As far as political issues, our beloved country can often have too many to count, but one issue that must be addressed is of course our public educational system. I believe our educational system is going to need some changes if America wants to stay on top of the food chain. As it seems how we are the unofficial "head honcho" of the world we need an public education system that is the best in the world as well. I honestly think its pretty messed up right now.
For example, when I graduated in 2010 I walked the graduation stage with a lot of kids I honestly believe did not deserve to graduate. Most of these kids had horrible attendance and no respect for our public school system, but I think it is a hard system to respect though. Kids with two many absences were scheduled "make-up hours" in which they would have to come to the school and make up the hours they missed that were over the limit. The thing that makes this half-assed is that most kids did not even attend these things, or had so many it would be impossible to make up for it, but our school still passes the kids because the school receives money for each student graduated, they do not care about the students. They do not care about teaching kids responsibility and discipline as they want is the money, so I believe that should be more strict.
I also believe that teaching should a more elite profession, I have had countless teachers who have had no idea what they are doing, and when they are responsible for preparing our students for the real world, it is real important that they leave the right impression. We need more qualified individuals, I do not care if Ms. Apple has been working at the school for 30+ years if she is a bad teacher she needs to be replaced. If we want to get rid of our "dumb american" stereotype we are going to need to make some changes in our public educational system. Not enough of our kids are prepared and more likely to fail than succeed in the gram scheme of things, and the children are the future of our great country.
Two weeks ago from today an article was written by a colleague of mine in regards to our ever-changing and seemingly failing education system. He expressed his disappointment in his former, idle classmates, the school system in its entirety, and failed attempts -by schools- at keeping students in check to in able to bring in larger checks. Irritation was also seen in his expression of the truth that inadequate teachers are allowed to continue to influence our futures because of the seniority system. His stance on the future of our country continued on to say that “our educational system is going to need some changes if America wants to stay on top of the food chain.”
ReplyDeleteI share his views as I’m sure any American that cares to receive more than a high school diploma would. Still, what puzzles me is that congressmen, with advanced degrees, would be in favor of cutting funds for education. Who would they propose to take their seats one day? The kids who were present in their high school government class, or the students that -on the government’s behalf- were also able to receive advanced degrees? If you know what kind of brainpower it takes to run a country, why would you lessen the standards for teachers and schools and cut the resources for the people that will have to run things when you are no longer able to? Through all of this I assume that the response I’ll receive is to deal with the hand I’ve been dealt. That hand is old and, I suppose, a little insensitive and money hungry so I will accept what I have now because, lord knows, it will only get worse before it gets any better.
We Do Need To Try Harder
ReplyDeleteAfter I read your article http://thebrainofbryan.blogspot.com/, I cannot help but also too realize the problems with our education system today. When I was in high school I could also recall walking the stage telling myself how did that one individual earn enough credits to graduate when he or she wasn't present half of the time. The nations education system has fallen over the last couple of decades and are struggling to keep up with other foreign countries education. Compared to other foreign nations, the United States has the biggest education spending budget which spent an estimated 26.5 billion alone in 2002. With all this government spending on education you cannot help but ask yourself what is the problem? I also believe having the best qualified teachers for the job would also help with the problem. Attendance is another problem with our public schooling, most schools are way to soft on this matter. The Government pays the schools based on the number of students walk across the stage. Teachers just don't have the passion for teaching anymore and don't care to watch their students succeed. We are not preparing our students for the real world but sheltering them from the reality. We have the funding and resources for our students to succeed in life with a good education, our teachers just need to challenge the students more.
After reading your article on America’s educational system needing change, I couldn’t agree more with you because I too argue in my last post on the same thing. I know exactly what you are talking about when I walked the stage with kids who did not deserve to walk at all. High school these days are way too lenient and lazy. I share the same view that “teaching should be more of an elite profession,” as all of my teachers in high school were just a bunch of ignorant coaches who cared about nothing, other than football or whatever. Our school really do need more qualified teachers to educate our students, so that they are more prepared for the real world. If we had more experience teachers, we would probably not have as many drop out as we do now. We need highly qualified individuals that will not only teach our students but also motivate them to a higher expectation. Though we do need more qualify teachers, our schools also need more funding and resources for our kids to succeed. Our kids will need to be prepared for the life ahead of them, and filling in the blank word sheets are not going to cut it. Just as you stated, “children are the future of our great country.”
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