Real education change starts outside school

Published in the opinion page, as a member of the Community Advisory Board of the Holland Sentinel, the newspaper of Holland, Michigan.

I recently toured the cafeterias of two area schools with a group of fellow students from Holland High. Our mission: to learn about and comment on ideas for a new high school to be built as part of Holland Public Schools’ $73 million bond initiative.

Excited by the prospects and new ideas I’d seen, I returned to school and boasted of the day’s adventure to a math teacher.

“You’ve done what?” she whispered, incredulous. She paused, squinting directly into my eyes. “That sounds about as worthwhile as touring local bathrooms to determine the optimal arrangement of stalls.”

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