By now, just about every American parent has seen the reports that American schools rank well below schools in countries such as China and Japan. Or maybe they’ve heard President Obama declare a “dropout crisis.”
The abundance of news reports and discouraging case studies has created panic among education stakeholders, who want to know why American school systems are failing. Many Americans believe that only a small percentage of leaders understand the complexities of the school system, and that those who do understand use their knowledge to justify the mediocre performance of our teachers and students.
It’s not hard to see why this is the typical opinion. Maybe it’s because:
1. The American school system is the best-financed system in the world, but is one of the lowest performing in the developed world.
2. The American school system as a whole has an appalling performance record. For children living in urban environments, the story is even more alarming. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are often educated in dilapidated schools where the too many educators lack the credentials and skills necessary to perform their duties adequately.
3. High student-to-teacher ratios are found in most urban schools, and these schools often lack the resources to deal with the diverse challenges they face, including unruly student behavior.
Education has been called the great equalizer, but for students living in poverty-stricken urban areas it is little more than a babysitting service and a place to get a hot meal.
4. No Child Left Behind was a giant mess. Many people question whether the No Child Left Behind Act has contributed to achieving academic success. Although NCLB was well intentioned, it has not lived up to the hopes of government or schools. In the eyes of some, NCLB has actually contributed to subpar academics becoming even worse. If American educators and school personnel do not make a concerted effort to develop effective measures to hold schools accountable for the education of all of our children, then the education crisis will continue.
There is an exception to every rule: some urban school systems are providing a quality education. Unfortunately, however, only a small number of school systems meet the state and federal government student performance requirements.
5. For underperforming urban school systems, a lot of the “plans for change” are full of hot air. At least, they often seem to be.
The problem usually lies with the inability to sustain existing reform efforts and initiatives. Mayors and school superintendents in these areas often concoct grandiose reform plans that are merely political devices meant to woo voters into believing they genuinely care about educational reform.
It is sad and sobering to realize that often, politicians create school reform to gain popularity and votes. It is discouraging to realize that our children’s futures might be used as a political device to win elections.
6. Finally, people are too busy trying to play the blame game. Politicians are not the only people at fault for the shoddy education American children are receiving, but no one will take responsibility for subpar educational environments. If administrators were asked who was at fault, they might point to a lack of parental involvement and too few quality teachers.
If teachers were asked who was at fault they might also cite a lack of parental involvement and ineffective administration.
If parents were asked who was at fault they might blame teachers and school administrators.
Society in general seems to conclude that the lack of quality teachers, effective administration, and parental involvement are all factors contributing to educational failure.
Whatever the reason, Americans have become the laughing stock of the free world when it comes to K-12 education. The solution, of course, is for the country to unite and work together to carry the responsibility of enriching and continuing America’s future via educational excellence without playing the “blame game.” But, realistically, where does that begin?
Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.
If you want to know what is needed in American Education just go out on the street and conduct random interviews of all ages and races in our country and Nash them series of several simple questions like… What is the definition of democracy? Do you understand how American government works? You probably need to even look it up before you can write a simple questions don’t you? Got it all begins as little children every morning pledging allegiance to our flag and the classroom and having discussions about that. And beginning at that level and explaining to our children all about the communities that they live in and the structure of those communities and then talking to them and teaching them about the city governments and the county governments or the Parish governments and the state governments and then of course Highway send folks to the federal government to represent us and our Democratic Republic. I am 76 years old and all the time that I was in school from first grade to 12th grade all that sort of thing was included in the curriculum as well as being inserted in movies and books and then our churches of course who started who goes with things like the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule and so forth and so on all the things the guided and directed us to be the country the great country that we became what I have just written is of course a simplified View and all of the other important subjects like science and math and physical education in the Arts and so on should be included but as you read it you will see what’s wrong with our country and you will also see why doesn’t work anymore. It seems that nobody knows what they’re doing anymore? Congress doesn’t even know what they’re supposed to do anymore? For instance. Just look at what’s happened in the last 2 years. Things have happened that I would have thought would have been impossible. I never knew that anyone would be able to get away with all the things could have happened not only in the last 2 years but if you look carefully try going back the last 30 years and examine what’s happened. Just start by taking a look at what’s happened to the socioeconomic levels of our population. I wish someone that they could do something would listen. Because if they would fix our educational system and correct form of government so that we send people to serve our country instead of all this political foolishness that makes people turn into liars and cheaters for all the reasons at evil exist and civilizations fall…. That’s about it. May have God have mercy upon us