Education is Broken

Occam's Razor, usually summarized as, "The simplest explanation is most often the correct one," serves as a guiding principle in virtually all fields of science. But in education? Not so much.
The purpose of this blog, Alternative Edukation, is to examine education as a profession and approach the many issues in education from a logical, rational point of view...from the perspective of an everyday teacher in the trenches (read as: the opposite of what the Ivory Tower education bureaucrats do). 
Following the aformentioned principle, what is the simplest answer? Most will say, "Well, there isn't a simple answer," but I couldn't disagree more. Education involves only four main variables: teachers, parents, students, and society/culture (ok...ok...I know, I lumped two of them together...so say five variables if you like). Just as there are families, communities, even states and nations, that are dysfunctional and not dysfunctional, what is it about our mix of "variables" that result in a poorer product than, say, Finland? Or South Korea? Or Switzerland? Or Norway? Or Lichtenstein? Wait...Lichtenstein? Really?
Laying all blame at the feet of the teachers doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how all the different factors in public education interact. Don't get me wrong. I have seen my share of poor teachers, from the viewpoint of both student and colleague. But the current crisis in education is the literal embodiment of the old cliché, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." Therefore, I dedicate to the teachers the first post in this series that will examine each of the variables involved in shaping a well-educated, young citizen of the United States of America.

Students simply are not interested in drinking what teachers have to offer.