We should Just Lead and Manage our Educational System like a Sport

One of the biggest problems with our education system is the lack of common standardization and uniformity across our nation. For years Federal and State Educational Departments along with their secretaries and superintendents of education have tried to establish common goals and standards with little success. The main reason this never happens is politics and state versus federal control.

What a shame people can’t see the only losers in this on-going senseless battle are our children. Even now with the ridiculous effort to implement common core standards all you read about are all the groups and individuals who are either for it or against it. How ridiculous was it to establish two different testing agencies http://thecorestandards.com/testing-2/common-core-testing-sbac-and-parcc/ who set-up their own means for measuring results – “STUPID”

When will leaders wake up and realize the Educational process is a “System” and it must be managed and led like a system in order to develop common standards. Once we are on the same page then continual process improvements can take place based on established process and results measures. One of the biggest areas that should be standard is creating Grading Scale for all schools K-12. Grades and the ACT/SAT Scores are needed for colleges to make decisions for admissions and scholarships. I’m not saying this is the ideal means but until something better comes along we should at least try to have a level playing field for our students. You Private Schools (Majority of them have their own scales) trying to prove you are tougher academically because you want a 90% to be a Letter Grade of “B = 3.0” are “STUPID.” You are only hurting your students when they apply to college. Every year I ask new 9th grade parents if they came to our school because of the grading scale (No one has yet said yes AND no one has claimed to know the scale prior to my question)? Even worse you tell parents colleges will recalculate your grading scale when they receive the transcript (Unless a college specifically says they will do this they won’t – would you if you get thousands of applications). You can be tough just don't be "STUPID."

So for all you smart educational leaders who think sports people are “dumb jocks” you have it wrong. You are the “stupid assholes.” Why is it from Pee-Wee Football to the NFL Pros the standard for getting a first down is 10 yards? Why is it six points for a touchdown? This is just a simple example of how one sport leads and manages with goals and standards. Yes, I realize there are some differences between high school, college and pros but they are standard in scoring and measuring at each level.

There is no reason why for the good of all that we cannot establish similar rules and standards in education. If Sports were run like education we would have 50 Super Bowls, 50 World Series, … because each state would want their own rules and would consider the next state inferior and the federal folks would have their own championships too because there better than all the states combined (So they think) – “STUPID.”