new teachers, is beyond the understanding of most administrators whose own education was to teach school and not to run a multi-billion dollar public corporation.

The present over-testing regiment is degrading and disheartening to both students and teachers and wastes precious teaching time.

8. Bilingual education is a must in the global village. The only unequivocal way to tell a Latino student that his culture has value is to also teach his language. It is not going to hurt the rest of us and besides, they are the majority of the population in this state. Furthermore, all research shows that students who are literate in any language have a much easier time in transitioning to English.
One of the greatest lies being perpetrated in education is that it would require more money to solve the education crisis. On the contrary, it would actually cost significantly less than the price of incarcerating over 2 million people in a country that, in reality, is in dire need of an educated workforce to build the infrastructure that would make Los Angeles a better place to live for all of us.

Sincerely,

Leonard Isenberg

Leonard.Isenberg@gmail.com

TO BE CONTINUED

Proposals for a Substantive Dialogue on Quantifiable Educational Reform

-Ten Ideas for Creating a Superior Education System in Los Angeles and Elsewhere in the United States-
CONTINUED

6. LAUSD and the state make a lot of noise about teaching to state standards. However, there is a fundamental flaw to their reasoning- it assumes that the student in a certain grade has already mastered the underlying standards for their previous years of education. This is clearly not the case. The vast majority of students not only are unable to achieve the standards for their age-determined grade level, but they are also deficient in the standards for many of the prior years. A more rational approach to initial placement would be to access the students’ actual ability and then place them according to that ability, rather then place them by age into classes that frustrate and cause them to turn off at an early age and disrupt the educational process for other students. In France at the Lycée International, no attempt is made to teach substantive courses to foreign language speakers until they have had at least one year and sometimes two years of intensive language instruction. Students who have language mastery then have little difficulty catching up with their peer group. But an educational system that continues to socially promote students through grade after grade of standards that they have not mastered should not be surprised when these students either drop out of school or fail to achieve even a minimum level of the education they need to be successful citizens.

The vast majority of LAUSD students only have basic interpersonal language skills (BICS), which can be acquired in as little as six month in the United States. The more rigorous cognitive academic language production (CALP), which is necessary for higher education, is nowhere to be found in the majority of LAUSD schools, where students truly believe that a high school diploma is attained by copying a certain number of answers out of a book without understanding what they are writing. This phenomenon has gone on so long that a motivated and conscientious high school teacher is often greeted by hostility, if he dares to try and illicit CALP from students who have been “educated” to be antipathetic to education. This is a result of a misguided effort not to frustrate students. Many teachers teach a curriculum that has no rigor, because they realize that the majority of their students have been pushed through the system without the basic skills necessary to do the every more rigorous work demanded by subsequent grade levels. As the disparity between learned ability and grade level demand becomes greater- usually in middle school- the behavior issues become more pronounced.

Politicians and school administrators shouldn’t be surprised that these students fail the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). The State of California cannot come in with a “red team” audit of a failing school that is leading to a state takeover of that school and then allow the principal of the same school to intimidate the teachers for failing the students and not giving them a “passing” grade.

Sincerely,

Leonard Isenberg

Leonard.Isenberg@gmail.com

TO BE CONTINUED

Proposals for a Substantive Dialogue on Quantifiable Educational Reform
CONTINUED
-Ten Ideas for Creating a Superior Education System in Los Angeles and Elsewhere in the United States-

5. Schools are traditionally underutilized. One factor leading to the academic failure of predominantly minority children and the related rise in gangs is the inability of lower socio-economic parents to parent their children because they are too busy working two or three low paying jobs in order to make enough money to support their families. Thus, their children are being raised by the streets and the gangs that vie with our society for the hearts and minds of these kids. If night school programs were offered at these schools, it would have several advantages: It would educate these parents into a skilled labor force that would allow them to meet the financial needs of their families, while still being the necessary and irreplaceable presence in their children’s socialization and accountability. Adolescents by their nature push for limits and absentee parents cannot supply these necessary limits. Furthermore, parents who are being educated would have the ability to help their language learning children, something they are presently unable to do in the vast majority of cases. If a kid on the Westside of Los Angeles doesn’t get it, the parents get the child a tutor or tutor the kid themselves, but what happens when the parents don’t have these options because their own educational level is so low?

Sincerely,

Leonard Isenberg

Leonard.Isenberg@gmail.com

TO BE CONTINUED

Proposals for a Substantive Dialogue on Quantifiable Educational Reform
CONTINUED

-Ten Ideas for Creating a Superior Education System in Los Angeles and Elsewhere in the United States-

3. The total capacity of all colleges and universities in the United States is 40% of high school graduates. End the disingenuous ed speak rhetoric that talks about all students going to college- college is not the only way to attain the skills necessary to become a productive and successful member of this society.

The industrial arts program in LAUSD has been systematically closed down over that last 30 years based on the false assumption that the cost of retrofitting these shops to the exigencies of modern technology would be prohibitively expensive. In countries like Germany and France, these costs of retrofitting and supplying educational materials were borne by the private sector, which was happy to do so in exchange for a constant supply of well qualified graduates from the high schools. This has allowed these corporations to avoid the necessity of taking mechanics off the shop floor to be retrained at even greater expense to these companies. In Europe and elsewhere, this has been a win/win scenario for both education and business.

Furthermore, students who subsequently decide that they want a higher academic education can more easily achieve this goal when they already have a skilled profession to pay for the presently daunting costs of increased tuition and other costs related to attaining such an education.

Companies like Home Depot are unable to keep many young employees beyond their 90 day trial period because they have not been educated by the schools to have the requisite basic skill level and social responsibility necessary to show up and work to even a minimal level of competency. What is the cost to American business in competitive terms to be unable to find adequately educated employees?

It takes approximately six months training to pass the state certification examination to be a welder. There is a critical shortage of welders in this country, where the starting average salary for this trade is $40,000 a year. Are people gainfully employed as likely to join gangs or join the 2 million inmates that presently occupy our jails?

4. The vast majority of our student population is condemned to failure before they even arrive at the school because they come from families that do not have the ability to physically and intellectually nurture their children in a manner that would lead to their ultimate success in school. We clearly know that things as mundane as diet, being read to, and having parents that have the time to talk to and parent their children create the stimulation and structure necessary to create the preconditions for ultimate success in school.

If the schools in Los Angeles and elsewhere became the Zocolo or cultural town square of the community, many of these disadvantages that presently plague our students and lead to their ultimate failure in school and attraction to gangs could be easily avoided. At the turn of the last century, the settlement house provided the early acculturation necessary to assure success in school of a whole generation of European immigrants.

Not only should local schools have a preschool program, but there should be an outreach into the community to identify women who are pregnant and assure that they are educated and aided in matters such as healthy diet, which would allow their children to reach their genetic potential- a prerequisite for ultimate academic success. Community markets run at the school on a weekly basis could significantly bring down the cost of these healthy foods to the community. Every successful industry has to be concerned about the quality of the raw materials used to produce its products, why should education be any different if it wants to be successful?

Sincerely,

Leonard Isenberg

Leonard.Isenberg@gmail.com

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Proposals for a Substantive Dialogue on Quantifiable Educational Reform

-Ten Ideas for Creating a Superior Education System in Los Angeles and Elsewhere in the United States-

1. The failure of discipline is a major factor in schools inability to educate students. Since schools are financed by the state based on Average Daily Attendance, school administrators are loath to suspend students who not only disrupt their own education, but also the education of other students who want an education. In an article published January 14, 2007 in the Los Angeles Times, a Title I school in Compton, California, that was half Black and half Latino and had only recently been taken over by the state for malfeasance, was able to achieved 868 API scores- comparable to Beverly Hills and San Marino- because the principal did not hesitate to suspend 100 from the 467 student body until they could comport themselves in a manner that would allow them to be educated. It is amazing how quickly parents can get their children to behave when they can no longer dump them on the schools.

