Introducing America Part II^©

America Part I vs. America Part II

To understand the concept of a Part II for America’s future, it is necessary to quickly review what is currently Part I.  During America Part I, which began on July 4^th 1776, many people are doing very well; but far, far too many have been left behind.  Many more fall behind daily in our competitive global economy. The culprits are poor learning opportunities and inadequate healthcare; thereby severely limiting economic hope.

“In America Part II we will create a national movement to unleash America’s largest, unlimited, and virtually untapped source of renewable energy: the minds of all of our children!!!! Customizing education for every child will ensure that never again will our children’s hopes, futures, and dreams be determined by the color of their skin, their gender, the quality of their healthcare, the poverty in their home and/or community and – last but far from least – the teachers’ and students’ ability to withstand the frustration and boredom inherent in today’s public education systems. .”  – Jack Taub –

In Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense” that was issued during the revolutionary war, he said, “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”   That same opportunity presents itself to an even greater extent now, and it is called America Part II.

Background of America Part II

The foundation for America Part II was laid in 1978 with The Source – the world’s first consumer online service.  The Source gave birth to the networked consumer personal computer and was the model for the consumerization of the Internet, which makes possible the vision and the implementation plan for America Part II as well as state, city and school district versions of America Part II.

Today’s Problems

America today faces major challenges in maintaining its international economic and political leadership.  Special interest groups create runaway polarization on almost every social and economic issue – at the expense of most Americans.   In a “Flat World”, Americans need better education and healthcare opportunities in order to compete.  Recently, America’s leaders have equated test scores with competence and diplomas with success — neither of which are guaranteed outcomes. Our economy is threatened with the outsourcing of highly-paid and higher-intellectual jobs that were historically filled by our own citizens.  At the other end of the economic spectrum, our violent crime rate has escalated, and prisons have become a growth industry. At the heart of this issue are desperate people without the education or skills to earn a living. If they can’t make a living, they often take a living.  Compounding the impact is the disproportional distribution of the problem across ethnic and demographic groups.  The inequitable distribution of quality educational opportunities exacerbates the country’s already unacceptable ‘digital divide’.   Not only is the present education system not fixing the digital divide problem, it is making it worse.

The Solution

The best way to rectify these problems is to provide every child in America with a customized, project-based education — one that exceeds all state and federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements. This new customized form of education combines the present emphasis on academic content with a new comprehensive set of personal and professional skills that support high performance, innovation, and entrepreneurship.  These skills include critical thinking, team work, problem solving, and creativity.  Also known as “high performance skills”, they are essential for success in the workforce and the community.  In order to be successful, every child must be well educated and healthy.  Every child must have access to free primary healthcare services.  America Part II must and will provide these services!  At the same time, every child must have access to the best, appropriate technology to support learning.

Emaginos, Inc.

Emaginos Inc. was created to provide a model for a comprehensive systemically new solution to meet America’s future K-12 educational needs.  The company sponsors this foundation to create a forum for ‘meeting’ and exchanging ideas related to transforming K-12 education.  Emaginos offers a comprehensive set of products and services dedicated to providing customized education and access to primary healthcare to every child in America.  Emaginos goal is to lead a transformation of K12 education, thereby achieving all of the goals of the National Conference of State Legislatures policy mentioned below and meeting the Federal No Child Left Behind requirements within existing budgets. The plan also includes a personalized universal primary healthcare program for all students, at no cost to the students.  We do not expect to be the only company providing services to assist school districts in transforming to this new model – but we do expect to be the best.

Vendor Neutrality

Even though Emaginos is sponsoring this foundation, we encourage an open and rich discussion of all issues and solutions to the transformation process.  The Emaginos founders believe that transforming K-12 education is essential to sustaining and improving America’s global leadership.  We would sincerely choose to succeed with the transformation even if we don’t own the market.  However, we are so committed to the transformation that we have created a comprehensive solution that is scalable, adaptable, and unrivaled for its design and effectiveness.

