As an author and management consultant, I have had the distinct pleasure to research and feature the Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) student achievement program in my latest book, Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Corporate Playground. The program is unique, a sort of “test case” for TUSD…and recently, I’ve learned that the administration is wavering in its support of this wonderful arts-infused curriculum.
I am not a professional educator, yet I am passionate about educational reform in our nation. Over the past thirty years, I have studied dozens of innovative educational programs. My work takes me to numerous countries where I presented the innovation, customer service and leadership principles of both Disney and Pixar to thousands of educators. My message has always been consistent: the business community must get involved in their local educational process for two reasons: one, because the public school system is not preparing students for the business world; and two, the public school system is not working!
Consider these statistics: U.S. businesses spend $3.7 billion on remedial training for high school graduates entering the work force; 33% of all incoming college freshmen need to take some form of remedial mathematics or reading education; and our national high school graduation rate is 69.2%. We are not only failing to provide an adequate education to our children, we are failing our teachers as well. 50% will leave the profession within their first five years.
Rather than adopt innovative teaching methods such as OMA, most school districts are throwing money at the problem, hiring more special education teachers, and labeling disruptive children as ADHD for which they recommend drugs. Since the vast majority of classroom environments are boring, dull and unimaginative, who is REALLY to blame for the disruptive behavior? For decades, it seems that most schools support teaching on auto-pilot! Insanity is defined as doing the same thing and expecting different results.
The Tucson Unified School District has a chance to really make a difference in the lives of students. Lucky Tucson…most school districts do not have such a wonderfully Pixar-style vision of collaboration and arts integration. You have the opportunity and privilege of supporting OMA, a proven innovative approach to education that not only addresses the important fundaments of reading, writing and arithmetic, but also the fine arts of music, dance, opera, and art.
I hope and pray that the U.S. will soon realize the urgency for creating a brand new educational system. I have not yet seen the new documentary Waiting for Superman, but I have read many of the reviews and feel it will enlighten more citizens about our educational crises.
Tucson has a unique opportunity to put on that Superman cape and show the rest of the country how to make the educational experience exciting, thought-provoking and magical. Will you leap tall buildings with a single bound or will you be like most other school districts that will sit around and just “wait for Superman?”
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