2. The major difference between the successful private schools that now accommodate 92% of the Whites that have abandon public education in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District is the teacher to student ratio. Private schools have 15 to 20 students per class, while LAUSD permits 43 to 1. If a teacher has five classes with 43 students in each, it is unrealistic to think that rigorous writing assignments will be given by teachers who cannot reasonably be expected to grade 215 essays a week- 75 is doable, especially if it is done in the context of a school without the aforementioned behavior issues.

It is highly suspicious that money for the improvement of public schools goes everywhere except to lessening teacher to student ratios.
(to be continued)

Sincerely,

Leonard Isenberg

Leonard.Isenberg@gmail.com

The purpose of education in a democracy is to prepare the citizens for their fundamentally important function of being the arbiters of power according to our constitution and the ideas propounded by Thomas Jefferson.

After the Vietnam War, the corporate dominated government no longer wanted to be hindered by an educated electorate that could hold it accountable- no more Berkeleys, Pentagon Papers, or Kent States- so it started to dumb down the educational process so necessary for continuing a viable and, therefore, accountable democratic government.

Using good orwellian newspeak/edspeak, where everything means the exact opposite, programs like NAFTA and No Child Left Behind were promulgated to supposedly make trade and education more equitable- what they actual did was further bankrupt the trade and education systems by destroying Mexican farms that were put in direct competition with highly mechanized U.S. farms and where inner city schools were held to high standards without being given the structure or assets to accomplish this legal mandate- money goes to everything in education but lessening teacher to student ratios and social promotion is still alive and well.

The real purpose of both of these and other government programs was to maximize the profits of large corporations and ensure that they would not be questioned by an educated electorate.

Today our schools are more segregated than they were before Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. According to Jonathan Kozel, there are presently only three Whites students going to school in all of the Bronx in New York. Jay Leno's Jaywalking on the Tonight Show shows how little the average American understands. One must wonder how many young American soldiers have died in Iraq without the ability to find it on the map or to meaningfully question why they were there in the first place.

While Mr. Gore is right that we must increase public education in order to reestablish the power of the citizen over unfettered government/corporate power and to allow us to remain viable given the challenge of China, India, and the European Union, it will not take the expenditure of any greater amount of money to do this.

Our failed education system is very similar to our failed health system in which we spend more money than any other country in the world on health care but are 27th in the world in infant mortality and other indicators of how effective the system is. Like health care, it is not how much money we spend, but how we spend it. In health care one-third of every dollar spent goes to the profits of an insurance company and not to health care, even though countries like Canada pay only 4% for a one-pay state run system. In education, obscene amount of money go to everything other than the fundamental necessity of lessening teacher to student ratios- probably the biggest difference between public and private schools..

In California, where there is a projected $14 billion dollars budget shortfall and a $450 million dollar shortfall to the Los Angeles Unified School District, education could actually be improve even with these cuts if the following things were done. It is sad that neither the Democrats or the Republicans, who are both in the pocket of corporate interests, have done anything to institute what would actually be cheap and relatively easy fixes of public education, since to do so would threaten the continued stiffing of this democracy by corporate dominated government, media, and other well-heeled self-interest groups.

Leonard.Isenberg@gmail.com

Of course Mr. Gore is absolutely right; we need to invest a great deal more in public education than we currently do. And not just because our current education system is woefully underfunded, but also because our current system is structurally inadequate, as fearfully antiquated as our societal dependence on fossil fuels. If the children of today are to be adequately prepared for their future in the global community, our education system must integrate practical and technical skills, the arts, cultural and political studies, and more. Schools must teach children about where their food comes from, how to grow it and how to cook it. A strong network of vocational schools must grow alongside our university system, to provide a suitable education for every student and a suitable employee for every occupation. And the curriculum must be integrated, for in the rapidly innovating climate of a global information age, the most important thing we can teach our children is not calculus, nor physics, nor marketing, nor painting. It is how to draw connections between all these disciplines. The purpose of education, in short, is not to cram a legion of facts into a young mind. It is to help that mind learn to think for itself.

Al Gore is 100% right on. Think about it: Every successful person has started with an education. Your doctor had to go to school to learn the medical skills in order to save your life. Your lawyer learned the law by going to school. Even your vet received an education which made it possible to care for your pet. The bottom line is that it ALL starts with an education. As Americans, no one will deny that an education enhances a civilized society. We cannot afford NOT to educate our population. With this in mind, education funding ought to be our highest priority. It's like what Mark Twain says about reading the classics: "Everyone wants to have read the classics but nobody wants to read them." In this case, everyone wants to be educated, but no one wants to pay for it. Let's put our faith back in humanity and provide a quality education of the people, by the people, and for the people of the United States of America.

Hi Al Gore!
You can see the Google Earth updated UNEP pictures about the dried- , dring lakes, demaged environment:
1. Green River (USA, Wyoming)2. Everglades (USA, Florida)3. Las Vegas city (USA)
4. Lake Al Wahda (Marocco)5. Lake Manantali (Mali, Africa)
6. Walvis Bay (Namibia)7. Ijsselmeer (Amsterdam)8. Atatürk Dam (Turkey)
9. Lake Chad (Chad)10. Three Gorges Dam (China)11. Shenzhen city (China)
12. Aral Sea (Kazakhstan)13. Lake Chapala (Mexico)
14. Lake Chora Basa (Mozambique)
and more on Google Earth (Global awarness button on left side)
Some hungarian Google developers updating the map.Best Regards,Tamás Kádár

I have an idea for a product that could be introduced to children at a young age and would stimulate their developing brains in new ways. The product could be used by a toddler to a geriatric.
I believe the technology to make this product possible- is already in development.

celestialceiling@gmail.com

Thomas Jefferson said that the prerequisite for democracy is to have an educated citizenry. Without education, the citizens cannot fulfill their fundamental function in a democracy which is to be the arbiter of power as was anticipated by our constitution.

It is not an accident that this situation exists. Those in power do not want to be effectively checked by the citizens of this country as they were during the Vietnam War, where demonstrations helped to bring it to an end.

In good orwellian newspeak, No Child Left Behind means that all children are not educated to fulfill their primary function as the arbiters of power in a putative democracy.

To truly educate all of our people would mean that we would lose our cheap Latino labor source and finally have to come to grips with 400 years of racism against Blacks.

How many of the soldiers who have died in Iraq could not have found it on a map?

The failure to educate is the disease from which all other symptoms of failure of democracy emanate.

As a CA community college art teacher I am dismayed to find the persona of current students to be essentially that of consumers. Many have difficulty buying textbooks, but believe that their life will cease to have meaning without the newest cellphone. When I try to talk to them about the nature of art, they tell me they want to learn how to make a really good product. And they don't mean, by that, a meaningfull piece of art. Most come here never having made something, with their own hands and ideas, in their life. Our K-12 schools are shorting them not only on art, music, shop and the like, but I believe also on Civics and US and World History. Plagerism is rampant and offending students don't even understand the concept. They are being raised by our society to be consumers rather than citizens. A huge problem is that our schools are now being run on the business model. This is inappropriate and really needs to change. CA used to have the best schools in the nation. To think we can have that again without spending money on it is absurd. As our greatest treasure, our children deserve the respect that comes with providing them an education that prepares them for a fully participatory adulthood.

As a CA community college art teacher I am dismayed to find the persona of current students to be essentially that of consumers. Many have difficulty buying textbooks, but believe that their life will cease to have meaning without the newest cellphone. When I try to talk to them about the nature of art, they tell me they want to learn how to make a really good product. And they don't mean, by that, a meaningfull piece of art. Most come here never having made something, with their own hands and ideas, in their life. Our K-12 schools are shorting them not only on art, music, shop and the like, but I believe also on Civics and US and World History. Plagerism is rampant and offending students don't even understand the concept. They are being raised by our society to be consumers rather than citizens. A huge problem is that our schools are now being run on the business model. This is inappropriate and really needs to change. CA used to have the best schools in the nation. To think we can have that again without spending money on it is absurd. As our greatest treasure, our children deserve the respect that comes with providing them an education that prepares them for a fully participatory adulthood.

Mr. Gore's comments are so true! As a teacher, I've understood how important it is to educate our future citizens. As a concerned citizen, I've watched many times over the years as education gets budget cuts, because it seems to be an easy target. Children have no voice in politics, and so need us to stand up for them, and for their education.

