Education is something important to me.  It's the foundation for our future generation.  If we treat it as an afterthought it would serve to weaken the base of our country.  Currently the standards of our education is extremely low.  There are those still in high school that struggle to read.  Taking regular classes and not APs or honors would heave you with an 8th grade level education.  Graduation rates are at an all time high because administration is pushing for better test scores that look good, instead of an educated alumni. 

Most of the issues linked to education is how much funding actually reaches the students.  teachers are treated as an over glorified babysitter, instead of as an educator.  Teaching is a somewhat unfulfilling profession with low pay and a lack of resources.  Some would place blame on teachers stating that they need to improve and realize how important their jobs are.  The reality of the situation is that it's the bureaucracy of school administration that's at fault. 

There have been various education reform programs such as "no child left behind".  "no child left behind" has actually damaged our education.  The program puts too much focus on test scores with little actual importance on learning.  Test scores shouldn't be the "be all and end all" of deciding if a student is well equipped for the future. There should be a new individualistic approach to see how much a student has actually learned instead of using a standardized test based on test taking skills and memorization.  There could possibly be the option of an unbiased teacher able to determine the proficiency of a student.

Without a reform in the way we're education our students will continue to suffer and be ill prepared to succeed. Every single person should have the equal opportunity to succeed in school.  Calling our current state of education "bad" is an understatement, "absolutely unacceptable" would fit better. I don't want students that I pass everyday on the streets to end up without a proper education unprepared for what's to come.