Education: The Reason the Berlin Wall Fell

Twenty years ago I was watching the television and all of a sudden Tom Brokaw broke in with a live shot of the Berlin Wall crumbling down. German citizens were frolicking and celebrating peacefully as that Wall came down. Today in Germany they are celebrating that remarkalble event in Berlin with some of the primaries behind the fall of the Wall such as Russian leader Michail Gorbachev and Polish Union leader Lech Walesa.

I was fortunate that two of the swimmers on my swim team, Indira Allick and Josh Davis were in Berlin with the USA Junior National Team participating in a meet near the time the Wall came tumbling down and brought me back a piece of the Wall, complete with graffiti. I treasure the piece I now own as a symbol of democracy and freedom.

In Karl Marx's 'Das Kapital' and in his 'Communitist Manifesto' he stresses that Communism is the next logical step after democracy using his theory of dialectical materialism. I have often felt that his concept was inaccurate since democracy is the endpoint of the struggles between the classes. This I believe is because education is the vehicle in which democracy prevails. In my theory, countries that have a high level of education and a large participation in the process of being educated are the ones that support a democratic system better. That is why the 1960's and 1970's attempts at democratizing countries like Vietnam were failures. The education systems were not mature in these countries, therefore the people were not ready to accept democracy as a viable choice. It is when citizens of these countries become so educated that they can question their oppression that then and only then will democracy be able to be installed as political system. This is why I feel we are failing in Iraq and Afghanistan because the people are not educated enought to manage on their own. Too many tribes are used to having someone control their lives.

This is what happened eventually in communist run countries. When the people realized how bad their system was, they revolted or in the case of the Wall, the leaders acquiesed to the populace's demand; that being the start of a democratic system. Education in these countries made this possible, in my theory.

Universal education is the key to any democratic system and was responsible for the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago. Look at what followed that fall.

Making the School Day Longer or Not?

A month ago President Obama came out with a radical education idea, that being making our students stay in school longer. Longer school days and more school days were one of his answers for a better educational system. As many of you know, I have long been a supporter of the change that the President wants to make in this country. A lot of this stems from being an outsider and an immigrant. Having experienced systems in other countries I feel that the USA isn't necessarily the perfect situation, though I will qualify it by saying that in many aspects it is the best situation.

That being said our school system is far from perfect. I have often been a proponent of a longer school day, beginning at 7:00 am and going to 5:00 pm. I, however, differ from the President when I also advocate a four day school week.

I feel that we could educate better with these longer hours. There would be more time to emphasize the basics that our kids don't have time for in schools these days. I also feel that we should be downplaying the 'fluff' we have in our schools. Fridays could be set aside for remedial work, clubs, sporting events etc. Fridays in my opinion are wasted days at schools as are half days. The end of the school day could be set aside for enrichmnet activities and for further remediation. Students after a three day weekend come back ready to learn, in my opinion.

The parents would have a greater chance to get home from work to meet their children when they returned to work. Many industires and corporations are going to a four day work week and this would coincide woith a four day school week.Parents could have more opportunities to bond with their children by taking them places on the long weekend or visiting museums, parks etc. Lord knows we need to bring this bond back to America. It will make it stronger, I guarantee it.

The problem with the President's proposal was as is the case with most government programmes is paying for them. This way the extra time at school duing the week would be offset by the long weekend that teachers would have. There would be extra pay given to those who wish to run programs on Fridays. Coaches already get this extra money in most sports.

Add to this a few more weeks into June for most schools and we have a longer time to educate our students. The summer vacation in my state, Texas, is way too long. Kids have a hard enough time retaining work in their heads over a Christmas or Spring break, let alone a three month hiatus from school. Summer schools could still be kept in operation but I would think that with more time in the day for rote learning and drill in the basic subjects there would be fewer numbers of summer school students. Summer school should be used for those students who wish to extend their learning, not for those who didn't choose to learn it in the first place.

So Mr. President listen to my ideas. If we want to compete with the other world powers it startsin the classroom. We have too many good teachers and good students to waste this opportunity to make it better. This is only part of the problem, I know, but a little more intense time and rigor in the school can't hurt.