If Americans do not have access to higher education, they cannot become critical thinkers. Our government wants cattle, NOT people who can think for themselves and see the real truth. I urge anyone reading this to open your eyes and discover what's really going on here. The late William Cooper once said, "Read everything, listen to everybody, don't trust anything unless you can prove it with your own research".

In the area of education, Americans need to ask themselves, "what do they want to do and where do they want to go"? Education is effected by the largest and most complex confluence of social and economic factors than any other social interaction in the country. At the intersection of this confluence lies not only the heart of the problem, but the solution to the problem. Providing a good education is the most important thing a society can do, but yet in terms of tax and private dollars it is the most expensive.

To have change in education, we need to first identify the components of the social and economic confluences that intersect in education. Here are the major ones that I see: Taxes collected, unions, families, ideologies, teachers, students, business, state & federal legislation and general social and cultural changes. The interactions that take place between all of these determine whether there are overall improvements or an overall decline in educational outcomes.

For More Details Go Here:

http://www.harleymeyer.com/iss/education.htm

It is really high time the wealthy decision-makers understand that great public education does not just effect people who go to public schools. Our whole society is effected by how we treat and educate the majority of our children. Where there is ignorance and a lack of opoportunity, there will be crime and violence. It will be perpetrated on the whole society without regard to social standing, race, socioeconomic status, etc. That being said, if we are going to involve everyone in reversing global warming, we are going to have to be able to "speak" to everyone here about it. To do that, we have to have "listeners" who can understand what is said and how important it is. Education is the easy way to accomplish this. It's a no-brainer.

Al...I think you should give me scholarship to finish school!

I am in total agreement with this point of view.

JanforGore: You rock, Girlfriend. You are so on the money.

Dear Al Gore,
I believe education is the answer to so many of our problems. Education is an investment in our future for a better world...
We need to redesign our educational system, based on the creative arts through film, musicals, and documentaries, using high technology to make learning an exciting adventure. Envision our educational system and curriculum teaching through advances in educational kinesiology and multimedia entertainment to inspire children to develop their full expression of creativity, and imagination in learning --
Physical geography, earth sciences including the meterorological, solar system, and environmental studies, ecological patterns of the earth (climate, sea currents and tides), human social relations, economic issues, cultural geography and its impact on the world in through reading, poetry, dance, music, acting, dramatic arts, fashion design, painting, illustration, sculpture, photography, and writing.
Let www.current.com know if you want to develop these ideas into a proposal for creating this new, interactive educational system to invest in a better world -- here and abroad.
Michael Reed Gach, Ph.D.
Author, Producer, Publisher
MrGach@att.net

I think if Al Gore was in office for the past eight years. Oh wait i don't have time to think I'm to busy working to pay for the Bushes war.

There is no question that we should NOT be cutting funds for schools, but in addition, we need to change the ways in which the subject matter is presented to the students. We are in an age where children, startiing at pre-school ages, are becoming familiar with electronics and will, on reaching adulthood, go out into a world where electronic devices will be integral to their lives. Yet we continue to use paper books as the basis for presenting materiail to the students. This needs to change.
I have been a volunteer for the past 12 years, tutoring math at the 6th grade level. The teacher in the classroom where I work, is very good and and works very hard at trying to get the materiial across to the students. Mostly she is successful, but those students who don't get the lesson, and do poorly on tests or homework, are sent to me, where I have an opportunity to work with them one-on-one.
The books provided are large, about 500 pages, colorful, and full of storiies, aimed at illustrating how the subject matter will be used in later life. The books are also expensive, heavy to carry in the student's backpacks, and must be rebound after each semester. They also contain errors that cannot be corrected and examples that are more confusing than instructive. They have been in use for at least 12 years and are about to be replaced, at great expense.
Working one-on-one with the students allow me to determine what aspect of the material they don't understand. Sometimes it is the vocabulary used in a word problem, sometimes it is the mechanics of solving the problem, sometimes they don't understand when to add or multiply or divide, etc. in order to come up with the correct answer. Often they guess, rather than go through the riggors of the problem solving process. each student is different.

It's obvious that the teacher, who has 25-30 students in each of her math classes can't work with each student to determine what the problem is and how to go about solving it. But a computer could.

The State should have, as a goal to be able to provide a small, but capable, computer for each student and the lessons, instead of being in a paper book, should be presented on the computer. Interactive testing, should be able to be perfomed on the computer, by each student, so that the computer could determine, from the way the work is being done, what the problems are and whether the information is being understood. (Computers similar to those that were recently offered on a buy one/give one basis, would suffice to begin with.) If the student is required to work out the problem on the computer screen, using it as a tablet, the computer could keep track of where in the problem solution process the error is being made, and then require that the student go back and, after a few words of explanation, repeat that part of the problem. The material itself could also be presented in a more dynamic and interactive fashion so that the material is more interesting, and at the same time more understandable for the student.
Another advantage of this interactive relationship between the computer and the student is that it provides instantanious feedback to the student on how well the work is being understood. This fosters instant corrective action, which is better retained than getting the feedback when homework papers are corrected a day or two later and the teacher or a tutor has a chance to review it at that time.

This same approach can be applied to almost any subject and will provide positive results. It doesn't do away with the need for teachers, but can enhance their work so that we can get a better bang for the bucks we do spend. If we are to return to adequate funding for our education system, and I hope we will, I think that it is also imperitive that we move forward in our use of technology so that we can prepare the next generation for the world they will face.

I always wished that when I was in school many years ago, we could have been taught foreign languages in elementary school. It needs to start when one is very young and their brain can soak it up like a sponge.

I also think that every school should have a mandatory dress code, like Catholic schools. Learning is easier this way.

I understand the homework has gotten to the point that that is all they do in the evening...hours of homework. This has to have a bad effect on how their view learning.

All public schools must have access to updated computers, etc. and access to the rest of the world's way of life. It IS a very small world.

There are so many things I could mention but these are a few that seem important to me. Learning should be done in such a way that the student not only has enjoyment but, is gaining valuable information at the same time. Good teachers bring learning to life.

Public schools have to be made a priority!

Cutting education is a step backwards in maintaining a thriving economic system, robust democracy, and cultural excellence. At some point, we won't have the money to import ingenuity and we'll fall to the back of the pack of industrialized nations (we're already well on our way).

It's important to note that the US places high importance on education in its Foreign Assistance Framework (State Dept web site) with an overall stated goal:
“To help build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system."
Listed as 1 of 3 "Investing in People" objectives is Education.

Thank you for this video Al Gore! I wish there were more people in our political system who thought this way and I wish you were still in our political system, although you seem to make a bigger impact out of the system.

And what I find amazing is that this wonderful and informative conversation never made it to the front page of this site or Current News. Instead, we get fluff about an Indiana Jones movie riling Russian Communists; a sketchy story from CNN about a woman who allegedly caged her son; porn in California; and a woman who supposedly woke up after rigor mortis set in, courtesy of Fox News. How does reporting the same news we can find on any other MSM cable station make this new? This should be what is on the front page. Kind of disappointing to me. Education is the key to Democracy, and I thought Current was that instrument, but not when the same stories we see on Fox News and other outlets that really aren't "news" wind up here as news.

This is the first intelligent perspective I've heard regarding education. It's 100% correct - as I understand the purpose of education. We are slipping behind in many ways - we should have an emphasis on education to lead in the process of globalization and climate change. New thinking has to evolve now. Please contact Sen. Obama and let him know we support this perspective and that he will need to take all measures possible to address it.
Thank you again, Al Gore for your insight and clear perspective. Please stay out in front as a voice of wisdom. Nancy Henderson

Al, I appreciate everything you are trying to do. But this video is not inspiring, even though the topic is extremely important.

As I see it, the problem isn't budget cuts to education, but what caused the States to even have to consider these cuts. It's all about money and why States don't have the funds to help their citizens in any number of areas; not just education. This happens every time there is an economic downturn.

Individual states must live within their budgets and available funds. Unlike the federal government, they cannot just create funds out of thin air by going into debt or creating money. The federal government can waste money on unfunded wars, bombs, and pork and pass the payment of that debt onto future generations. The states don't have that option.

