School Reform isn’t the only thing I want to talk
about and explore with this blog, but I do believe it is one of the most
important issues that needs immediate addressing. Whitney Tilson is an
investor, writer, and philanthropist. (Thank you Wikipedia and the legal
sharing of information). He is quite an amazing guy and has lead an interesting
life.
Little bit of background: He is the only son of two
educators who met in the Peace Corp (Whoa). I think it’s safe to say he grew up
knowing the value and importance of education and giving back to one’s
community. He majored in government and business, graduating from Harvard
(Again, whoa!) After college he helped launch Teach for America, although I’m
not sure the extent of his involvement. Nevertheless it is clear that the
reformation of America’s educational system is a passion of Tilson’s. His posts
in his blog, “Whitney Tilson’s School Reform Blog” often, at least weekly, and although
he writes few posts himself, he references and links literature relating to the
topic of school reform and provides a smidgen of his insight and opinion.
Tilson posts several times throughout the month but more often than not his
posts are simply links to articles he finds interesting or articles that sadden
him because a shitty educational thing happened. He has been posting since
October 2005 and considering how long he’s been an advocate of educational
reform, I’d say the things he finds interesting are pretty damn important.
In his post, “Why Chinese
Mothers are Superior” (http://edreform.blogspot.com/2011/01/comments-on-why-chinese-mothers-are.html)
I really got the sense of just how much he cares about this issue. He also (and
I agree with him) doesn’t place all the blame on the education system. He
addresses the lack in responsibility parents take in their children’s
education. I think it’s very important that all aspects and causes of this
problem are kept in mind and considered.
In a short post about the increase in private school’s tuition, I really
saw the difference in our perspectives. Although we are both passionate about
this issue Tilson is a proud father of three, graduated, and successful. And
although I don’t know where he spent his early education, I’m assuming that
with educators for parents it wasn’t a title 1 school like me. I am still a
student and still am living through the consequences of not having the best
early education. I find this difference in perspective and background
refreshing and unique. Although Whitney can afford the best private schools for
his own children his patriotism is not lost and he sees the importance in reforming
the educational system for the future of America’s success.
I look forward to
reading the articles that he links to and picking apart his brain the rest of
this semester. I can see that there’s a lot to learn from his example and
because I was raised by a single mom (superwoman by the way) it’s comforting in
a way I can’t really explain to know that this Dad cares so much about the
future America his kids will grow up in.
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