A better way

Education should provide several benefits for people.  It should train the very young.  It should give a limited amount of experience to children during late childhood and early teen years.  It should contain true-to-life simulations for the jobs people prepare for.  It should culminate in an entry level skill set for the jobs and careers that people choose to be a part of as they enter adulthood.  And, it should impart a skill in knowing how to entertain and act on new ideas if people decide to switch jobs or careers.

Training young people has never been a problem.  That kind of education is at the heart of the classroom model adopted by the U.S.  Early childhood education has developed many good ideas and processes over the many years it has been in use.  A number of methods exist, also, such as Montessori/Discovery learning, laboratory learning, project-based learning, curriculum-based learning, and mentor-based learning.  All of them have significant merits and have contributed to a modern understanding of education.

Learning, or training young people's minds in areas of knowledge, is an important facet of education, but as one can see from the provisions listed above as benefits for a population, learning is not the end point of education.  Simulation, experience, and a "starter kit" of skills is on the list as well.  These three latter facets of education are not so evident in a student's current educational regimen.  They should be.  They're part of the definition of education that adults in the work world want for their children in order to take society to the next level of productivity and quality life.

Schools are not set up to provide the last three facets on any kind of ongoing and consistent basis.  Since people's desires are contrary to education's current state of affairs, then leaders who represent people's desires need to start to come to the forefront of the public's attention.  Activism is necessary.  That's usually the first step.  Reform is slightly behind.  It's time to hear the voices from innovative leaders across the educational spectrum and from the heartland of America's workforce.  It's time!