So, here is a REALLY stupid idea! Make the federal government fund ALL public education (K thru 12) on an equal basis for all of the students in America. No strings attached. The moneys would be directly transfered to the states, who would in turn pass it on to their local school districts. With this program to relocalize education, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated. Clearly this department has not fostered critical thinking skills or the development of educated citizens with its unfunded mandates.

Oh, and another benefit would be that maybe individual schools could throw the military recruiters out of their schools without the threat of losing their education funds from the federal government. This way the teachers could actually hope that their students' education will be used on tomorrows solutions to the huge challenges we face, instead of just being used for cannon fodder for the war machine.

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My interest in public education for all of our children stems from 1) my appreciation of having had an excellent primary and secondary education 2) and having been able to afford my children a good education. I want the same for my grandchildren, of course. In addition, I strongly believe that our future as a society depends on our giving our growing popultion a sound education, with a dual emphasis on sciences and the "humanities". We need this foundation to inform and encourage our democracy and a peaceful leadership in the global body-politic. Budgetary cuts in education are an obscenity. Instead we should be investing in smaller schools with smaller classes and multi-service campuses tied to family serving parks. We should support our teachers (of smaller classes) with the salaries, supplies and benefits they need, and we should support our families with onsite health and counseling services they need. Our children and the health of our ecosystems are our future - how can we possibly "cut back" on investing in either?!

The logic of this and the relevancy of this topic is absolute. California teachers are all experiencing the trauma of this policy of reducing education every day. School boards are scrambling to give and then take away pink slips. Teachers are in a constant state of stress and can't focus on doing their best and building an efficient and happy classroom because they can't plan their resources and need to plan for their next paychecks. The amount of money already spent on dealing with this threat has already wasted precious resources and energy.California is already 46th in the nation for spending per student and in the second breath educators are being blamed for lower performance of students. Every parent and citizen needs to speak out about these scare tactics and the state of education. Thank you again Al Gore for being the primary truth-sayer in this country.

Thanks for this Al. A good, solid education system is essential to the long-term economic prosperity of our country. Unfortunately, politicians have found that it is much easier to sell American's on cutting taxes than on investing in our future. How do we change the conversation to make it more politically feasible to raise taxes in order to promote a bright future for the next generation of Americans?

I think your movie on the environment helped change the national dialog. Maybe it's time for a movie on education as well.

I am a teacher at a public charter school in Los Angeles, California and I think that cutting education has become a habit over the years, so much so that anyone sitting in the governor's seat or a state assembly seat automatically decides to cut the budget for education because it's been done for the last 30 years.

I spend an average of $500-600 per school year on school supplies for my students because we don't receive proper funding now. I and my colleagues at the school we work at, are not allowed a lunch break because there is no other supervision for our students. Yes we all know, including the director of the school, its against the law but there is no money for additional personnel to hire.

I work with the most needy people of society and unless we change our spending habits, we will continue to have children who cannot read, write, or solve problems despite my and my colleagues best efforts.

Those who already have a quality education are pulling the rug out from under the upcoming generation by cutting funding. Having a miseducated population will leave young people defenseless against lies, manipulation, confusion and despair. I agree with Al Gore - fund quality public education for California's students!

There is a crisis in education in California. It is precisely the wrong time to cut funds for public education. California used to have a high ratio of funding to students/teachers. Now we are near the bottom of the states' list.

California is the world's 7th largest economy. We can do better, and we must.

Education cuts must not happen. The kids are our future. There is another problem that you hear very little or nothing about and that is the cuts in health care for our senior citizens especially those with limited, low income. Must we make this group decide on which medication to take or whether it is a food day or medication day. The kids mothers and fathers speak loudly and often for their kids future and that is absolutely how it should be but where is the voice for this group of our too often silent elders.

How about a walker march on Sacramento.

This total conversation is kind of like building a new fire station while the town burns to the ground.

Mr. Gore, do you realize how bad it's getting out here?

At this point in time what does it matter how much money you throw at education, as long as corp. America is allowed to oursource jobs and thus our very exsistence to the lowest bidder?

I have never understood any cuts to education. The link between education and consciousness about our choices, our responsibility, and our respect is direct and close. But maybe that's why some people are threatened by having a highly educated population...

I am very certain that to live sustainably on the planet with a bustling economy, it can only occur with a well educated populace. I agree that there is more and more information required to make conscious choices, and the easiest way to disseminate that information is through public education starting at a young age. Excellent K-12 education is most important to achieve for everyone.

Thank you Mr. Gore. Exactly my thoughts.

The government constantly tries to find solutions to problems by providing quick fixes. Getting to the root of the problem of US jobs being lost to the other nations is by focusing on elementary and higher education now.

Yacht parties, soaring gas prices, lack of health care, lack of money for education. What happened to our country?

I think they are cutting education because its in their better interest to keep us ignorant and working several jobs at a time. When we are so busy trying to put 'food on our family', we don't have the time or energy to watch what the government is doing.

Can't tell you how very sad I am that you will not be leading the next administration. Very grateful for the work you doing now... just want my cake and eat it too.

I think this is part of a systemic move towards privatization of all public programs. We're seeing it now with prisons, where corporations can hire prisoners as cheap labor.

If we bankrupt (defund) public programs, for profit corporations can swoop in and "save the day". The link between politicians and corporate interests are all too evident and real. As long as we allow these relationships to dominate politics, these are the results we will face.

it is not the higher education,it is the quality higher education.education is reflection of ones perfection in all the aspects of qualification,thinking,behavior. It is not just how much you are trained to get the pay. This quality of education which desciplines mind is importantant.
Eduacation should incorporate basic human qualities of being truthful ,honest , compassion,respect for others and hard work.
i would quote the literature falun gong regarding this aspect.

It is true that historically, one of the first things cut when revenues are down and budget deficits rise is public education. It is also true that it is absolutely wrongheaded. I suppose it happens because it is too easy, far easier compared to cutting corporate subsidies given the vigilance of lobbyist watchdogs.

Perhaps the solution is to advocate for legislation that prioritizes public education so that by law, the budget makers cannot sacrifice education until all other options have been exhausted.

This interests me because attempts to "do-in" public education has been part of the Republican agenda for decades. Privatization of education and funding cuts for public education are part and parcel of this plan to eliminate opportunities for the poor and much of the middle class to advance in society. If these folks win their battle we will see the end of our republic as we know it. Further we will lose the contributions of a majority of our population -- and that will put the icing on the collapsed cake called the USA.

Over the last ten or so years, we've seen the "dumbing down" of information and education reflected in all parts of society. It's in the school system, the media, in politics, and in every day life. The lack of "critical thinking" is reflected in the choices we make and the values we adopt.

We need to reverse the trend of over-simplifying everything by placing a large emphasis on the value of knowledge and the beauty of complexity.

We must come to believe that citizens have a real responsibility other than in just going to the polls once in a while. It's what our Founding Fathers imparted to us - this vision of a functioning democracy in which everyone played a part.

The key is in accepting that education is first a concept, then a practice. Without true, objective, factual learning, our society will continue to limp along, and finally wither. Supporting all levels of education must be a top priority. An educated population is not easily manipulated or deceived......

UC berkeley new regent Yudof earns 500,000+
regents earn like the CSU regents 200,000+
teacher's earn 40-50K if they are lucky.
the imbalance is huge, therefore the cuts to the upper group must be made to maintain any semblance of a decent education for the average students, each one of which may be able through decent education to alleviate or solve further the global problems. Paying a provost or a regent or a head director is just utilizing capitalistic ceo nonsense with the publics money. Education is overpriced in this country, why is it that in the EU the systems are nowhere near this price but the education is just as thorough?

Meanwhile the SFUSD cant even maintain their schools. They currently had a proposal to sell off 8 public school sites, and already sold one off that was a public site within walking distance of the largest rental community in the city of san francisco, (700 Font) highly un-sustainable.

Only one SF Board of Education member voted against the sale. It shows the lack of foresight and vision in regards to creating an education system that works...

