After reading and discussing Chapters 1 & 2, how are feeling about the current state of public education in America? Have these readings and discussions brought to mind any personal experiences with public education?
The current state of public education in American has improved since the 1980's but still could use more improvement. In class today we discussed different issues surrounding education for example cultural background, race, and funding bases. We all agreed that as educators we would eliminate any discrimination as much as possible. In a changing world and society we need to also be open difference ideas and difference cultures. I graduated high school in 2000. I now have a 6 year old son that celebrate Cinco De Mayo at school and that's something I didn't do at school. The changes are being made everyday which is important in the next generation.
It seems that the current decision-making process could benefit from some changes. Teachers, parents, and local governments should have more say in policies that will affect schools. Bureaucracies do not have much direct experience with the school system, therefore do not have the practical knowledge about what policies will benefit students the most. This, to me, seems to be one of the biggest problems facing public education. The increase of standardized testing is an example of this bureaucratic policy-making gone wrong.
I agree with Mildra that public education has improved since the 80's but still could get better. The main topic in chapter 1 and 2, as we discussed in class, is how race, economic status, and location can influence the students learning. It would be perfect to say that those factors have nothing to do with the child's level of education but that is many times not true. Sadly, children are sometimes overlooked because of where they live or who they are. I think the main point in class today was that All children should be given an equal chance to learn, no matter who they are. I think that schools have gotten better but that should continue. I know that now many schools are gearing their lessons more toward a variety of cultures than just the majority in that school. It is sad but when I was in school it was not like that, atleast where I went.
I also very much agree with bridget. It is ashame that the people that hold all the power to make decisions facing the education system know nothing about what really goes on in the schools. They are just outsiders looking in trying to say what would be best for the children. We all want, or should want, what's best for the children, but not all goals are obtaniable. Some are good in theory but not realistic in today's schools. They many times have picture perfect ideas of how the schools should function and how all children should score on tests but not all children have the capability to learn at a high level. For one child it might be a miracle just to score average where that would be awful for another. That is like me trying to tell a docotor how to do surgery, it just does not work.
I believe Chapters 1 & 2 were almost right on key when it comes to the state of public education. In Chapter 1 it said that people before 1960 were not required to be literate because the world was more about the manual labor that a person could do. Later on when the world changed it's view on literacy and it was now required, those particular people were up the creek with out a paddle. Today, I believe, that literacy is still required but it is less pushed. Because racism is still present, it seems that employers and, in our case, teachers pass children along because if they do not they will be called a racist from either races parent. I think it is rediculous that the school system will still pass a student along with "non-standared" conditions. This is telling students and parents that "the child did not meet the standards of the school but we're going to pass them anyway. Even though we pushed for them to do better, it's ok that they didn't." We as teachers and parents should have a higher level of opinion in what the school does with our students and children. Referring to Chapter 2, it is still an emotional irritance that children in poverty still lack a good chance at an eduation. This has several reasons as to why this is, but one of them is because teachers move too much. If a teacher were to stay at a school for longer than 3 years, even 2 years, the children would see stability and probably wouldn't take it personally; "they just left because they didn't like us or our neighborhood anymore".
I graduated high school in 1972. Have things changed? I think in some cases ,yes, a lot. In some cases, not so much. The technology has changed unbelievably. A computer was the size of a room and handheld calculators weren't around yet, as I recall. We used our pencil and an extra sheet of paper. Research was physically going to the library. People, on the other hand haven't changed much. While observing the resource room at St. Mary's Elementary last month, the teacher pointed out several kids (1st and 2nd grade) that were learning and doing fine with her. When I asked why they were special ed., she replied that their teacher just didn't want to spend time with them- so got them referred out of their classes. I guess it made her job easier. One of the issues with No Child Left Behind is teacher accountability. I'm fine with that ,personally. All the jobs I have held in the last thirty years, I have been accountable to someone. I think if you love what you do and try your best, bosses(or principals) will work with you. There certainly are problems today. Bridget makes a good point that bureaucrats control spending in education and really don't know that much about the educational system. It is their job, but I think school boards could do a better job of educating these bureaurocrats. The real responsibility for making schools work lies with the parents. It is a real problem that most parents can't, or won't, raise their voices and exercise their infuence on the decision making process. I feel(pretty) good about the state of education in America today , but it needs lots of attention and vigilance on the part of parents and citizens. ...and I'm an optimist.
Chapters 1 and 2 show a bleak reality for me. After mowing through tons of percentages and numbers, I see what everyone else is saying. That is what Stephanie and Bridget have stated...that the decisions come from the powers above (politics) and not from those who are actually "in" the schools. Although I believe that schools have improved drastically and that we are headed in a positive direction, I just think with the numbers showing what they do, that more emphasis should be placed on change. My children are in the public school system and I personally love it and have no complaints, whatsoever. I seldom question the policies, but I do see how the lower income families and schools could be less fortunate. I optimistically agree with Mildra that positive changes are being made daily that will affect the next generation.
