School is a place to learn math and science and history and music and English, but school is also to learn how to get along with people in the world and how to work with leaders and how to work together. I hardly see how Mr. Grant teaches any of that with his reforms. His reforms is more like telling a kid to learn or get killed. School should be where a student has the biggest opportunity to learn and have fun and work with people and be themselves, but to also choose his/her own path in the world. Whether that path is working hard or slacking is their choice. They should understand what will happen if they drop, not be told you can't drop, because then the student won't work hard at all. Let's take a peek at these reforms and see what they mean to a student like me, I should know how most students would take it.

Higher Standards: If just the world was only having the brain. It is so important to learn math, science, etc., but what is just that going to get you in the world? You are going to be a little hobbit sitting in the corner with all your information but you don't know how to communicate well with people or work with people or have someone about you. We have to learn to work with people who have disabilities, not shun them and segregate them, because they also have to learn to work with us.

Year End Tests: Kind of sounds something like FINALS to me. But we already have those.

Dissolve powerful teachers unions: I'll tell you right now, if these unions were powerful, the teachers would be making a lot more money than they do now. I do not know any teacher who would say they are a teacher because you get summer and weekend and holidays off. That is a bunch of bull. Teachers get paid so so little for all they do, you think they get weekends off? Nope, they are grading papers, or writing up tests, or thinking of the next lessons, because those things sure don't do themselves.

Military type schools: I thought I'd heard it all, but a military type school is probably going a little too far. Now for some kids, this may be an answer to some problems, but I sure don't see it as, hey you did something wrong, your next year is going to be horrible, especially if that is not what the parents or kid wants. If every kid who has or sold drugs went to military school, the military school would be packed full of kids. There would be more kids there than at the normal school. This military school might come down to money too, it would be pretty expensive to hire all these ex-military officers full-time, all day long, to watch and teach these kids, as parents. And these religious classes? What in the world!!! Now, if you mean like a world history class, where you tell the students about the religions, and where they formed, and how they grew, and basic beliefs, sure, we learn that now. But if you mean Sunday School, that is totally out of line. Also, clearly stated was to not verbally assult the students, but to physically assult them. Mr. Grant stated: "Running to the point of death is the best deterrent against disruptive behavior." Where did that come from? So, if a kid breaks the law, he goes to military school for an undetermined amount of time, and gets physically tortured while he is there, so he can learn. Doesn't sound much like the real world to me. I thought that was what school was supposed to be. A step to learn, but a step to see what life will be like without your parents always there to help you out. Another point, how crazy can you get? Physically hurting someone ain't going to teach anyone anything. If the kids do not want to learn, they aren't going to learn. If you force them to learn, they aren't going to learn. The students have to want to learn. Putting the kid in military school isn't going to have any kid jumping for joy, because they all of a sudden really want to learn and enjoy school. Yeah right.

Mentoring Programs: Mentoring is a very very good thing. I completely agree with mentoring. There is a program at school where kids can come in once a week after school to be tutored by fellow students. I find this great because it reinforces the student who is tutoring and it helps the student who is learning. Learning from a fellow friend is also much more fun than learning from an adult.

What Happens to Schools That Are Not Doing Well: This is a very tough situation to be in. The students aren't learning, on average, as well as they 'should be'. What should we do? Maybe it is the teacher's fault, but maybe it is the student's fault. We do not know. What we certainly DO NOT do is cut back money for the school. That is going to just hurt it more and more and more. We give the school more money. We beef up the materials and the books and the software, and we see how the students do when they have better materials. We have administrators watch the teachers closely, are they doing their job? If more time goes by and there is no change, then it is obvious a change in leadership is needed. But we do not shut down the school. We change it around. We use what we already have to benefit the school, not hurt it.

What Happens to Schools That ARE Doing Well: Well, let me think. A school is doing well, why should be change anything? We could pay the teachers a little more or get even better materials, but they really already seem fine to me. Telling the students they are doing good and saying have the rest of the week off is not going to help the school. The real world is nothing like that. If you perform well and work better, you get higher expectations, and then you get higher and higher. You set goals for good schools. You set opportunities. You make them go even higher. Most kids want to learn and help themselves and others.

I believe the United States has a very good education system in work. I believe that as a country, the United States is very smart and works hard and does a good job at what we do. Who invented the first television? Who made the first automobile? What about space shuttles and men in space? And computers? The United States is the creative mind of the world. That is something we have that most countries do not. Japan teaches the math, science, etc., and yes they are a very smart country with smart students, but they have little interaction with the creative side of the brain. That is something the United States cherishes that few others do. With the creative minds to even think about a TV or sending something into space, or making a vehicle run on gasoline, we wouldn't have anything. It is very important to both have creative minds and a more intellectual mind, because they both can work together to solve problems. We can make some steps, and other people can make other steps. It is very hard to work without one another. I hope we can understand how great of a country we are and how great the people we have are, before we spend too much time on the books and too little on how our mind can grow outside the box.

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About the author: Matthew Stensrud is a high school student who loves politics and life. He has retained a 4.0 GPA throughout his high school career and is currently involved with the Young Democrats at his school. He is also an eCaptain for the Democratic National Committee. Other than politics, Matthew also loves music and plays the piano, organ, and handbells, and also sings in three choirs. Visit his website or email Matthew Stensrud: maths8877@yahoo.com

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