To Our Next President,

I wish to speak for Education, for absolute knowledge and understanding. I am not speaking of the education that is being taught at the moment in our schools. I am speaking about the general educational awareness of the United States population. This is not to say that we are not knowledgeable and educated people, but there is much that we are missing out on. There is a disconnect between what we are being taught and what is actually happening in the world. For example, we are taught that the problems in the Middle East are caused by religious tensions, when in reality, there are many factors that play into why the Middle East is in such turmoil. I understand and know many things, but I still feel as though it is not enough. I do not know enough about other countries or even enough about my own country. I know that homelessness exists in America, but I do not know how deep it actually runs. I know many other problems exist in all other countries in the world, but I do not know the true extent of these problems. And both of these statements apply to the majority of United States citizens.

How can we say that we are a highly educated country when we know very little about other countries, and more specifically, our own country? Even stating a bold claim like this one shows how truly uneducated we are as a country. We can no longer afford to be ignorant about our own education, knowledge, and general understanding of the world around us. It is time to reevaluate what we are teaching and how we are teaching it. It is no longer good enough to just teach the young minds of America only about America. And even that isn’t enough, as we do not even know enough about our own country. It is time to redefine what we currently see “education” as, if it is even that. We need to broaden our knowledge about other countries, because it seems that other countries know more about America than Americans do. We need to start teaching the whole truth, because we are missing out on further knowledge and understanding of these concepts/incidents. We need to begin connecting our current education to the real world, because there is a large disconnect between the two, and only causes us to be more uneducated than before. We need to change education to Education. Education will not be about memorizing and then regurgitating the information, it will be about having a true understanding of the topic or material that is being studied or taught. Education will not apply only to schooling, it will apply to all aspects of life, because we need to constantly strive towards gaining more knowledge about everything that we experience. Every educated person will eventually become Educated; but an Educated person can never go back to just being educated.

There is no doubt that with Education we could solve more of the world’s problems, such as climate change, poverty, or even terrorism. Having a better understanding and more knowledge about the situations that are occurring all over the world would greatly increase the chances that a solution would be found. But you may ask, how can we strive to better our Education? And this I can answer simply. Place emphasis on understanding and knowledge, and this is what the people will seek to find. Place emphasis on ignorance and illiteracy, and this is what the people will seek to find. People tend to follow or emulate what people with power are doing or saying. And I am calling on you to emphasize and display this new Education.

Cordially,

Alex Gladding