The Vision

Let us never forget that today’s students are tomorrow’s parents, entrepreneurs, political leaders, teachers, employers, etc.  Our strategy to implement Part II will truly leave no child behind.  To quote Winston Churchill, this strategy is,” not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning,” of what will prove to be America’s finest hour.

America Part II is a vision for every state, city, community, and level of society.  Through the use of the Internet and other media, we will create a passionate, highly motivated social network grass-roots army of several million community activists called “The Power of Us”.  They will mobilize, school board members, PTAs, teachers, spiritual groups, and many other groups of citizens to secure 10 million signatures nationally, demanding that all children receive the kind of customized education described in the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) policy statement.  State legislatures establish the policies that drive funding most of the estimated $550B expended annually for K12 education and an even larger amount for Medicaid.  After 2 ½ years of due diligence, all of the members of the National Conference of State Legislatures voted unanimously for the policy recommending that every child in America be provided a customized education.  The policy that received unanimous, bipartisan approval in August of 2007 stated that,

“Advances in technology expand teaching potential and efficiency that enable increased ability to customize and monitor each child’s educational experience.  These enhancements diminish the significance of geographic distance and makes possible access to students, records, assessments, remediation, and an unprecedented scope of information— 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

While education is primarily and properly a state responsibility, the federal government can play an important supporting role for applying technology to: increase personalized instruction; decrease student boredom and teacher burnout; stimulate discovery, innovation, and creativity; achieve NCLB requirements related to tutorial services, supplemental services, provision of highly qualified teachers, and meeting the reporting requirements; and to provide education equity for every student, regardless of location or economic status.

Community Workshops

Emaginos will conduct, by means of the Internet, a series of workshops for all legislators and school board members and any citizens wanting to be involved in all of the issues and opportunities of creating their community Part II. It is our intent to engage all interested people in an online interactive dialog using the Emaginos Unanimity process.  Unanimity provides training to certify additional facilitators to lead the local unanimity activities.  This process will allow for true unanimity on any community issue   This should be democracy’s finest hour.

Goals

Our vision of the achievable goals of Part II in every community includes the following phases:

■     Phase A – Universal Access to Customized Education

Transform K12 public school systems within existing budgets by delivering a customized, project-based curriculum to all students. As a result, we eliminate student boredom and teacher burnout.  By unleashing the infinite intellectual and creative energy in the minds of all 54 million American students, this phase can be considered the greatest energy project in the history of the nation.

■     Phase B – Universal Access to Personalized, Free, Primary Healthcare For All School-Aged Children.

The strategy is built upon the premise of Benjamin Franklin when he said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  Our premise is that for a child to be successful in life they must at a minimum be well educated and healthy.  In addition to this phase being unique in the nation’s history, we also believe our strategy can rein in the runaway costs of Medicaid and Medicare.  It is estimated that about 90% of heart problems, obesity, diabetes, stroke, and many other serious illnesses are preventable through education, behavioral changes, diet, and exercise.  The best way to reduce healthcare costs is to prevent the need for treatment in the first place.

■       Phase C – Social Equity and a Civil Society for All

Education, not legislation, can accomplish affirmative action and equal opportunity.  We cannot legislate employers to hire people who are not capable of being competitive in this flat world.  Instead, highly skilled, innovative people make employers want to hire them. The concepts put forth by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence can be extended to say that all children are created equal and are entitled to a world-class education and basic healthcare, no matter how economically disadvantaged or geographically remote they may be.

■       Phase D – Every School District an Economic Frontier

The technologies that will transform every school will be available to all citizens and businesses by means of community networks.  As a result of the world-class human capital nurtured in every school and virtually unlimited capabilities of the installed technology, every school district can become a frontier of innovation, technology, science, and economic opportunity.

In Conclusion

To accomplish all of these goals in the timeframes outlined will be a Herculean task.  However, when the American people mobilize their energy and creativity, they can accomplish almost anything. Any person who has ever visited a kindergarten class cannot help but have noticed the curiosity and excitement about learning that is evident on every child’s face.   At this point there is no limit to their genetic need to learn.   America Part II’s strategy is to nurture that flame of curiosity and desire to learn through high school and on into their adult life.