I started to wonder about our public school system 7 years ago when my older son was in the preschool. I couldn’t figure out how to navigate it and eventually followed the system assignment.
I had done literally every volunteer work there was for a parent. 2 years ago, I decided to jump on the leadership team in our local neighborhood school as the parent representative because nobody else would do it. I wanted to know if I could finish my 2-year term by learning the system while being myself. I survived and made friends with the other team members, but also drew a conclusion that the system is far from working.
During these 2 years, I launched my podcast, Duct Tape Rocket Ship, interviewing the public school parents all over the country, and the episodes are only the small part of the interviews I did. When I uploaded the last episode, I realized the school system was way too complex to address through the podcast.
With all the knowledge and experiences, I decided to write a book about it. This is the first time that I am writing a book and I need to learn many things as well as myself. I'm grateful that I have learned a lot in this process.
My daily blog is a place where I share some of the ideas from the book, concepts that I am wondering about and questions that emerged.
The interview that Seth Godin did with Jacqueline Freeman, a bee keeper, gave me such an enlightened perspective that I didn’t realize before. During the interview, She talked about the things that she learned from the bees and caring for the bees not for the maximized production and profit out of honey but caring for the nature. I realized my approach towards the public school system is similar. When caring for the society means maintaining a failing system that is in the indirect conflict with our children’s learning and future, I choose children and people.
Thank you for reading this and being on this journey with me.
