The identity crisis of American education

[hkem1]

Should we try to destroy teacher unions or let them flourish? Should we have summer vacations or stay in school? Should we have charter schools, parochial schools, "vocational" schools? Should we have prayer in school? Should we have voucher programs? Should we pay teachers more? Should we decrease class size? Should we have more standardized testing? Should we have more fine arts programs? Should we put more money into math and science? Should we have school for disabled children? Should we spend money trying to convince kids not to drop out of high school? etc...

These are all questions that people in this country love to debate. While they are all certainly worthwhile and important, none of them alone will fix our education issues.

I would propose that we are currently in an identity crisis with regards to our education system from pre-school to graduate school.

We bemoan standardized testing, yet seem to think it is a problem when America is behind all these other countries in...standardized testing.

We hate that college tuition is going up so much, yet we allow schools to waste money on remedial education because we think college should be open to more people.

We say we want to support teachers, but don't give them the authority they need in the classroom. (Think about a time you have tried to go "over the head" of a teacher)

The bottom line of all of this that must be figured out before we can effectively solve our education woes is- What is the point of American education?

Is it to have as many people with college degrees as possible?

Is it to educate the masses to try to make everyone equal?

Is it to help the elite students become even better?

Is it to make everyone a classical academic?

Is it to cater to Corporate America and produce drones for the next generation of America?

Is it provide a free babysitting service to parents?

Is it a public employment program?

It's probably not any of those I have listed. But I would ask you to think about what you truly believe the end goal of education is the next time you are debating whether there should be 20 or 22 students in a 5th grade science classroom.

 

[scooterbug44]

The goal needs to be to provide every child (regardless of race, location, origins, or wealth) with a good basic education that prepares them to be productive members of the workforce and our society.

Every grade school child should learn how to read, write, do math, spell, reason, work independently and in a group, and have a basic understanding of our country's history and government.

Every middle school child should learn vocabulary, advanced math, grammar, spelling, logic, hone their written and verbal communication skills, and learn how to research a topic.

Every high school child should learn a second language, basic home ec skills, nutrition/health ed, and have the opportunity to go on to further education if they choose - college, military, vocational tech etc.

All students should be exposed to daily reading, art/music, and athletic activity and should have at least 2 meals a day.

Standardized testing is one way to measure progress and identify problem areas - not the Holy Grail.

Summer vacation does not go away. Teacher inservice days on 3 day holiday weekends do.

Unions are optional and teachers have to write a check for their dues.

Punishments are standard and mandatory and can only be overturned by the school board - and until they are, a student is unable to participate in ANY extracurriculars.

Zero tolerance policies have common sense clauses added.

 

[hkem1]

Punishments are standard and mandatory and can only be overturned by the school board - and until they are, a student is unable to participate in ANY extracurriculars.

Zero tolerance policies have common sense clauses added.

I think this is one of the most undervalued issues as far as improving the classroom environment goes.

In my urban public middle school experience there was one kid who for some reason was in Pre-AP math (the fact that this kid was in Pre-AP is another issue for another time). He would be incredibly disruptive and shout profanities at the teacher and the teacher would have to spend 15 minutes of our 45 minute class dealing with him.

They could suspend him for a day, but he would be back in class the next day. I don't know what was going on behind the scenes that was the reason he remained in the class, but because of his disruptive nature, I'd say it is largely irrelevant.

As Americans we view teachers as extensions of the government, as such, we tend to fear giving them too much power. But we need people to make tough decisions on how much power we are willing to concede to schools in order to receive a better education.

Remember, the disruptive student's "rights" (though I am not sure which ones) were protected in the scenario I described, but every other student in that class received a lower quality education because of it.

 

[30ashopper]

The goal needs to be to provide n child (regardless of race, location, origins, or wealth) with a good basic education that prepares them to be productive members of the workforce and our society.

...and not waste money on systems that don't work. We spend billions on our government run public education system and in return we get mediocre results. The special interests resist change hard but 'we the people' must be strong, ignore all the FUD, and work toward a better system.

 

[scooterbug44]

Based on my experiences, the kid was a gifted little sheet whose parents were lawyers/sheets who didn't care about anything but little schnookems having that class on his transcript.

Because the kid could pass the tests, he was able to skate by on grades though he rarely if ever did his homework.

The way my teachers/administration dealt with it was by creating a 3 category grading system starting in middle school.

Knowledge and Skills - test scores/grades, homework, etc.

Individual Performance - based on attendance, completion of assignments, and class participation

Citizenship - behavior in the classroom/hall

All three grades were shown on report cards and averaged for your overall grade. Can't remember how they were weighted - think it was 50% KS, 25% IP, 25% Citizenship.

Honor Roll was still just KS, but ......................

A super smart kid who aced tests but didn't do their homework or behave got bad grades in IP and Citizenship.

A kid who didn't do as well on tests, but worked hard, behaved, and did all the assigned work got good grades in IP and Citizenship.

So no matter what, if you worked hard you got some A's and B's to be proud of. And if you misbehaved you got C's and D's to explain.

And it was all based on set criteria that applied equally to everyone so no parents could pitch a fit.

 

[hkem1]

...and not waste money on systems that don't work. We spend billions on our government run public education system and in return we get mediocre results. The special interests resist change hard but 'we the people' must be strong, ignore all the FUD, and work toward a better system.

That is something else I think people need to get over. That raising funding for education will automatically produce better results without fundamental change to the system as it is now.

I'm not denying that low funding is harming many school districts- it is- but I would imagine there is a lot of waste to be saved that could help that problem.

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The United States spends more public and private money on education than other major countries, but its performance doesn't measure up in areas ranging from high-school graduation rates to test scores in math, reading and science, a new report shows.

The report cited Australia, Finland, Ireland, Korea and the United Kingdom as examples of OECD nations that have moderate spending on primary and lower secondary education but high levels of performance by 15-year-olds in key subject areas.

USATODAY.com - U.S. tops the world in school spending but not test scores

 

[Matt J]

The United States spends more public and private money on education than other major countries

I'm not a fan of vague comparisons like "major countries". India and China are major countries, but I don't think it's apples and apples.

 

[hkem1]

I'm not a fan of vague comparisons like "major countries". India and China are major countries, but I don't think it's apples and apples.

Edit: See 2 posts down

 

[scooterbug44]

Not to be picky, but do you have any stats less than a decade old? Europe wasn't even on the Euro when those stats were compiled.

 

[hkem1]

Not to be picky, but do you have any stats less than a decade old? Europe wasn't even on the Euro when those stats were compiled.