I agreed with my classmates that we need to eliminate discrimination in the classroom. We agreed when we become a teacher that we need to be careful about what we say about other people background. We also agreed that we need to learn other people culture and learn to accept it no matter what. I think we need to get the government to spend more money into education so everybody can get a better education. I hope that No Child Left Behind act will help our future children have a better education. Personally, I do not understand why Georgia has a hard time coming up with the money for education when the property tax is so much higher than Alabama. I work in the special education department and I know the state needs to come up with more money for these special need kids because they have a lot of thing that they need that they do not have in the classroom.
Reading and discussing Chapters 1 & 2 about the current state of public education in America I am left with the overall feeling of dismay that much is left to be changed. After Poverty and socioeconomic horrors still plaque some of our youths and it seems as though there are no sure solutions. It seems that the main issues of poverty, lack of school funds are two of the larger issues to be addressed and until the education system in our country face these issues we will not advance very far. Teaching diversity and culture differences may be one leeway to insuring the rights and fairness to children, regardless of race or culture.
I do believe that public education in America has improved over the past 50 years. Like the book and Lindsay stated, in the 1950's students weren't expected to know how to read, but rather know who to operate a saw mill or do any other type of manual labor. As the years progress, literacy has become the number one focus in school systems. Society defines a successful person as being literate and having furthered one's education. To do any job in America, the person needs to be able to read and that is taught in our school system.
Teachers in todays school systems are pressured to make sure every child succeeds. Its a wonderful idea to want every child to succeed, but reality is that no matter how much the teacher does, some children will not get the additional support he/she needs to fully succeed. I believe that too much pressure has be placed on the teachers to make sure "no child is left behind." Sometimes it takes more than a teacher to help a child succeed, and if thats the case, why is the teacher the only one being punished?
Its amazing to see the stress that teachers go under when testing time comes around. Its almost like they turn into a completely different person. They become narrow minded and being teaching the test and not other information. With the pressure of making sure every student passes, I feel the teachers are shorting their students of an amazing education. Will this pressure ever let up? No one know, but for the sake of the children, I would hope so!
I am very dismayed about the state of education in America. I agree with Bridget when she says that the people who are involved in the inner workings of the schools, such as the parents, teachers, and even the students, themselves should have more say in the educational system. The bureaucratic system that we have now does not seem to be working at all. I can only speak from personal experience, and I only graduated two years ago so my experience is pretty fresh. I hail from a school district that is very rural. There is only one high school there, and we may have had at our peak enrollment twelve hundred students. Therefore, we did not receive the funding that the urban schools received because we did not have a very big enrollment. Because of this situation, our school did not have a lot of the programs that other schools had such as the IB program or the AP program. We had AP classes, but not as many as other bigger schools; neither did we have the opportunity to take the AP test. We also did not have the foreign language opportunities that other schools had. We could only take two semesters of foreign language because we only had one teacher that taught it. I believe that the financial situation in the district held a lot of students from reaching their full potential, and it made it difficult for them to compete with other students who came from schools with more competitive academic programs.
Speaking of bureaucracy, our district was also plagued by bad leadership at times. It seemed like the leaders and decision-makers in the district were completely out of touch with what the district needed. Instead, they chose to serve their own selfish agenda, and it has led this district into being one of the least sought-after school districts in our area. This is a sad situation because the district is losing enrollment; so much so that they have had to let go some of their teachers. This only leads to less funding because their enrollment will be less this year. It seems to be a vicious cycle. Districts lose enrollment because of low funding, and they lose funding because of low enrollment. There needs to be a program in which low enrollment schools could be granted federal grants or some kind of assistance so that they could compete with the schools that have greater enrollments. Something should also be done about the bureaucratic system in this country. People that have no personal vested interest in education should not be making important educational decisions because they do not know how to accurately gauge what students really need.
The public education in America has made several changes throughout the years. Some changes was good and some changes was not even called for, because I disagree with all of these test, becasue a test does not determine anyone`s knowledge. Most schools today are on standards that are handed down from the goverment and some school can not meet the standards because of the inequities that exist in our schools. The schools today are being placed on deadlines due to so many things have to be covered. I truly disagree with that because there is no use of going on to another objective if the students have not mastered the one first. When I was in high school we did not move on to another objective until majority of the class understood that particular objective. I think the schools need to go back to do doing that.
