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There is an agreement among the patriots in our country that the way to move forward is through higher education. The belief that a country can gain power only through knowledge still persists.

It is but common knowledge that becoming high achievers in science, reading and math is the only hope for our children to live in a flourishing and thriving future. However, it is evident of late that mass concern to overhaul our higher education system continues to wane. As compared to the rest of the world, our higher education is sadly mediocre.

Higher education is undoubtedly in the headlines almost every day. This issue is a platform for public officials to manipulate their own self-interest and selfish intentions. This is evident as there is no significant progress being made in this area.

There is a strong dissatisfaction with the leadership among our nation’s teachers who are plagued by lack of resources and huge salary cuts. With each passing day, we are moving towards a dismal future and evidently our children are facing a major crisis. Our country is becoming vulnerable to the darkness of unawareness and ignorance.

A recent research report by the Pew Research Center says that higher education ranks six among our public’s top ten priority policies. The report points out that public interest is fast declining in this area and their top priorities today remain terrorism, job creation and economy.

Of course, these are vital areas that have to be addressed. However, our public focus is very far from the absolutely important factor namely education. 2010 census reports show that in our country, at least 30% of adults above the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree.

This is encouraging news, no doubt but it is certainly not the complete story. What we must work on is instruction received by our students before they go to college. This is the only way we can compete academically with international counterparts.

Classroom instruction today is sadly sub-standard. Our educators however do not lack any purpose or passion for their profession. In fact, they all consider themselves to be fortunate to be able to make a difference in the lives of children and are aware of the impact they could make in the academic world. Many are even willing to sacrifice high salaries to continue teaching.

All of us are quick to blame the poorly crafted bills and budget cuts as the main reasons for the educational crisis. Most of us blame our policymakers calling their articulated strategies only lip service. In other words, we simply pass on the responsibility to the politicians and school district administrators.

What we must realize is our country as a whole is no more focusing on education. This has led to a gross under valuation of teachers. Their contributions are underrated and their significance is diminishing constantly.

It is time we realize that knowledge is the only solution to most of the problems plaguing our nation. Anarchy and chaos reign in places where intelligence is absent. Education should be therefore the first priority issue we must address at the earliest.