The best school ever (and ode to increased school funding)
I had a dream last night I was in the most luxurious, thoughtful, and well-intentioned school conceivable.
Words don’t do it justice, so I’ll leave it to your own imagination. Alas, it was one of those dreams where you’re simply in awe of your mind’s ability to craft such a thing.
It got me thinking, our government spent almost $600 billion on the military in 2015, according to Congress’ annual Discretionary Spending. Education? $70 billion.
What would happen if we switched those numbers?
Assuming we have more or less than 12,000 public schools in the United States, what would happen if we allocated that $600 billion equally? Each school would get a little more than 1.33 million dollars to spend annually.
What would happen then?
What if every student in the country was receiving the same state of the art education as the folks who go to Harvard? From 1st grade to 12th grade, they could be learning real world skills, leadership, problem-solving and most importantly, cultivate a continued passion for learning. They’d come home everyday inspired—no, enthralled—with what they’re learning and what they can be and do in this world.
How would our society change if every person in the country was a world-class innovator, scientist, policy-maker, engineer and artist?
Certainly this is a mere thought experiment. And I don’t mean to say we shouldn’t be funding our military. But I find that dreams such as these not only inspiring, but absolutely necessary for us to begin to envision, and take steps to construct the future we want for ourselves and our children.
As George Washington said, “The best means of forming a manly, virtuous and happy people will be found in the right education of youth. Without this foundation, every other means, in my opinion, must fail.”