California Congressman Mike Honda Discusses American Manufacturing

Estimated reading time: 17 minutes

Honda: There are two things I’m trying to do. One is to change the understanding of education. Everyone in this country tries to do something new and innovative to get people to learn, but we seem to have limited success. Then we do things like vouchers and charters and everything that seems to go against what I consider supporting public schools and moving public education forward. We are stuck in the ways that we were taught. We never looked at the history of our educational system and how we are embedded in that system. If we just understood that, we could step out of that box and really grow. The initiative I’ve gotten started is called “Educational Equity for Each and Every Child,” not “Equal Opportunity for All Children.” The two phrases are different. They sound the same but they’re different, and they suggest different solutions. When you say “all children” you look for ways to impact a cohort. If you say “each and every child,” your cohort is obvious—each child at a time. When you deal with each child at a time you can get them all, but the profiles in terms of the needs become more precise for each child as well.

Matties: Now, interestingly, Sal Khan of Khan Academy, who’s done some work with the Los Altos School District, which is using his online training model, has really flipped the role of the classroom around to where you’re not necessarily doing homework at home anymore. It’s really making for an incredible education and I think Bill Gates’ kids were using this (free) service as well, and they can afford pretty much any education out there. But I think this guy is really on to something big. Do you see online solutions like that for education?

Honda: I think that what technology offers us is the democratization of education because it opens up information. Access to information is critical—how you access it and your ability to get it. He’s trying to make that universal. We should look at how you make it universal so that your income is not the barrier.

Matties: The nice thing about his is that it’s free.

Honda: It’s free, but you still have to access it. Accessing it is key. The democratization of energy is solar, where every home can become its own generating plant. If you can imagine how much money people can save just by eliminating reliance on the grid and creating their own source through a solar system—they could save maybe 80% of their energy bill and redirect that money elsewhere. We should be able to apply that technology to developing countries. But developing countries are still dependent upon petroleum. If you see any country that is 100% dependent upon petroleum for energy you’ll find that that country is pretty poor. So, why aren't we applying that technology and offering that technology to these countries that need it? It’s like holding back water from people. We need to rethink how we’re going about it. I think the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank or the World Bank should start looking at their own business plans differently. Rather than investing for a return, the return should be in other arenas, but we’re not doing that. Solar energy, water--especially pure water--is important here.Page 5 of 7

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