Educational Debate for the Obama Administration

A friend of mine created the following blog designed create a debate about where educational policy will go for the next administration. I helped him put together it together and will play a role in responding to comments. It is called The National Debate about American Public Education for the 21st Century.

Knowing that the Obama campaign utilized many Web 2.0 applications helped us shape this project. We hope to use those tactics here. I embedded a video below that gives an idea of what Web 2.0 applications are. And if you don't like the video, it at least has a seductive sound. (Also, feel free to ask me any questions you have about the topic).

We were not satisfied with how education was dealt with in the presidential election, and would like to find a way to give more people a voice in determining the direction of educational policy in this country. The only candidate who was really engaged in discussing the educational system was Huckabee. He actually had some good ideas, but he did not last long enough to bring his ideas wider attention. I understand that it is not the pressing issue that people made their decision on, but it is really too important to let slide.

The educational debate blog has a lot of different levels and offers different ways to participate. We do not expect everyone to fully participate, but would love to get as much feedback and discussion as possible. We list a group of big questions on the front page and thought about confining the debate to these big questions. We extended it because we wanted to focus people on the fact that it is the specifics that need to change, as well as the direction and philosophy. Making the necessary changes will requires a more refined approach, actually confronting the specific circumstances that prevent the reform that is necessary (or possibly not).

We will take the feedback from this blog and collate and submit a report to the new education secretary when President Obama takes office. Please feel free to forward to whoever you think might be interested.