I believe public education has definitely come along way, but there is still much to do. The government seems to think that the solution is to throw money at the problem. The United States spends more money on education than any other country, yet we are not the first in education ranking. What we need is smaller classrooms and give power back to the teachers. In order to obtain smaller classrooms, we must create more schools which means more teachers need to be certified. We must make the teaching field more attractive by higher salaries, college loan repayments, and other incentives. By giving power back to the teachers, teachers can form the state curriculum instead of people who have never taught in a grade school. Hopefully the federal government will come to realize the obvious, who would know how to form a curriculum better than a teacher?
So after skimming through several comments there is a lot of talk about the bureaucrats controling the spending and it is not fair, I agree with all that said the parents and teachers and local and state governments should have more say.
One thing I found interesting is that by 2056 the white american will be a minority or no longer the majority. But also on high school drop rates the book stated that cultural or foreign students have the highest drop out rate. Its kind of funny how we have a problem with illegal immigrants and they want to come to U.S. to live but we can't keep them in school.
From my own experience I am pleased to see that some of the schools that are low income students in columbus get extra money from the fed government. These schools are labeled as Title I schools. As far as I know that base a school a Title I by the number of free lunches to kids. I mean we have parents that can't even buy their kid's lunch or better yet fix them a sandwich. Its a shame. I think this money the government gives these schools is important because these students do not have much at home so I think they deserve the best equipment in classroom and a big library.
So yes I am pleased with our current state of education but I would like to see an alternativte to the CRCT too much stress for most kids and the teachers at that. I still agree with tom and couple others on the no child left behind I think thats a bunch of crap.
great plan rod that sounds like that might work.. the only problem is our gov't has to control everything, but yes smaller classrooms we need more teachers. Better pay always a plus.
going along with mildra's comment on diversity i think that its awesome that the children are learning about different cultures and heritages such as celebrating cinco de mayo.. because the hispancis holidays are important to them just like july 4 for americans.
I am very pleased with the current state of public education in America. We need only look at where we were 40 years ago to see the great leaps and bounds we have made. While our education system is not perfect it is among the best in the world. When we start believing that we have done all we can do the system will become stagnant and then begin to "rot." We are not always going to make the right decisions about what to do with our public education system. It is our responsibility to elect the people we believe will make the best decisions for us. We also need to be careful at taking everything we read in a textbook at face value. Some of the sources cited within our text were 10 and 20 years old. I'm thinking that information may be somewhat dated! It's easy for us as students to sit in a classroom and say that things need to change and this what needs to happen, but the real test is going to be how we react as teachers to those changes while we are in the classroom. Again, I do think we could improve our education system in many, many ways, but we shouldn't forget where we've come from.
I agree Loretta! Our country has one of the best educational systems in the world. I think that congress should focus more on the positives and not so much on the negatives. If that can happen, maybe we could be more successful! I also agree that we need more "regular" people in positions to make decissions about our educational system and not just politicians. They aren't in the school environment day in and day out, so how do they know what is best for both teachers and the students they teach????
Today school has really change some are for the good and some for the bad. However, teacher are now forces to teach the students about standardizing testing instead of what they really need to know. Students sometimes tend to lack that one-on-one attention that they might need. After reading ch1 & ch2 I was shocked about the fact that whites will be a minority not a majority in the future. And The high school graduation rates and how high the dropout rates are. Because of some of the new changes I feel it is causing the students to dropout of school.
I agree with bridget when she says"Teachers, parents, and local governments should have more say in policies that will affect schools. Bureaucracies do not have much direct experience with the school system, therefore do not have the practical knowledge about what policies will benefit students the most."
How do I feel about the current state of public education? Well, like Tameka, my feelings will be fresh. Even a little fresher than hers. I'm a very recent high school grad (May 2008). The school where I attended and the schools in my surrounding county were horrible. I do not even know of one school that recieved good recognition and if it did, it was always followed by some sort of bad recognition. I read a few comments stating that some people may be pleased or fine with how the school system is now, but... But what? There is still much work to put into it. To me a statement made and then followed by a but, just throws the first statement away and draws more focus to the second statement to come. I'm not attacking anyone or how they feel. I just feel that the current state of education is lacking and following way behind. From my own experience, schools are still not improving over the last four years. We had many fights, many drug busts, many teacher-student cases, many teachers qutting, many students dropping out, many students pregnant, and so much more. In my case, there was no way out. In my town, there was one high school. At that, my town was a huge town compared to the towns around it. So why are there not atleast one more, if not two more choices to choose from regarding school.