What gets cut and what doesn't all has to do with how much money you have to donate to the politicians. I guess that the teacher's union, schools, children, parents and concerned citizens were not wealthy enough to save education from being cut.

We currently have a nation of the rich, the poor and a rapidly disappearing middle class. The rich don't care if public school funding is cut because their children don't go to public schools. The poor and the middle class don't have enough money and influence to keep school funding at the needed level. They are also too busy just trying to make ends meet that they don't have the time to work to make a difference.

How did we get here? and what are we doing in this hand basket?

Bottom line: get the money out of politics so that our representatives can work for "We, the People" again.

I couldn't agree more with Mr. Gore's remarks on the lack of logic involved in cutting education funding (yet again) during difficult times in an attempt to reverse those difficult times.

It seems obvious to me that the reason for this is that education does not serve the financial interests of the corporate industrial complex. The ultra-rich cannot continue to amass obsene amounts of wealth by investing in a safe, just and healthy future for America.

We, the American people, have to reclaim this wonderful land. We must stand up and say, "We will no longer accept the corporate hijacking of our country. We are smarter than you think. We have had enough. We are paying attention and we take back ownership of our democracy."

I'm really getting involved. I understand that this is going to be work. I've pick a few of the issues I feel are the most pressing (climate crisis, education...), I'm educating myself and making some noise. If we all do it they can no longer ignore us.

Now that I have had some time to think about your question...what should we do to transform public education...I have a more specific answer. :)

One thing we should do is allow teachers to innovate a creative program that will excite students to want to learn and REQUIRE students to learn to think. Curriculum must integrate subjects into something students can connect to their lives and make sense of.(Currently NCLB has fragmented instruction and curriculum in a way that defies logic.)

The other thing that needs to happen is the students...at every age...need to be given responsibility for their education. They need (with teachers and parents) to set real goals for their lives...not just for the sake of 'practicing' goal-setting skills... but for the purpose of owning a goal that will require a change in their educational choices or path to learning. Owning the goal can help them (with their family) choose homework over Playstation 2 (or whatever the current number is).

I have spent a lot of time doing 'student-led conferences' where students are involved in setting goals for the year and they participate in their parent-teacher conferences. It has been enjoyable to do this as a teacher, and the families I work with value the process, but it has not been 'tied' to any real change in the child's education. I think...if it were...it could have a HUGE impact.

We teachers often bemoan 'cookie-cutter' education, because each child is unique...but our current system does not really allow for each child's uniqueness...their strengths and weaknessess. NCLB's programs to address this have been a horrendous mish-mash of scheduling minutes for interventions. It hurts one's brain! :)

We adults need to devise multiple paths to success for our children. We need to make all of them exciting, but have each path play to different unique strengths that children have. As adults...and I mean ALL adults... we need to support them and their goals along the way. We must insist that they may not 'opt out'...no dropouts! And somehow...like Barack Obama has said...we adults have to understand that these children are the responsibility of ALL of us. It's not okay to pass the buck, or blame someone else, or say "I already paid taxes for my kids." and not support schools.

That's what I think...Mr. President. :)

They are cutting education because the upper rich class has to have their tax cuts for yachts, no taxes, and loopholes that the poor and middle class do not get. I think that the rich should have to pay and then pay back all the free money they have received over the years and then the budget would balance. We should take the hummer away from the governer and put the proceeds towards the deficit and quit paying for all the extra perks he receives.

The current administration and republicans in general, as well as many moderate democrats have been de-funding many public institutions and privatizing as many public services as possible. For example the private military contractors carry on in Iraq unbounded by Geneva conventions. This is part of a continuing policy that shifts more of the wealth to the rich corporate ruling class and eliminate the middle class. Cutting taxes on corporations and on the wealthy is an integral part of the methodology. Limiting education is another tactic. In the new global economy corporate executives are rewarded with greater salaries regardless of performance. In many cases ailing corporations are bailed out by taxpayers as lower level workers struggle to survive as more of the undereducated compete in the workplace and are forced to accept lower wages.
College tuition is rising so fast that soon only the wealthiest will be able to afford it. The financial burden of student loans may hinder many grads who will have to fight for the lower paying positions as companies continue to cut cost to survive.

This is a vital topic for Californians. Education is one of the most effective ways to ensure that high paying jobs stay in California.
Our state Gov. responds to pressure. It is up to us to apply it until we get what we want!

Education is often the target of funding cuts because the more educated the masses are, the harder they become to control and subdue. We are wealthy enough to provide free or nearly-free education for all college students. Education should not be limited to those who can afford it, everyone should have the right to further their own knowledge regardless of financial status.

Okay ...

I gotta proposition for ya...
You find us a pot of money, say $100 million to start...

With this money we will seek to purchase nonperforming loans from the idiots who own them, banks usually, but not always... Anyway...

This is how it works, we offer the loan holder 70% of the loan, cash... He loves us, and gets to write off the loss and dumps the loan quick...

Then we go see the guy who "owns" the house and is now usually about 3 months into his new ARM, the teaser rate was good for 24 months, then the rate went from 2.5% to 8.25% and his payment doubled... Wow! Lets say he lives in Brentwood, CA... or Stockton or Tracy or even in Dallas... But the higher numbers California offers are more fun so lets just say that he bought the house for $600,000.00, and he has mortgage of say $540,000.00 (original teaser payment, $2,133.00) and since the payments were current until the rate changed he owes now owes about $516K, but the house won't refi for that and he is 3 months behind on the mortgage, he now owes just over $12K to make the loan current, plus the next months payment of $4.057.00... Man, time to walk...

But wait... We just bought that mortgage for $361,000.00... And this guy owes us $12K... So why don't we see if he would like to really own his house? I bet he would, and I bet he would like to keep his credit rating, too...

So what can we do for him? Can we, say, accept half of the money he was trying to give the original mortgage holder and forgive the rest...? Sure can! Most folks in that position are trying, they have at least half of what they owe, usually... So he's got $6K and we will take $3K of that for fees, someone has to pay me for instance..., and then we will go to a real bank with our friend and client and get a real loan... His house is worth no more than $450K, maybe even $425K, but it will legitamtely appraise for enough to finance our friend. Now our investors need to make a decent return on their money and since this exercise will probably take a month or so per transaction, I am sure that we could interest investors with a rate of return of only 5% per transaction. In other words we could discount the loan to say $385K with our investors getting a return of 5% ($18K) and another $5,500.00 going back to cover loan costs and other fees etc... Like the cost of the non profit that does the deals...

Anyway our friend in Brentwood now has a loan at 5.75%, with a payment of around $2,250.00... Which he can live with if we rescue him in time!

So tell me what did you have planned for that big green investment group, anyway?

RG Johnson
San Jose CA
SouthBayDraftGore08
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bayarea4gore/

COURAGE Comments on Public Education By Kathleen Hughart, San Diego Community College Instructor
May 22, 2008 San Diego, California
:Teacher-Learner Autonomy and National service

In a country as diverse as the United States of America, federally mandated school programs stifle learning and create more harm than good.

Students, parents, teachers and school administrators from each individual community must have authority over their school’s public education.

The top-down NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND program, with its scripted teaching manuals and preconceived “correct answers,” poisons the learning environment.

Federal funding should not be linked to automated test score results. Teachers know how to teach according to the specific needs of the people in neighborhoods where they live and work.

Immediately after high school graduation, teens can repay the government’s investment in public education by fulfilling a mandatory two-year national work-service apprenticeship in the career of their choice.

Given the chance to learn unimpeded by federal interventions, publicly educated young people can create solutions and reconstruct U.S. society.

It goes beyond just competing in an information age. I think the gutting of our public education system is an out an out attempt to undermine the basic functioning of our democracy. You really can't have a democracy without a public education system available on equal terms to all. Now we have two public educational systems: one in wealthy suburbs where kids are prepared for college and to find opportunities in our economy and one in poor inner cities and rural areas where kids are warehoused. (Of course, we have a third system of private education where kids are given the tools and contacts of the ruling classes, but that is another story.)

COURAGE Comments on Public Education By Kathleen Hughart
May 22, 2008 San Diego, California
:Teacher-Learner Autonomy and National service

In a country as diverse as the United States of America, federally mandated school programs stifle learning and create more harm than good.

