Dear Future President of the United States,

A topic I feel strongly about is our education system and initiatives. Sydney J. Harris said, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” I am passionate about education because it is a topic I have grown up with and understand quite well. Both of my parents are affiliated with the school. My mother is an instructional coach, and my father serves as the dean of students. They have shown me the value of having an education.

The first issue I will discuss is the number of initiatives the government is mandating. There are currently too many initiatives and mandates. Some of the current mandates are as follows: Iowa Core, Second Chance Reading, and Let’s Move, just to name a few. We are not able to specialize education to students' specifics needs because we are more focused on meeting the mandates. The teachers need to be able to spend time learning with our students, so they can better tailor their learning. The education of our students needs to be tailored to their strengths and passions. However, we also need to teach them the value of perseverance, with struggling and learning going hand-in-hand.

Statistics show that the United States is behind in reading, math, and science. The United States ranks 17th in educational performance. In my opinion, we should be at the top. Our first priority should be to establish a love of learning at a young age that can carry a child through high school. Only 1 in 4 high school students graduate college-ready in the core subjects of English, Reading, Math, and Science. Currently, over 1.3 million high school students do not graduate on time yearly. We need students to find school interesting and care about what they are learning.

As the next President, I would like you to determine which initiatives are a good use of the school districts' time and eliminate the ones that are wasteful. I feel it would be beneficial for you to deliver a speech at the beginning of each school year that is shared over the news and social media so students know that the government takes their education very seriously. I need you to take a solid look at our education system. If you had students in the public school system, would you be happy with the knowledge they have obtained after graduating? Sydney J. Harris said, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”

Sincerely,

Madison I.