I also wanted to touch basis on what Julie said about the stress on teachers. That is so true. I was always a student known around as one that was mature beyond her years. Also with my father being a teacher for numerous years, before becoming a prinicpal at an alternative school, I knew how teachers felt. When I was younger, I thought teaching was such an easy occupation. My father and my teachers were so stressed. A lot of people think it comes from the students who act up, but actually it comes from a higher source than them. The people above my father and teachers stressed them out. They stressed the importance of making the school "appear" like it succeeds. Whether the school was succeeding or not, it did not matter to the people (prinicipal/superintendent) above. They just wanted to make sure it appeared that way and that is why a lot of times teachers feel forced to give students a certain grade or assignment to pass or help them out.
And Bridget I certainly agree with you. Teachers should have more say so in what goes on and what is to be taught in class. Teachers, as well as students. There are many students that are out there to succeed. They also want a say so. Again, from personal experience, I can not begin to count how many classes I've been in and heard a teacher say these exact words, "I do not know why we have to teach this material to you guys. It's not going to be on the graduation test, let alone the SAT or CRCT or ACT." To me, that is just crazy. Why focus on material not needed to learn. That material not needed to learn is the same material that takes longer to learn about and is maybe a harder subject. Still, material we needed to learn, material that we were going to be tested over, material that we needed in college, material that would better us knowing in our elder years, they wanted us to learn it in two-three days.
So in closing, I guess most can tell how I feel about the current state of education. I did not intend for this comment to become so lengthy. However; education is something that I'm so drawn to for some reason.
I believe the state of education in America is in a very low state at this time. We have had several government officials, both in office and those trying to gain office, telling americans what they plan to do to fix these problems that students, teachers, and parents face, but all these "fixes" seem to always be give more mopney to schools. I agree that financing education is important, but to simply say if a school recieves more money it will be succesful is kind of foolish. The only real way toimprove our education standards in America, in my opinion, is to get parents more involved in their childrens education. I am not saying there are those that through things out of their control that can not do this, but the majority of us can. Many, especially in lower income fmilies, are pushed to their limits at time, but if a parent does not make time to help ensure that their children are doing their work, how can a teacher continue to follow up on his/her lessons. Many teachers find themselves becoming "parent figures" for students, but that is not the answer. we should care about our students, but again if the parents do not enforce and instill the importance of an education on a daily basis, we will continue to have students that struggle, do not care, and ultimately drop out regardless of how much money the government puts into the schools.
After reading the text and some of my peers' comments I am in agreeance that education has improved within the last twenty years or so, but we are still behind in comparison to other nations: in which education is considered a privilege rather than something to do. Many of you are saying it could and should get better, but the nation has been saying that for a significant amount of time as well. After being in a group with some of my peers, I do believe that education will get better, because of the passion that I have seen thus far. THe only personal experiences that come to mind are the causes of my staements above. I remember having teachers that gave no alternative other than progression and others that promoted passing. Some gave extra effort and support while others needed support becasue they brought their personal lives to schools and it reflected upon the students. I feel there is no room for mediocracy in our teachers.
The public schools have improved very much, because I remember just 10 years ago how the schools in Columbus were divided according to race. In my neighborhood everyone went to a different school because of our race; for example my brother was sent to Kendrick High School because he was a "latino" and our next door neighbor was sent to Shaw High School because he was "black". Today students go to schools according to what area or "zone" they live in, unless they request to go to a different school. Schools are much more diverse, and are more accepting of different cultures. I know many schools who celebrate an international day where the students celebrate the different kinds of cultures around the world. I think this is a great idea because it allows students to appreciate all the different kinds of people in the world. Many times it is the parents or the environment who influence negativity, because if one has ever observed little children playing the children do not seem to matter if the other person did not look like them. It usually is the parent that says "no, do no play with that kid". As educators we need to implant in the childrens' minds that different is good, not bad, and to never judge anyone for being different. The major problem with the school systems are that the people who create the regulations are people who are usually not involved in the practice. They make decisions from an outside point of view. Hopefully the future generations to come will realize the importance of helping all students, and that discriminations need to be eliminated completely. Everything takes time in this world including making things right, but as everyone works together to make the schools better I think we can all make a differnce.
This is a very interesting discussion! I completely agree with Josh when he says there is hope for the future of public education in the passion you all hold for it! This willingness to put your thoughts and understandings "out there" for others to see is very powerful. The issues you all raise (discipline, parental involvement, inequity among schools and districts, more local control, social promotion, teacher quality, etc.) are all problems with no easy solutions. However, you WILL have the power to be the one who makes a difference in your own classrooms, on your grade-level teams, in your schools and school systems. Just this willingness to question and seek answers can be the beginning of true change!
Elizabeth's posting: I forgot one thing, we just can't sit and wait for things to change. We can make a difference by getting the student, parents, and the teachers and staff on one accord and getting everyone in the community involve the schools within their area.(PTA) When the new school year rolls in, the importance of PTA and community involvement should be stressed.
