- Anything Else -
Education Reform
Posted by: Miss Daisy ( none, USA ) on October 11, 1999 at 12:56:17:
It is clear that there are problems in education; what isn't clear, however, is how the nation is going to deal with them.
First, what are the problems? Well, in 1983 a report, "A Nation at Risk" was publicized. In this report it was stated that this country's students had academic skills which fell below other industrialized nations. Morton Kondracke, a newspaper columnist, said that the Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) "showed that U.S. 12th-graders outscored students from only two of the 21 counties participating." That did not include any Asian countries. The same report said that there was an alarming trend with the academic success (or is that failure) of the children; 4th graders did rise above the international average, 8th graders fell below average, and the 12th graders took an even scarier dip.
Ok, so now we see the problems...well, why do we care about education, anyway? Education itself is of high importance; without it we wouldn't be the strong country that we are. Without it, some of us wouldn't be the "strong" individuals that we are. How do you get through life without knowing? Well...you're controlled. Lack of a sufficient education in any area will result in many downfalls - trading, business, economy... How can anyone function properly if they simply do not know?
Over the years, many presidents have proposed numerous plans to improve
America's public education systems. Recently, a spending bill by Clinton was just passed (that is threatened to be veteoed because of cuts in his program to hire 100,000 new teachers in a span of 7 years); is that truly the answer? So far, I've not found specifics on hiring these new teachers; is anyone just going to be hired? What about their qualifications in the subjects they are to teach? Did you know that only approxiametely 30% of the teachers hired to teach mathematics minored or majored in that subject? Is hiring new teachers the best answer that is thrown at us? The bill was also said to somehow help low-income students to enroll in college; that I do agree with. Everyone should have the right to further their education if they wanted to; it could only help, not hurt.
So what are more answers? Well, reform is needed, but how do you go about reform? Good question. We don't want the federal government totally controlling us, but how do we make sure that local and state governments "meet the grade?" And also, how do they make they grade if each community is different from another? What one set of standards is flexible enough for all? Elizabeth Dole and Andrew J. Coulson, author of Market Education: The Unknown History, both had similar suggestions on schools competing with each other for students. The idea is to allow parents to choose where their children should go, whether they live in that area or not, based on the "quality" of that school; this could be done by posting school results on the internet so that the parents can see for themselves. Dole commented that teachers shouldn't necessarily have to go by mandated procedures; make the class come alive, and you've more interested students. She also had suggestions on school safety, such as searching lockers and backpacks more often as well as keeping records that follow each student so that principals and teachers know whom they're dealing with; that does not mean unnecessary harassment.
I, as a senior student at a small public high school, also have my own suggestions. Smaller class sizes equals more attention per student. Tracking, the idea of placing students in classes based on their achievment (those who need more help to basic to advanced), would decrease feelings of inferiority of students who aren't so quick and would also eliminate those quicker students from being "slowed down" and vice versa. Curriculum should be more diverse; it gives the students more of a choice of what they want to take and could help them to more easily identify what their interests are while building on to their knowledge of it at the same time. The schools have more resources than it is known for they are not made as available. The internet is branching out more now and there is a wealth of information on it; how available is it to those students who can't afford it or simply do not have it at home? Perhaps it is not stressed enough as to how to use these resources that do exist wisely. For those schools who are seriously lacking in resources, that's where federal money comes in. There are also many grants from business, especially those who are big on technology (AT&T, IBM, GTE, Intel...etc) who are willing to give out money. You just have to know how to approach them. (I suggest grabbing yourself a copy of the Converge: Rich with Life magazine; it's the Sept. '99 issue and the article is on pp 32-35 "Funding Curriculum and Technology in Higher Ed".)
And these, for those of you who lasted the length of this message, are my thoughts on education reform. :)
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