Before There Can Be A True And Defined Discussion About

Public education in America began in the early to mid-19th century with the simple goal of “uniting the American population by instilling common moral and political values” (Spring, 2012, p. 5). Our country was founded by men who designed the constitution so that it could be amended to accommodate changing political and social climates. They believed in the ideology of the American dream which “holds out a vision of both individual success and the collective good of all” (Hochschild & Scovronick, 2004, p. 1). It is with this same ideology that our public schools were

There was a time when America’s education system was top-notch according to the culture and society. With time, a myriad of things has changed, but unfortunately what has not evolved is the American education system. The country is still following a system which was not designed for the current global economic climate. Equality, as positive as it sounds is not as sufficient when it comes to education. The system treats students equally yet expect a similar culmination and outcome. Every child has his individuality and distinct abilities; one cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Conversely, a few of the prominent reasons why the education system is failing are overcrowded schools, the rise of technology, and following the same old school hours.

Citizenship can be defined as individuals being a part of a society where they can vote, are counted as a citizen, and have privileges and rights within society. African Americans aren 't acknowledged by the states as citizens for many reasons. Whites considers African Americans who were slaves as their property. Since African Americans were classified in this way, whites have done anything in their power to hinder them from progressing.

The education system in America has a long history of struggle and change, as we have grown as a nation we have experienced an ever-increasing rise in diversity. This diversity has caused rigidities between groups and all stratus of society and has been a major impact in debates concerning the educational opportunities in America.

From the dawn of time, education has been the past's greatest utility in survival. Through learning, skills that have been passed down from the errors of others, communities were able to learn and grow with each other. Simple public education systems began to pop up to educate the youth and the curious, and ever since the first school systems began there has been room for improvement. The largest reforms of the educational system began at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

The United States has made great innovations in the past century to ensure that all people have the same chances to better themselves. While steps have been taken to bring about equality from Roe v. Wade to legalizing same sex-marriage in every state still more can be done—especially in the field of racial inequality.

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

The American Education System is not meeting the needs of current students. If anything, the system is not building a sturdy foundation for the future working class. Schools have existed for many years and every period they have worked differently. However, every school’s main purpose was to educate students to be efficacious later in life. Modern day schools are corrupting students with added pressure, standardized tests, making less accommodations for special education students, not following laws, and take away individualism from the students’. The students of modern times are the people of our future and the future does not look too bright with the current American Education System.

The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.

Citizenship is defined as a being a citizen or a person owing allegiance to and entitled to the protection of a sovereign state. Citizen preferred for one owing allegiance to a state in which sovereign power is retained by the people and sharing in the political rights of those people. The concept of which in one of its earliest was given to us by the Romans, who had just began to understand the importance of a populace contributing to the decisions of its own fate. Modern American citizenship as we know it today was defined for us in the constitution of this nation by the founding fathers. Citizenship as they had envisioned it even back then was not free, but came with a price. A citizen was

Our system of education is still based of a lot of colonial New England’s system of education. The first public schools of the new world began in New England with the passing of what is referred to as the Olde Deluder Satan Act which “specified that schools be started and publicly supported when town populations were large enough.” So basically they would build a school if the population of a particular are became large enough and the demand from the local citizenship was high enough. Whereas those in the Virginia area’s of the new world were either home schooled (often poorly) or immediately

Education was and still is a very important aspect in life, but Jim Crow laws made receiving an equal education an impossible task. “Education: The schools for white children and the schools for Negro children shall be conducted separately” Florida (“Jim Crow Laws”). Although both races did receive an education, they were not equal. Schools for white

Substantive citizenship involves pressing issues relating to equality of rights and opportunities; treatment and life condition; and, not least, participatory involvement that ought to come from holding formal citizenship…In short, being a citizen is no guarantee of equality; real equality is hampered by inequalities resulting from membership in stigmatized and minoritized groups.

When schooling was first created in the US, there were not nearly as many rules. One-room schoolhouses where there were all different kinds of ages and education levels were the norm, and the type of education that was given to students was far different than what they receive today. As education developed and various needs came to light, larger schools were built and students were segregated based on criteria such as age. Separate schooling based on learning ability (special education) was something that came later, but it was eventually developed. The system that is available today is working well in many cases, but there are areas in which it is still failing the students - mainly because there are still too many countries getting ahead of the US in areas such as science and mathematics (Darling-Hammond, 2001; Figlio, 2002). Until the US takes back the number one spot, today's students will be at a disadvantage based on what they are learning and how they can put that education to use in the job market (Collins, 1999; Darling-Hammond, 2001).

We, in the United States of America, live in an inarguably market-driven economy where he who has the most or the best usually wins. Whether its the most wealth, the most power, the most influence, or when speaking of education, the most opportunity; starting out on top has life altering advantages. Many Americans would argue that Education is a common good, a stepping-stone through which students can make something better of their futures. Therefore, should society set up a system to create winners and losers in education? There are also those who believe that serving children, stakeholders, and our communities can come from market-based reforms. So where did we come from and in what direction are we headed in the future of education?