28 comments:
The current state of public education in American has improved since the 1980's but still could use more improvement. In class today we discussed different issues surrounding education for example cultural background, race, and funding bases. We all agreed that as educators we would eliminate any discrimination as much as possible. In a changing world and society we need to also be open difference ideas and difference cultures. I graduated high school in 2000. I now have a 6 year old son that celebrate Cinco De Mayo at school and that's something I didn't do at school. The changes are being made everyday which is important in the next generation.
It seems that the current decision-making process could benefit from some changes. Teachers, parents, and local governments should have more say in policies that will affect schools. Bureaucracies do not have much direct experience with the school system, therefore do not have the practical knowledge about what policies will benefit students the most. This, to me, seems to be one of the biggest problems facing public education. The increase of standardized testing is an example of this bureaucratic policy-making gone wrong.
I agree with Mildra that public education has improved since the 80's but still could get better. The main topic in chapter 1 and 2, as we discussed in class, is how race, economic status, and location can influence the students learning. It would be perfect to say that those factors have nothing to do with the child's level of education but that is many times not true. Sadly, children are sometimes overlooked because of where they live or who they are. I think the main point in class today was that All children should be given an equal chance to learn, no matter who they are. I think that schools have gotten better but that should continue. I know that now many schools are gearing their lessons more toward a variety of cultures than just the majority in that school. It is sad but when I was in school it was not like that, atleast where I went.
I also very much agree with bridget. It is ashame that the people that hold all the power to make decisions facing the education system know nothing about what really goes on in the schools. They are just outsiders looking in trying to say what would be best for the children. We all want, or should want, what's best for the children, but not all goals are obtaniable. Some are good in theory but not realistic in today's schools. They many times have picture perfect ideas of how the schools should function and how all children should score on tests but not all children have the capability to learn at a high level. For one child it might be a miracle just to score average where that would be awful for another. That is like me trying to tell a docotor how to do surgery, it just does not work.
I believe Chapters 1 & 2 were almost right on key when it comes to the state of public education. In Chapter 1 it said that people before 1960 were not required to be literate because the world was more about the manual labor that a person could do. Later on when the world changed it's view on literacy and it was now required, those particular people were up the creek with out a paddle. Today, I believe, that literacy is still required but it is less pushed. Because racism is still present, it seems that employers and, in our case, teachers pass children along because if they do not they will be called a racist from either races parent. I think it is rediculous that the school system will still pass a student along with "non-standared" conditions. This is telling students and parents that "the child did not meet the standards of the school but we're going to pass them anyway. Even though we pushed for them to do better, it's ok that they didn't." We as teachers and parents should have a higher level of opinion in what the school does with our students and children. Referring to Chapter 2, it is still an emotional irritance that children in poverty still lack a good chance at an eduation. This has several reasons as to why this is, but one of them is because teachers move too much. If a teacher were to stay at a school for longer than 3 years, even 2 years, the children would see stability and probably wouldn't take it personally; "they just left because they didn't like us or our neighborhood anymore".
I graduated high school in 1972. Have things changed? I think in some cases ,yes, a lot. In some cases, not so much. The technology has changed unbelievably. A computer was the size of a room and handheld calculators weren't around yet, as I recall. We used our pencil and an extra sheet of paper. Research was physically going to the library. People, on the other hand haven't changed much. While observing the resource room at St. Mary's Elementary last month, the teacher pointed out several kids (1st and 2nd grade) that were learning and doing fine with her. When I asked why they were special ed., she replied that their teacher just didn't want to spend time with them- so got them referred out of their classes. I guess it made her job easier. One of the issues with No Child Left Behind is teacher accountability. I'm fine with that ,personally. All the jobs I have held in the last thirty years, I have been accountable to someone. I think if you love what you do and try your best, bosses(or principals) will work with you. There certainly are problems today. Bridget makes a good point that bureaucrats control spending in education and really don't know that much about the educational system. It is their job, but I think school boards could do a better job of educating these bureaurocrats. The real responsibility for making schools work lies with the parents. It is a real problem that most parents can't, or won't, raise their voices and exercise their infuence on the decision making process. I feel(pretty) good about the state of education in America today , but it needs lots of attention and vigilance on the part of parents and citizens. ...and I'm an optimist.
Chapters 1 and 2 show a bleak reality for me. After mowing through tons of percentages and numbers, I see what everyone else is saying. That is what Stephanie and Bridget have stated...that the decisions come from the powers above (politics) and not from those who are actually "in" the schools. Although I believe that schools have improved drastically and that we are headed in a positive direction, I just think with the numbers showing what they do, that more emphasis should be placed on change. My children are in the public school system and I personally love it and have no complaints, whatsoever. I seldom question the policies, but I do see how the lower income families and schools could be less fortunate. I optimistically agree with Mildra that positive changes are being made daily that will affect the next generation.
