Foster City Islander Article - 01-17-2007
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Charter Public |
Phyllis Moore, President, Foster City High School Foundation |
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Think Globally, Act Locally
We face a national emergency with global consequences that we can only solve locally. This dire warning deserves repeating. We face a national emergency with global consequences that we can only solve locally.
What is this crisis?
It is the subject of Time magazine’s December 18th cover story. It delivers a blunt and disturbing message—our country is rapidly losing its ability to compete in the global economy; and to reverse this decline, we must make drastic and immediate changes in how we educate our children. Those who have not yet read this article can find it online at www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568480,00.html
Time discovered “...a remarkable consensus among educators and business and policy leaders on one key conclusion: we need to bring what we teach and how we teach into the 21st century.”
Even schools that rank highly based on test scores often fail to provide our children with the skills they need to succeed. The current focus on standards and testing is doing nothing to fix the underlying problems in our schools.
Time highlights areas where schools must concentrate—areas left out of “No Child Left Behind”—teamwork and communication, information analysis and critical thinking, creativity and problem solving, global awareness and foreign language. In fact, the innovative educational program at our charter public high school will focus on these critical areas.
Revamping our schools remains a local responsibility. Responding to this national emergency compels us to follow Paul McCartney’s advice—“Think globally, act locally.”
What can we do in Foster City to reverse this disastrous decline and make sure that our children receive the education they need to compete in today’s world? Our City Council took an important first step when they voted unanimously to reserve land for our charter public high school.
We now face the challenging but attainable goal of building our school. We can reach this goal with the steadfast and wholehearted support of Foster City residents and government officials, who all have a vital stake in the future of education, the future of our community and the future of our society.