Students, parents, teachers and school administrators from each individual community must have authority over their school’s public education.

The top-down NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND program, with its scripted teaching manuals and preconceived “correct answers,” poisons the learning environment.

Federal funding should not be linked to automated test score results. Teachers know how to teach according to the specific needs of the people in neighborhoods where they live and work.

Immediately after high school graduation, teens can repay the government’s investment in public education by fulfilling a mandatory two-year national work-service apprenticeship in the career of their choice.

Given the chance to learn unimpeded by federal interventions, publicly educated young people can create solutions and reconstruct U.S. society.

I disagree with the notion that we have to raise taxes to properly fund education. Simply cut the bloated budget for military expenditures and redirect those funds towards education. Even cutting the bloated Pentagon budget by the smallest percentage could make such a difference in funding education, and the U.S. would still outspend the rest of the world on military spending by billions and billions of dollars.

I grew up in an underserved area of southern california and saw many good kids wth hopes and dreams fall victim to drugs and violence and gangs. I am now a nurse at a childrens hospital in a very poor area and have the opportunity to talk to these kids about how they feel about their future. The overwhelming consensus is that they have dreams and goals but feel they have no hope. I hear from them the schools are not safe, the schools do not offer the college prep classes they need, the teachers are babysitting more than teaching. If you want a real solution to high unemployment, high welfare rolls, increasing gang problems then give these kids a proper and fair/balanced education. Give kids a sense of hope for their futures and they will succeed. I am living proof. If my parents hadn't sent me to private school I might have been another statistic that people would be calling a purge on society.

Dude, you're preaching to the choir. I'm a school teacher. What people really don't want to talk about is that taxes will have to be raised to adequately fund education...

I would love to support the issue, however there currently is not enough checks and balances to the universities expenditures in the state of california. The UC system, and CSU systems overspend and duplicate projects phenomenally to the point of bankrupting the state. They engage in Memorandum's of Understanding with cities, that ignore the communities, and do nothing to solve the impacts of the universities "largess" in spending, salaries (see UC regent Yudof) or in utilizing "foundations" and other side made authorities to purchase land, and destroy neighborhoods. We face this currently by the SFSU CSU Masterplan, where the SFSU "foundation" purchased University Park North and University Park South, eliminating over 1,000 units of precious rental housing and proposing to demolish and develop on the recreation site of Parkmerced. This property itself is a possible "NATIONAL LANDMARK" due to its design, integrity, and landscape in full maturity by thomas dolliver church. (See www.tclf.org under "marvels of modernism") I am all for the proper and well thought out development of cities, and the urgency of improving the world for all who live here, and future generations. But the un-sustainablility of demolishing the entire development of Parkmerced by the current owners after "rennovating the units" and selling off portions to the SFSU Foundation which than sold it back to the CSU system. Shows a severe problem in the overall education systems growth and checks and balances. Until the proper review of the parcel is done through a Historic Resources Survey, and lands purchased through side-deals with developers is thorougly investigated. The SFSU growth and masterplan should be severly VALUE Engineered and the expenditures of the California University system and its negotiations with city agencies investigated by the federal government until a proper balance is achieved in expenditures, growth, access to education at an affordable level, and protection and sustainable measures of increase and growth that dont throw communities under the steam-roller of development, or eco-green "chic" developments like www.parkmercedvision.com that are highly unsustainable in nature.

Sincerely

Aaron Goodman @ PRO
www.parkmercedresidents.org

It's always politically easy, indeed safe, to cut funds from childrens' programs...education, foster care, healthcare, nutrition, whatever it is. Children can't vote. Children can't make political contributions. Children can't hold politicians' feet to the fire or politicians' minds to common sense thinking. I believe Mr. Gore is spot on. Education should be a top priority. It should be funded at the very least, if not more, with, the same zeal and commitment we have to building bombs and prisons. (How is it that increasing funding for public education is throwing good money after bad? Money, we are told, when it comes to human social programs, can't solve the problems. Yet it always seems to be the answer for solving the problems when it comes to building bombs or prisons.) Priorities...easy to figure out which ones are at the top of the list. Just look at the bottom line.

In The Audacity of Hope , Barack Obama notes on page 22,
“And yet our debate on education seems stuck ... between those who say money makes no difference in education and those who want more money without any demonstration that it will be put to good use.”

Money will not simply solve the serious problems in education today.

We can solve the problems by encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship in education. We have neither the money nor the time to implement traditional methods to improve education right now. We require new ideas and new approaches that will quickly and dramatically improve education.

The current funding atmosphere works against improvements in education. Funding organizations (angels, VCs, government, foundations, etc.) aren't funding education entrepreneurs. As web sites like this one and so many more indicate, new technologies have the capability to change the world, including education.

My colleagues and I have taken the step of innovating in science education. Online high schools in six states, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Apex Learning, and many more have adopted our approach. It's patented and groundbreaking. Yet, we have never been able to get a dime of investment from anywhere. We are not rich and have had to provide all of the funding for this venture ourselves.

Our entire capitalist system is broken, and funding decisions are the worst part of it. The ROI decisions don't include long-term or societal returns and costs. Our education system is spiraling to its death, and, as things are, we are powerless to stop it.

We could be doing so much more for so much less cost with results much sooner. Recall that over the last few decades, billions of dollars have been spent on fixing science education with essentially no result. Only a fundamental change can fix education. Innovation will be a critical part of the fix.

My web site is www.smartscience.net.

In The Audacity of Hope , Barack Obama notes on page 22,
“And yet our debate on education seems stuck ... between those who say money makes no difference in education and those who want more money without any demonstration that it will be put to good use.”

Money will not simply solve the serious problems in education today.

We can solve the problems by encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship in education. We have neither the money nor the time to implement traditional methods to improve education right now. We require new ideas and new approaches that will quickly and dramatically improve education.

The current funding atmosphere works against improvements in education. Funding organizations (angels, VCs, government, foundations, etc.) aren't funding education entrepreneurs. As web sites like this one and so many more indicate, new technologies have the capability to change the world, including education.

My colleagues and I have taken the step of innovating in science education. Online high schools in six states, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Apex Learning, and many more have adopted our approach. It's patented and groundbreaking. Yet, we have never been able to get a dime of investment from anywhere. We are not rich and have had to provide all of the funding for this venture ourselves.

Our entire capitalist system is broken, and funding decisions are the worst part of it. The ROI decisions don't include long-term or societal returns and costs. Our education system is spiraling to its death, and, as things are, we are powerless to stop it.

We could be doing so much more for so much less cost with results much sooner. Recall that over the last few decades, billions of dollars have been spent on fixing science education with essentially no result. Only a fundamental change can fix education. Innovation will be a critical part of the fix.

My web site is www.smartscience.net.

In The Audacity of Hope , Barack Obama notes on page 22,
“And yet our debate on education seems stuck ... between those who say money makes no difference in education and those who want more money without any demonstration that it will be put to good use.”

Money will not simply solve the serious problems in education today.

We can solve the problems by encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship in education. We have neither the money nor the time to implement traditional methods to improve education right now. We require new ideas and new approaches that will quickly and dramatically improve education.

The current funding atmosphere works against improvements in education. Funding organizations (angels, VCs, government, foundations, etc.) aren't funding education entrepreneurs. As web sites like this one and so many more indicate, new technologies have the capability to change the world, including education.

My colleagues and I have taken the step of innovating in science education. Online high schools in six states, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Apex Learning, and many more have adopted our approach. It's patented and groundbreaking. Yet, we have never been able to get a dime of investment from anywhere. We are not rich and have had to provide all of the funding for this venture ourselves.

Our entire capitalist system is broken, and funding decisions are the worst part of it. The ROI decisions don't include long-term or societal returns and costs. Our education system is spiraling to its death, and, as things are, we are powerless to stop it.

We could be doing so much more for so much less cost with results much sooner. Recall that over the last few decades, billions of dollars have been spent on fixing science education with essentially no result. Only a fundamental change can fix education. Innovation will be a critical part of the fix.

