We are at a time in which different groups pose some fair questions about public education.
And those questions deserve an answer.
Communities ask their local school districts what they are doing about educational shortcomings, as well as the shortcomings in society in general.
Students, not seeing the reason for certain lessons, ask why they must learn what they are being asked to learn.
Business and industry ask if schools can produce graduates who are better prepared for work and better equipped to be reliable employees.
Those of us in education have a moral and ethical obligation, not only to try to answer those questions, but to remedy the issues from which those questions arise.
Quite simply, the country is watching what schools are doing, and our task as educators is to help every student find his or her place of service and his or her area of passion and success.
Dr. Pedro Noguera, professor of education at New York University, said, "Our job as educators is to cultivate talent in children."
If schools did that with every child, there would be improvement in each area cited in the aforementioned questions.
Is it realistic to think that we can do that with every student?
I'll answer that with another question. Can we in good conscience have our sights set on anything less?
Sometimes the criticism that comes to public education is unfair. Sometimes the questions may imply that educators aren't doing their jobs. That is most unfortunate, because schools everywhere have teachers who want all of their students to find their way towards achievement, success and fulfillment.
But still the questions and the criticisms come because so much is riding on how things turn out. Schools are charged to do something that is very difficult but also vitally important.
They are institutions entrusted not just with our children, but with our future, and it would be hard to find a more daunting task.
The good news is educators have the opportunity to make headway each day simply by how they choose to teach.
Every day in every classroom - rather than having a lesson that is abstract and far removed from anything in a student's life or anything that is connected to work or to the issues of the day - teachers must make offer learning opportunities that are truly meaningful.
That's not to say that educators don't do this. In fact, many teachers go to great lengths to make sure lessons are grounded in the reality of the world in which we all live.
If any lesson becomes too isolated from life, too theoretical, or too disconnected from everyday issues, students lose interest and learning diminishes.
But when learning is seen as making sense, when the lesson in class has a direct bearing on a student's life, then student interest goes up, achievement goes up, and many of the problems that are common in schools today go down.
In addition, when the learning resonates in the minds of the students each of them are placed upon a path that leads to better preparation for work and for anything else they face in life.
David Wilson, EdD, is the associate principal at Jefferson City High School. You may email him at [email protected].