Investing in American Education!
Oh man! We only got 40 votes this time’ round and so we missed our goal by a wide margin. The GoErinGo! Fund will donate $500 to support the POSSE Foundation and help invest in American education.
I’m convinced that the key to America’s long-term success is a re-investment in our education system. We are failing are kids and need to make their education our country’s #1 priority.
To help re-invest in American education, I’ll donate $1,500 toward a student scholarship via the POSSE Foundation – but only if you help me by voting “Yes!” to the importance of education!
We need 250 of you to Vote “Yes!” by Feb. 1 to release our GoErinGo! Fund donation. Help support American education today!
Should we invest in American education?
- Yes! (100%, 41 Votes)
Total Voters: 41
Loading ...America’s Waning Influence
Traveling abroad, I often think about America’s place in the world and what makes us one of the greatest nations. To me, it comes back to our founding principles of hard work, society’s celebration of individualism, and a system steeped in meritocracy (most of the time anyway).
The core of all these American traits is a sound education for our children. And we’re not living up to our end of the bargain. With our struggling economy, budget cuts are increasingly being made within our schools – exactly the last place we can afford to far behind. So it’s time to re-invest in American education!
As I was thinking about the failing state of American education, I came across Tom Vander Ark’s article “Innovations in Digital Learning in 2011” which outlines 11 trends in education seen in 2011.
Below is a abbreviated version of Tom’s ideas, but you can read the full article.
Trends in American Education:
- Poverty. Most U.S. schools faced a double whammy of budget cuts and more kids in poverty.
- Collapse of Complexity. The disheartening political gridlock in America led to the inevitable unraveling of No Child Left Behind.
- States matter. State leadership matters more than ever.
- Protest. College debt, at $1 trillion, surpassed credit card debt in 2011.
- Backdoor. Free apps and open content went viral in 2011 reshaping the learning landscape.
- Mainstreaming. Online learning became mainstream.
- Blends. The most important, indicative, and cited report of 2011 was The Rise of Blended Learning.
- New Frame. Guided by the December 2010 release of Digital Learning Now!, Florida, Idaho, and Utah removed barriers and increased options for kids.
- Investment. Venture capital investments doubled from 2009 to 2011. More investment and new talent pouring into the [philanthropic] sector means waves of innovation at a rate never seen.
- Mobile. Web traffic from mobile devices outpaced desktop traffic in 2011.
- Getting Smart. Personal digital learning is changing the world. Check out the Getting Smart book.
A Digital Learning Future
Tom’s article provides us a concise overview of the depth of our country’s education crisis. But more importantly, it shows us the silver lining – a digital learning future!
I’m not giving up on American education! Instead, I’m making a personal investment in it! Won’t you join me? Just vote ”Yes” and help me make a donation – or make a donation of your very own! American children deserve our investment.
About POSSE Foundation:
Here’s a stellar endorsement about POSSE:
President Barack Obama recently said in an interview in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “One of this year’s MacArthur awardees—the ‘genius’ awards—is an innovator named Deborah Bial. She proposed a model to identify promising students from disadvantaged urban backgrounds using an alternative set of qualities as predictors of success in college. …The students that are selected form a ‘Posse’ and are provided with extra supports, and end up graduating from selective colleges with a very high success rate.”
Check it out for yourself at: http://www.possefoundation.org
Tags: American education, digital learning, Getting Smart, Tom Vander Ark
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 31st, 2011 and is filed under Donate My Dollars.
Just so you know, it took me a few minutes to figure out how to vote? The other girls are not so good at the computer and might need more direction in the future. Or maybe I am just slow.
HOpe you are having a great time.
Elaine
I like your approach to charitable giving. You seem to focus a lot on sustainable giving by supporting causes like education & habitat.
If you are familiar with charitable institutes that support infrastructure improvements to help improve the mobility of poor & middle class people, I would be interested in hearing about them. I would specifically like to see trails developed for people to get from home to work, market, and recreation. We often assume that everyone can easily get from point a to point b because it is easy in certain parts of the world. But as the price of gas goes up & the number of poor people increase, it is extremely important to provide them with a safe method of transportation. Even community buses are literally & economically out of reach of some people.
Not only would trails be good for people to commute, it is also an inexpensive form of recreation & fitness as well as serving as a draw for active travel tourists. This is true all over the world but especially on island communities where the distances between various attractions, jobs, & necessities are manageable by such means as bicycles.
Keep up the good work.