My web site is www.smartscience.net.

Education should be a priority. It is sad to see how quickly the government is ready to take money and programs away from education. Recess and P.E. are being are stripped away. Art and music programs are marginalized. It seems that the government is trying to dictate what our children become. What happened to the American Dream?

the credit crunch was brought on by the current republican administration's deregulation or lack of regulation in mortgage lending industry. The budget deficits for all the individual states has resulted not only from a diminished local economy and lesser property taxes, due to record foreclosures but chiefly from the tax cuts for the wealthiest of americans as well as tax holidays like the yact tax loopole.

the trickle down theory has been disproven many times and has been given its best chance during the bush administration. wealth people just take their extra money and put in off shore bank accounts.

republicans want to privitize everything and consolidate the wealth in the country, cutting education is their wet dream. it is THE most effective way to disimpower the masses and further contribute to the dumbed down, well trained consumer who cares less about civil rights and more about B list stars. we have a great example of what the country will look like if we keep going in this direction and it's our neighbor Mexico. everything is privitized and it doesn't create better products and services due to competition, it breeds monopolies and extreme greed, leaving the bulk of the population to fend for themselves.

I believe we should pass legislation extendiing public school education to include 2 years of community college. this would be a step in the right direction and would greatly benefit our communities. Other countries such as in Europe provide their citizens with free college education. Why shouldn't we do the same for our own people when the U.S. is such a wealthy country?

What would education look like if it was play-based? http://www.redroom.com/audio/jane-perry-her-book-outdoor-play-teaching-strategie...

As a forty year educator I agree that education is the answer, BUT not the same old education that has been failing for the past 30 years.

We need a system that understands the children of today and can meet their educational needs where they are - rather than asking them to regress into a system designed to produce assembly line factory workers. More support and resources for a broken system is not the anser.

absolutely - in other developed cultures, a teacher is afforded the same status and respect as a doctor or a lawyer - and i would say a teacher has as much or MORE effect on our society. Many kids spend more time in a school than even with their parents - they need the kind of trained, quality person who can't even afford to be a teacher in this day and age.

Our young people are growing up in an increasingly information-laden age and need to learn how to use the power of their minds to find employment, navigate through our very flawed media system and even just to cope with all of our modern challenges.

*Cutting* our education is just about the worst thing this country could do for itself.

Cutting public education budgets is something I don't understand either. As the mother of 7 year old twins, I was outraged to learn that public education is one of the first places our government looks to redirect dollars.

The state of public education in our country is already unsatisfactory, at best. It seems to me it is one of the few things we should be able to count on as a society that is taxed to the extend that we are and who supposedly values education as we say we do.

Given what teachers are so meagerly paid and asked to do out of their own pockets; what parents do in order to help their schools just make ends meet; and what our government asks of us, it feels criminal to me that public school budget cuts are even an option.

By observing the more recent public/social service bashing moves of business-driven politicians, especially in regards to public education, it almost seems as though they purposely want public services, including education, to fail so people will have no other choice but to buy access to any services they receive in society - in terms of education, forcing parents to turn to for profit driven private and charter schools to educate their children.

Those who are unable to send their kids to private and or charter schools will have no other choice but to send their children to severely underfunded schools resembing day prison camps, and will remain at the poverty-unemployed-criminal sector of society.

Following the economic rules of capitalism, society needs a certain ratio of unemployed people (which is comprised of people in jail, the homeless, children, the disabled, and the elderly), a large enough low wage paying work sector to provide services for those in the upper class, and a proportionally small percentage in the corporate sector dictating the market and profiting from the disparities between the owner and working classes.

The no child left behind policy is a method of classifying kids from disadvantaged backgrounds at a young age as those who will comprise the working-service and military service sectors.

Measures to properly fund schools in poverty stricken areas and affirmative action threaten the ratio needed in society that would allow capitalism to thrive. When banks and business receive more public tax payer funding than the people, it is obvious where this government's priorities lie.

Given the circumstances, the fight for quality, accessible education, and even for good paying jobs (which are disappearing due to business outsourcing, down sizing, the elimination or underfunding of salaries for teachers and other social service/public services), has to be directed to these greedy politicians who either directly or indirectly feed into this system; which is already enslaving the working class with debt that they will have to struggle with and work off for the rest of their lives.

With the present miserable situation of the working class slipping into poverty, does it make you wonder why there always seems to be plenty of money to increase the number of police (to regulate the working class according the ruling class's liking), prisons (to contain the overwhelingly disadvantaged poverty and crime stricken masses), and fund imperialistic wars?

Education is extremely important for our country. Considering we live in a democracy, it is incumbent upon the public to be educated and informed, to make decisions concerning the future and our leaders. Al's comments goes to the heart of the matter. In my opinion public education today is not geared in the proper direction. Our public schools are set up to teach memorization not critical or creative thought. Much needs to be done to overhaul this system. Talking about it is a great way to get things started.

I can't imagine what is left to be cut from the public school system.

I had children in public schools in Los Angeles, California for the 21 years between 1980 and 2001. They barely had seats and textbooks, let alone art and music and sports. Cafeteria food, if it existed, made my son ill. My daughter developed torticollis when they took away school lockers. Neither child had any effective counseling whatsoever. My son, an honor student, was administered the GED test in the 11th grade and encouraged to leave school 18 months early.

Who in their right mind could possibly support budget cuts for education but support tax breaks for corporations and yachts and jets?

I now live in a small town with atrocious schools, where the bulk of the population cannot spell the days of the week, and the clerks in the stores don't know how to make change. This is insane. Are we just all waiting for that big wave to wash us away, or what?

Thank you for making this important statement, impeccably rational, cogent, well-articulated, and concise.

Setting aside critical "basic skills education" which are essential and unarguably important, the failure of public education can be measured by the public's vulnerability to the political strategems that established and sustained the last half dozen years of war. What better exemplifies such a failure than the substitution of slogans for thought in political rhetoric and then in public dialogue -- a mass failure of the faculty of critical thinking? What can explain the effective propagation of palpable lies and irrelevancies as bogus justifications for invading another soverign nation other than a failure to inculculate the most superficial sense of perspective about modern American society in relation to the richness, value, and uniqueness of multiple human societies cultures past and present?

Targets of a justifiable "war on terror" include terror of "new taxes" -- a principle that suffocates and cancels any reasonable consideration of investment made in relation to value received -- and terror of "terrorists" whose invocation undoes any sense of proportionality about the authentic risks and threats to our everyday lives.

We have schools ready now, and they should be used to educate our children and teenagers about our fast-changing world. China is maintaining their educational programs, even in Cheng Du province, where their schools were demolished. More taxes if necessary must be collected to maintain our school system.

I appreciate Mr. Gore's comments. When he speaks of changing consciousness, I recall when our governor said with pride, "I want to starve the public sector and feed the private sector."

I am a lecturer in the CSU system. Our students are the recipients of this consciousness of starving the public sector. Their inheritance is 27 years of starving the public good.

They have been clever in creating the consciousness that taxes are bad. Big Government is bad. Government has never been bigger and more in our business. My understanding is that Government is about the allocation of resources.

I would like to encourage all of us to use the 'T' word in response to these millionaires who have access to officials we elect to protect the public good. A progressive tax system is sane and just. In my humble opinion this is an action in changing consciousness toward a healthier local, state and national community.

The video is right on the mark but our problem is coming up with solid and real solutions. Many, including a large portion of my fellow Democrats in California, will not allow a change in allocation of financial resources in CA. An example is the deep support for large salaries for many state employees, especially, fire fighters and prison guards. A prison guard in CA makes around $150,000 or more with overtime and an inmate costs about $47,000 a year to the taxpayers. How about spending that amount of money on each student and lowering the spending on inmates to the level spent for each student, of something like $5,000-6,000. Then, we'll have money for education. I don't hear Democrates talking about that! Prison guards' union is too strong. CA can also increase teacher salaries but they need to cut back on STRS retirement benefits as well as many other retirement salaries. These funds can also be directed to current salaries (or keeping the teachers) or toward classrooms.
Many studies have been done in CA for improving education but education system model must be re-made: A large amount of funds can be released and utilized for classroom education if the model of existing school districts is eliminated. Small school districts basically doing the same administrative jobs (outside classroom level teaching) namely, paying salaries, hiring, ordering books, district finances, etc can all be done by an excellent central system utilizing a high quality electronic communication and technology system. Monies saved, which will be significant can be directed to the classrooms. Current school district model is broken and can not continue. These changes can be done at county level first before eventually moving to state level. Individual school districts could still be actively involved in delivering good education to their respective small communities but without the tremendous costs of district administration. Food for thought.

