How to Fix Our Schools: Manifesto

Although the acclaimed documentary Waiting for "Superman" and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark’s public schools has focused the media’s attention on America’s education system, there’s still a crisis going on in public education that needs to be addressed, according to a manifesto released by Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools, and other education leaders. The manifesto outlines steps that must be taken to reform public schools, including: ensuring that the best teachers remain hired, regardless of seniority, removing incompetent teachers, giving teachers performance-based financial incentives, improve technology to monitor student’s learning habits, embrace online learning lessons, close underperforming schools, and embrace charter schools. “Until we fix our schools, the gap between the haves and the have-nots will only grow wider and the United States will fall further behind the rest of the industrialized world in education, rendering the American dream a distant, elusive memory,” reads the manifesto.