I agreed with my classmates that we need to eliminate discrimination in the classroom. We agreed when we become a teacher that we need to be careful about what we say about other people background. We also agreed that we need to learn other people culture and learn to accept it no matter what. I think we need to get the government to spend more money into education so everybody can get a better education. I hope that No Child Left Behind act will help our future children have a better education. Personally, I do not understand why Georgia has a hard time coming up with the money for education when the property tax is so much higher than Alabama. I work in the special education department and I know the state needs to come up with more money for these special need kids because they have a lot of thing that they need that they do not have in the classroom.
Reading and discussing Chapters 1 & 2 about the current state of public education in America I am left with the overall feeling of dismay that much is left to be changed. After Poverty and socioeconomic horrors still plaque some of our youths and it seems as though there are no sure solutions. It seems that the main issues of poverty, lack of school funds are two of the larger issues to be addressed and until the education system in our country face these issues we will not advance very far. Teaching diversity and culture differences may be one leeway to insuring the rights and fairness to children, regardless of race or culture.
I do believe that public education in America has improved over the past 50 years. Like the book and Lindsay stated, in the 1950's students weren't expected to know how to read, but rather know who to operate a saw mill or do any other type of manual labor. As the years progress, literacy has become the number one focus in school systems. Society defines a successful person as being literate and having furthered one's education. To do any job in America, the person needs to be able to read and that is taught in our school system.
Teachers in todays school systems are pressured to make sure every child succeeds. Its a wonderful idea to want every child to succeed, but reality is that no matter how much the teacher does, some children will not get the additional support he/she needs to fully succeed. I believe that too much pressure has be placed on the teachers to make sure "no child is left behind." Sometimes it takes more than a teacher to help a child succeed, and if thats the case, why is the teacher the only one being punished?
Its amazing to see the stress that teachers go under when testing time comes around. Its almost like they turn into a completely different person. They become narrow minded and being teaching the test and not other information. With the pressure of making sure every student passes, I feel the teachers are shorting their students of an amazing education. Will this pressure ever let up? No one know, but for the sake of the children, I would hope so!
I am very dismayed about the state of education in America. I agree with Bridget when she says that the people who are involved in the inner workings of the schools, such as the parents, teachers, and even the students, themselves should have more say in the educational system. The bureaucratic system that we have now does not seem to be working at all. I can only speak from personal experience, and I only graduated two years ago so my experience is pretty fresh. I hail from a school district that is very rural. There is only one high school there, and we may have had at our peak enrollment twelve hundred students. Therefore, we did not receive the funding that the urban schools received because we did not have a very big enrollment. Because of this situation, our school did not have a lot of the programs that other schools had such as the IB program or the AP program. We had AP classes, but not as many as other bigger schools; neither did we have the opportunity to take the AP test. We also did not have the foreign language opportunities that other schools had. We could only take two semesters of foreign language because we only had one teacher that taught it. I believe that the financial situation in the district held a lot of students from reaching their full potential, and it made it difficult for them to compete with other students who came from schools with more competitive academic programs.
Speaking of bureaucracy, our district was also plagued by bad leadership at times. It seemed like the leaders and decision-makers in the district were completely out of touch with what the district needed. Instead, they chose to serve their own selfish agenda, and it has led this district into being one of the least sought-after school districts in our area. This is a sad situation because the district is losing enrollment; so much so that they have had to let go some of their teachers. This only leads to less funding because their enrollment will be less this year. It seems to be a vicious cycle. Districts lose enrollment because of low funding, and they lose funding because of low enrollment. There needs to be a program in which low enrollment schools could be granted federal grants or some kind of assistance so that they could compete with the schools that have greater enrollments. Something should also be done about the bureaucratic system in this country. People that have no personal vested interest in education should not be making important educational decisions because they do not know how to accurately gauge what students really need.
The public education in America has made several changes throughout the years. Some changes was good and some changes was not even called for, because I disagree with all of these test, becasue a test does not determine anyone`s knowledge. Most schools today are on standards that are handed down from the goverment and some school can not meet the standards because of the inequities that exist in our schools. The schools today are being placed on deadlines due to so many things have to be covered. I truly disagree with that because there is no use of going on to another objective if the students have not mastered the one first. When I was in high school we did not move on to another objective until majority of the class understood that particular objective. I think the schools need to go back to do doing that.