It is interesting to me that during a time when the U.S. economy is obviously in a recession, we would cut spending and thus jobs. By cutting jobs, we are increasing the number of unemployed and compounding the problem. The correct course of action in an economic recession is to Increase spending, thereby replacing the jobs, and thus tax revenues, being lost due to a declining market. Part of the problem with a lot of tax dollar spending is that it leaves the treasury and enters directly into the hands of large corporations and the effects of an increase in spending never gets seen by the average american. Instead of cutting spending, we should be increasing the deficit by highering more teachers and paying existing teachers higher wages to attract better teachers to our state. The increase in the number of teachers would decrease class size, and thus increase individual student's ability to learn.

Education is the most essential place for government spending.

People who expect quality public education should commit to paying teachers more than what prison guards earn.

Teachers need access to "best practices" mentoring and team building within the schools so that teachers are teaching their strongest subjects. It makes little sense to ask a science specialist to teach art or phys ed--yet that is often what happens, and vice-verse.

A vigorous program of vocational arts must be offered from 8th grade and up. Not all students are academic or college bound. Inspire each student to set goals, then give students access to the skills they need to attain those goals.

At the very least, a "life skills" course should be required in middle school and again in HS so students learn real-world skills of how to earn money, save money, budget, plan events, interview for jobs, start a business, do community service, take care of their bodies, communicate in effective ways in a variety of situations. Etiquette class should be mandatory.

Foreign languages should be mandatory, as they are in most European countries, Asian countries, and South American countries.

There is a contradiction inherent in requiring Calif. HS students to pass an "exit exam" which is offered Sophomore year. Why should the Sophomores who pass the exit exam remain in HS? Why should those students who cannot pass the exit exam (due to special needs) be forced to endure a curriculum that will not meet their actual needs nor build on their actual, trainable skill sets?

Would Mr. Gore entertain an invitation to serve as Secretary of Education and implement national-level reforms? If so, he should also increase the opportunities for students and teachers to engage in foreign-exchange programs.

Finally, it is important that each elected official, from the state level up through congress and senate, spend at least 20 hours in a public school working alongside students and staff. Only then will true reform happen. "You have to see it and experience it to believe it." This service--or fact-finding mission-- should be a requirement of any elected position, including President.

I think an Apollo-sized project is necessary to get us two goals:

1. Best public education system in the world.

2. Create economy/new jobs based on making solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources cheap enough for everyone to use. Power the US with it, then export it.

Fund schools, not prisons.

My son is a sophomore in high school, and I can say without a doubt that the system has failed him this year. They have spent so much time either studying to tests or getting wrapped up in frivolous paperwork that he has been forgotten. In the fourth grade he was classified as needing one on one special ed classes in reading and math. In school he could not get it...with me at home he had no problem... I asked him why and he told me because I make it fun to learn and because that one on one really helped his confidence level. And being a part of one on one classes in school helped his marks and motivation go up... Which is why I am so frustrated to see him struggling now because funds were dropped and his one on one special classes were dropped along with it. He was thrown into the deep end of the pool this year without warning, and his marks have fallen after being sustained for the last five years. And he is a very bright young man.

So I don't understand the rationale behind making the most precious resource we have suffer because politicians have to continue to play pandering games to those lobbies that bring them the most cash over the educational welfare of our children. Now my son will more than likely have to go to summer school and hopefully will do well. I do all I can as his mother as I have for the last ten years to keep his confidence high and to continue at home to make learning as fun a process as I can. But his motivation in some subjects is simply not there. He complains it is monotonous, boring, and the atmosphere at times borders on being more of a boot camp than a school.

What the The No Child Left Behind Act has done is just the opposite and it needs to be repealed all the way. I will continue to work with my son and do all I can to see him graduate high school because he already knows the career he wants and he should have every opportunity to reach that goal regardless of the petty red tape that our educational system has become which takes away the very resources our children need to be successful. It is time to start thinking of our children as people, not merely statistics on a government chart or our schools as recruitment grounds for the military.

Our potentially wonderful country has been hijacked by a handfull of people who would love to see the population become more ignorant (so they can get away with whatever misdeed they can). Ignorant people tend to be tricked easier, scared easier. They will believe whatever is spoon-fed to them in the media by the handfull. The American system is supposed to of the people and by the people (not the handfull of politicians). The People are the only ones who can change what is going on, and we all have to vote for the right things for this wonderful experiment called the United States of America. We should take into consideration the voting technique in Brasil. Everyone is required to vote come voting day. Everyone 100%. No excuses. Love to all (even the handfull, who need it most)

It's inspiring to see the issues of education taken seriously at this level. California is the nation's richest state, yet it ranks among the lowest nationwide for per pupil spending... Additionally, standardized test laden public education is a huge disservice to the matriculating population of California. We need an immense focus on ESL education, most of the new K-12 population are immigrants from all over the world (primarily mexico and southeast Asia) who are in dire need of learning english skills.

In addition, it is critical that education begin to focus on 'whole student development' and diverge from the rigid structure of memorizing facts, performing on tests, sitting down and shutting up. We need to cultivate our students' consciousness as well by encouraging mindfullness in education... Encouraging awareness, non-judgment, openness and free thinking... just my too sense...

This doesn't go far enough. Imagine how much better off this country would be if it spent far less on sustaining the military industrial complex and subsidizing BIG OIL and BIG PHARMA and BIG AGROBUSINESS and, instead, provided free public education through college for all qualified citizens. Lack of full support for public education will eventually doom this country to third-world status-- we are well on our way already.

Imagine how much better off the country would be if it weren't saddled with a 9 trillion dollar debt that requires the Federal Government to give the first $400-600 billion dollars of federal tax income to people and governments that own the federal debt obligations. Think what that tax money could perchase in terms of education, infrastructure building and maintenance, etc. etc.

Vice President Gore is kind in his words regarding California's 'up is down' budget priority on education.

The American education system is losing it's competitive edge globally and in less than 2 short decades risks falling behind emerging Asian economies like China, Singapore, India simply by sheer numbers of educated as well as quality given value disparity.

American myopia in the 21st century is apparent in it's poor decision making around the fundamental priorities that were responsible for it's rise in the 20th century -- education, investment in infrastructure at home, focus on science-based decision making processes, emphasis on international collaboration and alliance, fair labor practices -- in exchange for increasing emphasis on individual performance and profit taking.

It becomes a perpetual downward spiral that feeds the social ills of society as violence increases, prisons fill and depressed urban areas grow.

What's the answer? For starters, how about measures that help 'promote' greater corporate social responsibility and examining national budget priorities such as the reckless military budget and those who are perversely profiting from violence abroad.....

I agree that meeting education needs is important. But we need more than just an increased, or maintained budget. We need a qualitative education that expands on a child's individual skills and developmental needs, creates a sense of fun in learning and in support of their class community, incorporates environmental and social responsibility into the curriculum and promotes critical thinking.

This sounds difficult, and it will be. But today's direction of emphasized group standards and accountability, does not reflect, nor do justice to our children, parents, educators, or administration. In addition to maintaining or increasing the educational budget, we need to renovate the educational system to reflect today's many American cultures as well as the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development that must be supported and nurtured in children. By approaching education from a qualitative, not quantitative approach we will help instill in our children the tools and techniques they need to be successful critical thinking members of society. More than that, maybe the children will begin to enjoy school. And as we all know, we are more likely to continue doing something if we enjoy it.

Education is our most important resource, it drives our future leadership. If this nation can finally catch on to the importance of protecting our environment, why is it so hard to understand that we need a nation of educated youth that will insure and protect our future.