Live long and prosper. These four words combined with a peace (or V) hand gesture succinctly communicate what I want for every member of my family. My definition of family currently encompasses all humans on Earth, but I may have to expand it if extraterrestrial life (other sentient beings) come into contact with us during my lifetime.
Ever since I retired over five months ago, I’ve been thinking about how I can serve the greatest good to my family. Though I am no longer working for someone else, I never intend to stop working. I just happen to working on what I want to work on without pay. So, my definition of work has been changing.
I found my answer — become the US Secretary of Education by the year 2038. Earlier than that year is fine too. My purpose is to radically transform and improve public education to the benefit of all. This would give each student the best opportunity to live long and prosper. Opportunity and equality are the foundations of the American dream. Yet, public education has been receiving less funding from the state and federal levels. This increases the tax burdens of citizens due to local taxing authorities. How can opportunities possibly be equal for all students when the funding and curriculum for education is non-uniform and inconsistent across our nation?
Share Your Thoughts With Me
I absolutely want to hear from you! Please email me your thoughts on public education to financiallypossible@gmail.com. My own opinion is the least interesting (quite frankly I’m used to hearing it), so I’d love to hear what you think. The earlier you reach out to me, the more time I’ll have to correspond and learn from you prior to my becoming the US Secretary of Education.
Why I Want This Job Specifically
There are several key modifications I will be making:
- Elevating teaching as a profession back to the venerable status it once had millennia ago with a level of pay to match. This implies increasing funding for public education.
- Pushing funding for public education up to the national level and away from local entities and states. Only then can variance of funding be eliminated and each student can truly be offered the same opportunities.
- Enhance curriculum to include mandatory financial literacy and behavioral finance education in early high school. Sprinkle these concepts into the math curriculum throughout K-12.
- Ensure other critical life skills are included within our curriculum. Teach logic at an earlier age with a focus on critical thinking, self-learning, lifelong learning, and discovering which learning styles are most effective for each individual.
- Expand the teaching of trade skills and cooking. Encourage career options that do not require a four year undergraduate degree. Teach students how to analyze the trade offs when selecting various career options.
- Build upon the existing push for emotional intelligence in elementary education to include the teaching of tolerance and kindness.
- Encourage grassroots efforts of our educators and students creating change in public education.
- Take the best examples of what’s being done in charter and private schools and incorporate into public education.
- Likewise, take the best examples of education from other countries for utilization within the US system.
- Use technology to cost effectively ensure students everywhere are given the same opportunities. A 1A or 3A high school may have difficulty providing instructors for a full selection of AP courses whereas a 5A high school does so with ease. These gaps can be filled by pooling students from smaller schools and providing virtual classrooms. We have the technology to do this today and plenty of smart individuals to figure out all the nuances and details.
- Change the set of languages offered for a mandatory second language to be Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, or Arabic on the basis of their frequency of use in the world. This will better prepare students for the future of our global economy. Tertiary languages which are more commonly taught today such as French, German, and Latin can still be offered but only taken once a student is already fulfilling credits for one of the more widely spoken four.
- Shift the vision to creating 21st century global citizens instead of the outdated model of generating 20th century factory workers. I think we agree, the past is over*. * – pun intended. On a more serious tone: “We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
Serving as Trustee in the US Senate
I love connecting ideas and people to form new and even better ideas. I’m extremely determined, highly optimistic, and have a unique ability to focus. Furthermore, I’m already behaving as though I’m the US Secretary of Education in my daily interactions with people. I guide the conversation towards education and then begin to inquire about that person’s thoughts and experiences regarding education. I’m passionately curious and love asking questions. I’m supplementing my learning about the current issues and recent improvements in education through targeted internet searches.
In order to reach the position of US Secretary of Education, I fully expect to serve as your trustee in at least one full term in the US Senate. While serving, I will:
- Reduce waste of public funds and resist the growth of bureaucracy.
- Advocate improvements in public education as having the best return on investment.
- Lead to the creation of a one party system that focuses on the return on investment upon public funds (i.e. tax money). A party that actually gets things done through rational discussion without divisiveness and threats.
- Encourage more women, scientists, teachers, and economists to seek elected offices. This is a positive trend I’m already seeing happening right now. Too much concentration of lawyers and political scientists doesn’t lead to diversity in representation.
- Lead the charge to stop borrowing so much money. Why burden our future generations with so much public debt? What did they do to deserve that?
- Mediate through encouraging listening and compromise.
- Ensure members of legislature subject themselves to all the same rules as the rest of our citizens. No separate, special, or unique retirement plans outside of social security. Resist the growth of pay for lawmakers and prohibit their voting for their own pay raises.
- Connect with several individuals who have the desire and talents to become president all of whom would gladly name me their Secretary of Education.
- Connect with celebrities including cultural icons in music, television, sports, business, and philanthropy to promote our culture educating adults and teens for the good of our society.
The Path to the US Senate
In order to reach the position within the US Senate, I fully expect to serve as your trustee for a full term in the state Senate. While serving I will focus on all my same initiatives as I would in the US Senate. One additional initiative would be to communicate and advocate for greater change on the national level prior to my serving there.
In order to reach the position within the state Senate, I will serve one full term on the Round Rock ISD board of trustees. While serving, I will push the district up to the level of a model district where every other district is seeking to copy its programs and initiatives. I’ll advocate for further changes at the state level particularly around school finance reform and curriculum improvements.
I attended schools within RRISD from grades 4 through 12. I feel a great deal of pride to be able to run this November on the ballot for a position to serve the school district which has served me so well in life. I attended Round Rock High School and was part of the Computer Science team of three who won the state championship. The school also has a very cool mascot, the Dragon, which fits well with a quote I’m fond of: “Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crispy and go well with ketchup.”
Help By Being a Part of the Change
I need your help.
- If you have ideas about our public education due to your experiences or the experiences of your children, then I need to hear from you. Please email me.
- If you know of someone passionate about public education, then please connect that person to me. Share this post with them so that they may connect with me.
- Share this post with as many people as you can so that I may hear ideas from many more people.
- Stay in good health and live long.
- Spread love and joy to others through your daily activities.