I believe public education has definitely come along way, but there is still much to do. The government seems to think that the solution is to throw money at the problem. The United States spends more money on education than any other country, yet we are not the first in education ranking. What we need is smaller classrooms and give power back to the teachers. In order to obtain smaller classrooms, we must create more schools which means more teachers need to be certified. We must make the teaching field more attractive by higher salaries, college loan repayments, and other incentives. By giving power back to the teachers, teachers can form the state curriculum instead of people who have never taught in a grade school. Hopefully the federal government will come to realize the obvious, who would know how to form a curriculum better than a teacher?
So after skimming through several comments there is a lot of talk about the bureaucrats controling the spending and it is not fair, I agree with all that said the parents and teachers and local and state governments should have more say.
One thing I found interesting is that by 2056 the white american will be a minority or no longer the majority. But also on high school drop rates the book stated that cultural or foreign students have the highest drop out rate. Its kind of funny how we have a problem with illegal immigrants and they want to come to U.S. to live but we can't keep them in school.
From my own experience I am pleased to see that some of the schools that are low income students in columbus get extra money from the fed government. These schools are labeled as Title I schools. As far as I know that base a school a Title I by the number of free lunches to kids. I mean we have parents that can't even buy their kid's lunch or better yet fix them a sandwich. Its a shame. I think this money the government gives these schools is important because these students do not have much at home so I think they deserve the best equipment in classroom and a big library.
So yes I am pleased with our current state of education but I would like to see an alternativte to the CRCT too much stress for most kids and the teachers at that. I still agree with tom and couple others on the no child left behind I think thats a bunch of crap.
great plan rod that sounds like that might work.. the only problem is our gov't has to control everything, but yes smaller classrooms we need more teachers. Better pay always a plus.
going along with mildra's comment on diversity i think that its awesome that the children are learning about different cultures and heritages such as celebrating cinco de mayo.. because the hispancis holidays are important to them just like july 4 for americans.
I am very pleased with the current state of public education in America. We need only look at where we were 40 years ago to see the great leaps and bounds we have made. While our education system is not perfect it is among the best in the world. When we start believing that we have done all we can do the system will become stagnant and then begin to "rot." We are not always going to make the right decisions about what to do with our public education system. It is our responsibility to elect the people we believe will make the best decisions for us. We also need to be careful at taking everything we read in a textbook at face value. Some of the sources cited within our text were 10 and 20 years old. I'm thinking that information may be somewhat dated! It's easy for us as students to sit in a classroom and say that things need to change and this what needs to happen, but the real test is going to be how we react as teachers to those changes while we are in the classroom. Again, I do think we could improve our education system in many, many ways, but we shouldn't forget where we've come from.
I agree Loretta! Our country has one of the best educational systems in the world. I think that congress should focus more on the positives and not so much on the negatives. If that can happen, maybe we could be more successful! I also agree that we need more "regular" people in positions to make decissions about our educational system and not just politicians. They aren't in the school environment day in and day out, so how do they know what is best for both teachers and the students they teach????
Today school has really change some are for the good and some for the bad. However, teacher are now forces to teach the students about standardizing testing instead of what they really need to know. Students sometimes tend to lack that one-on-one attention that they might need. After reading ch1 & ch2 I was shocked about the fact that whites will be a minority not a majority in the future. And The high school graduation rates and how high the dropout rates are. Because of some of the new changes I feel it is causing the students to dropout of school.
I agree with bridget when she says"Teachers, parents, and local governments should have more say in policies that will affect schools. Bureaucracies do not have much direct experience with the school system, therefore do not have the practical knowledge about what policies will benefit students the most."
How do I feel about the current state of public education? Well, like Tameka, my feelings will be fresh. Even a little fresher than hers. I'm a very recent high school grad (May 2008). The school where I attended and the schools in my surrounding county were horrible. I do not even know of one school that recieved good recognition and if it did, it was always followed by some sort of bad recognition. I read a few comments stating that some people may be pleased or fine with how the school system is now, but... But what? There is still much work to put into it. To me a statement made and then followed by a but, just throws the first statement away and draws more focus to the second statement to come. I'm not attacking anyone or how they feel. I just feel that the current state of education is lacking and following way behind. From my own experience, schools are still not improving over the last four years. We had many fights, many drug busts, many teacher-student cases, many teachers qutting, many students dropping out, many students pregnant, and so much more. In my case, there was no way out. In my town, there was one high school. At that, my town was a huge town compared to the towns around it. So why are there not atleast one more, if not two more choices to choose from regarding school.
