Steve Mozena's Vision for the Educational System

Steve Mozena is concerned about the lamentable state of education in California and the nation today. His response to the recent unveiling of the California school summer reading program is that something far more substantial is needed to fix an educational system that is turning out functional illiterates rather than young people who have the knowledge and the skills to successfully deal with life's many challenges.

His solution to California¹s educational woes is twofold. First, the school day must be extended to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. This will not only allow a more thorough learning schedule, it will also reduce the stress on parents and enable them both to hold down full-time jobs. In today's economic environment, in which it is common for both parents, or a single parent, to work in order to support the children, the longer day for kids would be extremely helpful.

Second, the school year must be extended. The 180 days kids spend in school is not enough. Research has shown that during the long summer break they regress, which means they forget the knowledge and skills that they learned. Schooling should be year round.

The introduction of mandatory all-year schooling would address the problem of regression, as well as cultivating life skills. It would also reduce gang activity, some of which arises from boredom, and other vacation mischief. We need structure in our schools.

participation in team sports, right through to the senior year, should be mandatory. Team sports build social skills and the ability to be a team player in other contexts.
participation in academic clubs like speech, chemistry or drama would be a must, since these also develop teamwork.
a foreign language and culture class to begin in primary school, that teaches Chinese and another language that is new to the student. In other words, if the family speaks Spanish, the kids must learn a language other than Spanish, in addition to English.
a business class in which students learn how to write checks and manage their accounts, including how to manage a credit card. They should be taught financial responsibility and financial honesty, and why maintaining a positive credit rating is necessary for purchasing a car and eventually a home. In addition, the class should include the skills learned in the business program Junior Achievement.
there should also be a life-skills program. This should instruct boys and girls in the fundamentals of good hygiene, good manners, cooking, and home economics. This would also teach the principles of sound nutrition, which would be a step towards combating the growing obesity among the young.
since many students do not know how to study, there would be a mandatory class in study skills. Students need to learn the self-discipline that leads to success in life.
a mandatory outdoor environmental education course, in which students learn about such topics as animals, water, plants, and soil. This would include many of the topics usually covered at summer camps. Not all parents can afford to send their children to camp, but under Mozena's proposal, all children would have the same opportunities.
starting as early as nursery school and continuing through 12th grade, there should be physical education courses, including swimming classes from beginner to lifesaver. This will reduce the number of child deaths by drowning. Athletics, gymnastics and other forms of exercise should also be offered, to promote health and reduce obesity.
more emphasis on online learning, making sure there is no digital divide. All children should have computers, and the best and brightest teachers in the state at all grade levels should teach online courses. This would create more equal educational opportunity, enabling students in impoverished school districts to have access to the best minds in the state. It would also cultivate the kids¹ ability to work independently.
mandatory civics or political science class in which students would learn about our political system as well as those of other nations. It would emphasize the necessity of participating in the processes of democracy. This could be done by holding mock elections that would mirror elections taking place at state and federal level. This would educate students in the vital political issues of the day. For California students, this class would include instruction about the California constitution, including knowledge about how ballot initiatives are created and an evaluation of the achievements of recent ballot initiatives.
the state should maintain a 24-hour study help web site.
there should be a yearly comprehensive exam before students are allowed to pass to the next grade level.
an overall review of the pay and benefits packages for teachers, and regular reviews of teacher performance. Teachers should not be underpaid, but they should not be allowed to continue in their jobs if they are performing badly. Incompetent teachers are harmful to the development of our children.

Like adults, children would be permitted to request a week or two weeks off during the calendar year for vacation, if a parent wished. Additionally, the teachers could have their two-week vacations or whatever they wished, and a substitute who was competent in the field would take their place.

Finally, the State's education website should show all its daily expenditures and revenues, broken down to each school and grade levels. This would create fiscal transparency and honesty in government spending on education. Mozena would also like to see the California Lottery, which allocates considerable funds to education, post its finances to the Web. See www.postthefinances.com

Mozena hopes Californian educational leaders will support this proposal, which will raise educational standards in the state and produce better citizens. It could also act as a model for adoption by other states.

For Colleges

For college level education, Steve Mozena believes that the era of brick and mortar colleges is coming to an end. He argues that we need to promote intellectually healthy and independent adults rather than prolong childhood by shackling students to a brick and mortar college. In the future, education will be largely conducted online. It is only a matter of time before electronic books entirely replace traditional books. The traditional library, with thousands of shelves of books taking up large amounts of space and needing large funds to maintain, will be a thing of the past. Traditional lecture theaters will be replaced; all computers will be equipped with cameras so professors and students can directly interact no matter where they are.

While this transition to the electronic information age is going on, Mozena would like to see the following specific ideas incorporated in college education:

In terms of administration, universities and colleges should opt out of the student housing, apparel, merchandise and food business. These should be operated by private businesses in university districts. Most university districts have died, killing off small mom and pop businesses, because the colleges have relentlessly pursued a vertically integrated monopoly of businesses catering to the students on campus. In doing so, they have lost, in Mr. Mozena's opinion, the sole purpose and focus of the academic institution, which is to teach our children. Again, he believes strongly that the purpose of a college education is to provide an education, not the superfluous amenities many state colleges now provide.

Mozena also believes that a centralized collegiate online bookstore system should be set up for states nationwide. In the case of California, because of its size, Mozena would set up two distribution centers for southern and northern California which would distribute books both electronically and/or by mailing them directly to students statewide.