Our children are our future. Education is at the heart at developing their skills and abilities and yet year after year we hear about the degrading state of our educational system. Our nation has spent trillions of dollars on failed programs that research and experts had promised would work. Achievement gaps persist, performance declines are accelerating and so it is of paramount importance that we explore novel ideas and solutions. You might not agree with many or any of the ideas below, and we certainly are not endorsing policies – our hope is just to create a space where bright, dedicated folks from the community can share their ideas – so that we can all come together and better understand each others experiences, concerns and how we might move forward together to build a brighter future.

Chantelle West

Thanks for having me! What a great topic…one that I’m sure a lot of people have been thinking about lately. Personally, I think our current educational system has a lot of work to do. But if I had to narrow it down to one thing, I’d say not teaching us how to Think Critically would be my main issue. Instead, most curriculums simply teach how to memorize information (often only staying a short while in our short term memory) to get the “right” answers for a test. Read more>>

Shaina Nacion

When I was eight years old, we had a few guest speakers share their career stories with our class. One was a white woman in a pressed grey skirt and blouse who talked to us about her career in corporate America. The other was a mixed-race man who was born and raised here in Hawaii. He wore work boots and “hazard” yellow and spoke to us about working in the construction industry. Read more>>

Rhonnika Clifton

As a student entering the interior design field as a third career option, I began with a completely different history & mindset than most typical students. I definitely understood the notion of being “flexible” in my career path, especially since I’d spent the last fifteen years working in corporate America and the clothing retail industry, but I quickly realized that not most students had that same mindset, nor did the instructors offer a perspective of flexibility when it came to post-graduation career options. Read more>>

Amal Hagisufi

My life experiences as a Somali woman and growing up in a low-income neighborhood have shown me the significant disparities in our educational system. Although I was blessed with a strong support system that encouraged my drive for higher education, there was a lack of opportunity and access in my neighborhood. The harsh realities quickly became evident; I was going to have to work twice as hard to earn an adequate education, especially from a racial and socioeconomic standpoint. Read more>>

Ralston Medouze

In order to best serve our students, we need to broaden our perspective of what quality education entails. Over the decades, education has become increasingly more focused on one objective or another: either to get students jobs or, now, get them into a collegiate program. Both of these goals are admirable, as we all want students to be successful and have fulfilling lives, but I often see these objectives boiled down to a singular action item that it becomes almost divorced from the original goal. Read more>>

Jade Dior

The thing I would change in our education systems would be to put more focus on developing intellectual property and monetizing skills students already possess. I feel that this would better prepare students for the real world. It also puts emphasis on using your brain rather than physical labor for work, broadening your options for multiple streams of income. There should also be more focus on hands on learning rather than just studying books. Read more>>

Fanny Minnitt

I would start financial literary training at the kindergarten level, they are capable of learning at very early ages. There are too many homeless and hopeless folk in America, and it mainly starts with generational money management issues. Giving handouts does not change mindsets. But teaching people how to manage does. Read more>>

Jimmy Tran

If I had to change one thing about our educational system, I would structure it less around how adults want to teach and more around how kids prefer to learn. Kids don’t learn through passive instruction, they learn by doing. Kids learn and master subject matter when they have a specific interest and passion for the subject matter. Thus, we should give kids more options around how and what they study. When kids get excited about learning, the sky is the limit! Read more>>

Alex Zarac

The one thing I would change about the educational system is to teach more kids about starting a business and understanding that small business is the backbone of America. I was never taught this in school and I watched my father work hard and own his own small business. I learned that from my father when in reality a lot of other kids couldn’t share my experience and reality of understanding how to work for yourself. To be honest I never really enjoyed school but that’s because I always loved technology and my schools never taught me that. Read more>>

Jennifer Hardiman

This topic really hit home with me. The business I own now is actually my third career, but also my passion. When I was in school it was just assumed that you studied hard and went to college and then had a career. My dad was an elementary school principal at the time. Read more>>