I also wanted to touch basis on what Julie said about the stress on teachers. That is so true. I was always a student known around as one that was mature beyond her years. Also with my father being a teacher for numerous years, before becoming a prinicpal at an alternative school, I knew how teachers felt. When I was younger, I thought teaching was such an easy occupation. My father and my teachers were so stressed. A lot of people think it comes from the students who act up, but actually it comes from a higher source than them. The people above my father and teachers stressed them out. They stressed the importance of making the school "appear" like it succeeds. Whether the school was succeeding or not, it did not matter to the people (prinicipal/superintendent) above. They just wanted to make sure it appeared that way and that is why a lot of times teachers feel forced to give students a certain grade or assignment to pass or help them out.
And Bridget I certainly agree with you. Teachers should have more say so in what goes on and what is to be taught in class. Teachers, as well as students. There are many students that are out there to succeed. They also want a say so. Again, from personal experience, I can not begin to count how many classes I've been in and heard a teacher say these exact words, "I do not know why we have to teach this material to you guys. It's not going to be on the graduation test, let alone the SAT or CRCT or ACT." To me, that is just crazy. Why focus on material not needed to learn. That material not needed to learn is the same material that takes longer to learn about and is maybe a harder subject. Still, material we needed to learn, material that we were going to be tested over, material that we needed in college, material that would better us knowing in our elder years, they wanted us to learn it in two-three days.
So in closing, I guess most can tell how I feel about the current state of education. I did not intend for this comment to become so lengthy. However; education is something that I'm so drawn to for some reason.
I believe the state of education in America is in a very low state at this time. We have had several government officials, both in office and those trying to gain office, telling americans what they plan to do to fix these problems that students, teachers, and parents face, but all these "fixes" seem to always be give more mopney to schools. I agree that financing education is important, but to simply say if a school recieves more money it will be succesful is kind of foolish. The only real way toimprove our education standards in America, in my opinion, is to get parents more involved in their childrens education. I am not saying there are those that through things out of their control that can not do this, but the majority of us can. Many, especially in lower income fmilies, are pushed to their limits at time, but if a parent does not make time to help ensure that their children are doing their work, how can a teacher continue to follow up on his/her lessons. Many teachers find themselves becoming "parent figures" for students, but that is not the answer. we should care about our students, but again if the parents do not enforce and instill the importance of an education on a daily basis, we will continue to have students that struggle, do not care, and ultimately drop out regardless of how much money the government puts into the schools.
After reading the text and some of my peers' comments I am in agreeance that education has improved within the last twenty years or so, but we are still behind in comparison to other nations: in which education is considered a privilege rather than something to do. Many of you are saying it could and should get better, but the nation has been saying that for a significant amount of time as well. After being in a group with some of my peers, I do believe that education will get better, because of the passion that I have seen thus far.
THe only personal experiences that come to mind are the causes of my staements above. I remember having teachers that gave no alternative other than progression and others that promoted passing. Some gave extra effort and support while others needed support becasue they brought their personal lives to schools and it reflected upon the students. I feel there is no room for mediocracy in our teachers.
The public schools have improved very much, because I remember just 10 years ago how the schools in Columbus were divided according to race. In my neighborhood everyone went to a different school because of our race; for example my brother was sent to Kendrick High School because he was a "latino" and our next door neighbor was sent to Shaw High School because he was "black". Today students go to schools according to what area or "zone" they live in, unless they request to go to a different school. Schools are much more diverse, and are more accepting of different cultures. I know many schools who celebrate an international day where the students celebrate the different kinds of cultures around the world. I think this is a great idea because it allows students to appreciate all the different kinds of people in the world. Many times it is the parents or the environment who influence negativity, because if one has ever observed little children playing the children do not seem to matter if the other person did not look like them. It usually is the parent that says "no, do no play with that kid". As educators we need to implant in the childrens' minds that different is good, not bad, and to never judge anyone for being different. The major problem with the school systems are that the people who create the regulations are people who are usually not involved in the practice. They make decisions from an outside point of view. Hopefully the future generations to come will realize the importance of helping all students, and that discriminations need to be eliminated completely. Everything takes time in this world including making things right, but as everyone works together to make the schools better I think we can all make a differnce.
This is a very interesting discussion! I completely agree with Josh when he says there is hope for the future of public education in the passion you all hold for it! This willingness to put your thoughts and understandings "out there" for others to see is very powerful. The issues you all raise (discipline, parental involvement, inequity among schools and districts, more local control, social promotion, teacher quality, etc.) are all problems with no easy solutions. However, you WILL have the power to be the one who makes a difference in your own classrooms, on your grade-level teams, in your schools and school systems. Just this willingness to question and seek answers can be the beginning of true change!
Elizabeth's posting:
I forgot one thing, we just can't sit and wait for things to change. We can make a difference by getting the student, parents, and the teachers and staff on one accord and getting everyone in the community involve the schools within their area.(PTA) When the new school year rolls in, the importance of PTA and community involvement should be stressed.
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