How Innovation Will Revitalize America's Education System: A Response to Robert Reich

Note: On January 12, NPR published a segment by former U.S. labor secretary Robert Reich called, "America, This Is Your Sputnik Moment." This is our response.

Dear Professor Robert Reich,

Earlier this month, you told NPR listeners that American businesses and politicians should invest more heavily in education. Quoting President Obama, you said the U.S. is facing a "Sputnik moment." But this time, instead of the Soviet Union taking the lead in the space race, literally dozens of industrialized nations are soaring ahead of us in test scores in science, math, and reading.

In order to remain competitive in the global marketplace and ensure that America's children don't fall further behind, you called for more money in our nation's schools, similar to the massive Cold War-era investments in science-focused education. And while we at EARN agree that increased school funding is absolutely essential, we want to propose that a mere influx of capital won't spark the massive, NASA-scale changes our educational system needs in order to thrive. We need to revive America's spirit of innovation.

When the Soviet Union first shot a satellite into orbit, we Americans could have simply shrugged our shoulders and resigned ourselves to second place in the space race. What spurred us to action was a national passion for carving new paths, for taking "one giant leap for mankind."

In contrast, the mainstream discourse about improving America's struggling educational system currently revolves around salvaging what few financial resources haven’t been cut by scissor-happy legislatures and businesses. It’s hard to imagine a family eagerly crowding around the TV for that sort of primetime coverage.

The good news? Innovations in education are already in the works -- and they're happening in your neighborhood, the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. One EARN program, for example, helps local low-income families save their hard-earned money for college. For every dollar they save, we match it 3:1, providing families with a financial incentive to invest in education.

Or take Kindergarten to College, a groundbreaking program sponsored by the City of San Francisco. Through K2C, every kindergartner entering the City's public school system will automatically receive an educational savings account seeded with at least $50. The first program of its kind in the United States, K2C is firmly based on recent research proving that children with savings accounts in their name are a full seven times more likely to attend college.

Of course, these programs won't resolve all the problems instigated by recent state and federal cuts to education. We will continue to need structural reform and, as you emphasized on NPR, an influx of additional funding. But those big bucks will never materialize on a Sputnik-moment scale if we fail to foster wide-scale enthusiasm for the numerous smart, innovative ideas currently being developed and implemented across the nation.

As a prominent thought leader, you have a key opportunity to do exactly that. So here's our request of you: will you commit to highlighting educational innovations in the near future?

Yours truly,

Charlotte Hill and the EARN Team

Photo credit: astroprofspage.com