On Education, Again

The other day I was talking to a colleague about students and education in general. One observation that came of the conversation was this: if students cared, they would excel, regardless of a mediocre educational system. On the other hand, if a school has the best programs on the planet, if the students don't care, then it doesn't matter at all. The observation came as I reflected on the enormous amounts of energy and money spent on education. Honestly, if half the effort put in by administrators and teachers into education was reciprocated by students, many of the education woes of today would be nonexistent.

Again, this is not the case with all students, but it is a big enough problem to point it out. At least that's my experience. Others I've talked to share the same sentiment. There are a lot of people who just don't care.

So how do you change a culture that's been in place for a long time? How do you get people to care?