The document discusses several questions around the structure and organization of schooling in the US. It proposes that schooling should remain diverse with multiple options available, including public, private, charter and homeschooling. It supports maintaining local school boards but increasing the role of teachers. The document also argues that students should have the option to specialize their education towards their interests and career paths once they reach a level of maturity. Overall, it promotes flexibility and choice within the education system to accommodate its increasingly complex and diverse population of students.

1. Individual Project:
School Structure
Created by: Dawn Colsch
Class: Issues in Education
Professor: Timothy Peterson
March 4th, 2013 1

2. Introduction
Should “public schooling” be redefined?
Has the Supreme Court reconfigured American Education?
Are local school boards obsolete?
Is privatization the hope of the future?
Within this presentation, I will attempt to shed some light on
all four of these big questions currently troubling many
educators and the like.

3. “Do we depend on out moded industrial
age thinking when working with complex
organizations? 3

4.  It is no secret that today’s education requires much more complex ideas, strategies, and
evaluation than generations ago. The children of the future sure are not just raw materials
that we can send through a process of assembly and in return get a perfectly fit member of
society. They require caring, guidance, acceptance, variety, understanding, and choice.
Classrooms today are not homogenous and if so, I believe they should not be. This is not
the way of the world and should not be the way of education.
 When asking the question of how to educate such a complex group of young people, one is
reminded of the importance of innovation. A world without innovation stands still as does
an educational system. We should never say that things are ‘good enough’.
 So is the answer privatization? Well, we live in a diverse world. I understand that diverse
may be an ‘umbrella term’ as Hess would say, but when I say diverse I mean that we have a
great deal of variety. This variety demands accommodations which may come as
privatization or publication, school boards or teacher partnerships, conventional or original,
teacher or apprenticeship, etc.
 I believe that there is not just one way to work with complex organizations... hence the
complexity. Things that would guarantee advancement in education are teacher training
and selection improvement, educational funding, mentoring programs, and continued
educational research.
“Education should be about lifting up, not weeding out”
- Robert Niles

5. What do you propose to be the
organizational structure and
financial base for schooling in the
US? 5

6.  With voucher programs, charter schools, public schools, private
schools, religious schools, home-schools, magnet schools,
alternative schools... goodness, I could probably go on... it’s hard
to tell what the organizational structure and financial base is.
 Each school has their own structure and even though this idea is
extremely convoluted, it’s one of the many reasons I love my
country. Our government, currently anyway, does not restrict us
to one way of learning. It welcomes all religions, ideas, and
choice.
 I propose that we retain our diverse organization and finances,
and look towards improving individual organizations. I support
public school policy of “free schooling”, but also see the hardship
of underfunding and therefore support the occasional need of
‘for-profit’ programs. I also support local school boards, but
believe that teachers should play a larger role and perhaps partner
with school boards in order to share their expertise.

7. What options should be available?
7

8.  I believe that Americans hold the right to deciding what
type of school their children go to. I am, of course, bias
towards public schooling because that is where I hold
my current career, but I also support the right of choice.
 Certain areas of the country have some very difficult
situations. One of which being the inner-city
populations that Joe Nathan spoke of in the text. No
matter what the laws and regulations are, schools seem
to find loop holes in the system. It is not exactly fair
that some public schools have admission tests or that
some public schools are in areas that call for an
extraordinary annual income base. Unfortunately, I
don’t see a solution to these problems and they need to
assessed on an individual basis.

9. What requirements should exist
concerning PK-high school?
9

10.  When evaluating a student, one should look at whether
the student improved. Ideally, a student should excel
one “grade level” each year. Now, how is a “grade
level” assessed? This has been proven a difficult
question when No Child Left Behind advocates were
unsuccessful in answering.
 I support specialized education at a certain age of
maturity. Students should be taught the same material
to a certain extent of readiness. When young people
approach a point of maturity where they are channeling
towards a particular career path, I believe that they
should have the option of specializing their class
schedule. In this case, they would be honing in on
what they feel is important in their lives and they would
feel the appreciation of surrounding adults and
mentors. This would lead to increased motivation and
intrinsic value.

11. Conclusion
What does Public
Schooling really mean?
What do I choose Public
or Private?
What role does the
government or should the
government play in
education?
These are all questions that
will concern Americans for
many years to come. I
think the important
question for educators is:
What can I do today to
help my students have a
more successful future?