Education Reform For The United States

Their eyes met from across the room, and any student paying close enough attention could see the loathing in the teacher’s eyes as the principal walks into the room for the bi-semester teacher evaluation. In the blink of an eye the teacher returns her focus back on the students, but the obvious exchange between the two individuals makes those of us in the classroom that understand the source of the icy gaze extremely uncomfortable. My teacher hates the principal with a passion. Ever since the principal assumed control of the school three years prior to this particular evaluation, she terrorized my band director. Through micromanaging, criticizing relentlessly, organizing meetings incessantly, and sabotaging schedules, my principal fostered a hate from not only my band director, but also from the majority of teachers in my high school. The attitude and leadership techniques utilized by my former principal directly contradicts current theories of the scholarly community on how to effectively lead a school.

In 1630, John Winthrop dreamt that America was a “City on the Hill”, predestined for preeminence. In 1776, the American Colonies proclaimed independence with the affirmation that all men are equal, free, and blessed with the sacred rights to life, liberty, and happiness. These uniquely American ideals ideals characterized the young democracy in contrast to the oppressive monarchies of Europe. European citizens saw the correlation between America’s greatness and its democratic principles. The liberties that America furnished to all men, regardless of status, gave citizens pride in their nation and drew envy from constituents of tyrannical monarchies. The notions of equality and freedom, however, did not extend to all of America’s population;

In chapter 5, Reforming America’s Schools, I learned many things that affect me as an educator. An important fact that interests me was that there are four goals that schools should follow. The first one is academic, including a broad array of knowledge and intellectual skills. The second one is vocational, aimed at readiness for the world of work and economic responsibilities. The third one is social and civic, including skills and behavior for participating in a complex democratic society. The fourth one is personal, including the development of individual talent and self-expression. This will affect me as an educator so that I can follow and do my best to complete these goals. Now I am aware of what should be done in a classroom.

The United States used to be ranked higher amongst other countries when came to education. People came from all over the world to study here. Unfortunately, for the past years it have been ranked in the twenties amongst other countries based on standardized testing. Now its time to revamp our education system, but the question is where we should we look. Based on student performance, the only countries that have proven that most components of their system works is Finland and Korea; Finland being ranked one and Korea ranked two. In order for the U.S. education system to move in a positive direction we must make significant changes in the structure of our system. First we need to raise the qualifications for becoming a teacher because in some states you don’t even have to attend and educational school; all you have to do is pass a test. Secondly, we need to expand the time of school so that teachers have more time to teach the kids and the students can have more interaction with the teachers. Although this is where we need to look, we don’t need to adopt their entire system.

The idea of education has advanced throughout history, constantly shifting by societal ideals and human evolvement. This change is especially prominent during the 1800s and continues to alter to this very day with education policies. Public education first began during the Industrial Revolution. During this crucial time in history, many children were required to get an education in order to learn the trades of the growing economy and business as opposed to getting hurt in from hazardous machinery. These skills were limited reading, writing, and math. Ultimately, from this concept, public education was founded and from then, our society has grown into a well-educated community in which every individual has a role into making an impressive,

I would like to advocate for the education reform and the CCSS because I do not believe that these tests can prepare children for the outside world. Moreover, educations approach towards student should change. I would like to help families understand the test do not define the ability of their children and their student, so they do not need to be disappointed with them. I want to advocate on this issue because I believe in each child and understand teach a child is unique and different, and their potential differs from many others. Schools must become a place for children to feel safe and wanted and although, High school students are at risk many students in elementary years are at risk as well. If this education system does not change fewer

Before the establishment of The United States of America, the colonist held education as an important entity to the life of the colonist children. In 1642 Massachusetts General Court created the first education law to “make certain

Educational needs change overtime to fit the ever evolving world and the knowledge required to successfully maneuver through it. Because of these inevitable changes, public school systems today are in need of educational reform. Evidence collected over the the topic of education reform has shown that overall the education system needs reform. However, there are two section in particular that studies have shown to be neglected in most school environments and that have beneficial repercussions for students learning abilities and the skills they learn for real life applications. These two areas of learning include arts programs and sexual education, although they are not the sole area in need of change the do offer valid reform.

Since the 1600’s, politics in the United States has affected education in many ways. When the pilgrims arrived in 1620, their values and ideas shaped society. Families were expected to teach their children literacy, and churches shifted from teaching religious values to teaching education. The Spanish tried to acculturate the Native Americans through schooling. In the 1700’s, people were concerned that families could not successfully teach their children so mass education became the solution. The national crisis of attacks and foreign conspiracies also turned to education so America could stand united. In 1785, a land ordinance was passed to sell land in the Old Northwest Territory to raise money for the maintenance of public schools. Jefferson proposed an educational bill in 1779 to sort out leaders for the nation. Rush proposed a uniform educational system that would teach the same values and be available to all children. Webster’s proposal in 1790 called for universal education with grammatical reform. Because of the revolution, women were able to act politically and keep their role as a housewife. In the 1780’s and 1790’s, grammar schools started to allow girls to attend, and with the help of female seminaries, female teachers were hired and teacher training was introduced.

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education” (qtd. in, The Function of Education) is one of many famous quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. that many Americans remember. However, the contemporary American education seems way off the path. Instead of learning to think intensively and critically, students these days are stopped whatever they were doing to prepare for tests that count more than all the class works they have been accomplishing for the entire time at school. Sometimes, they even have to work really hard only to find out what they were doing at school was actually unnecessary if they did not do well on these standardized tests. Are these tests really the right measure for quality education or to see whether or not students are qualified to go to college? These standardized testing should be eliminated in American school in order for the quality education system.

In my lifetime, I intend on changing America by reforming our educational institutions to teach the ability to learn, rather than the ability to test. In order for America to more comfortably adjust to globalization, I believe our education system should focus on teaching students how to adapt and learn rather than how to take a standardized test.

Education has been a major controversy for centuries. Whether it is about who should be educated, how students should be educated, who sets the standards, or what should be taught, Americans can’t seem to agree.

Although education has existed since before ancient times, the United States first presented the idea of a free public school system after the American Revolution. In the late 1700s, the first American schools were established in the original thirteen colonies. Later in the 1800 century, African Americans began to have rights for attending public education with some strong boundaries. In Texas, the first law in 1840 established each county to put aside 17,000 acres of land for the construction of public school buildings. Five years later, the Texas constitution later granted one-tenth of the annual state tax to be funded towards public education funds and was later on amended again for a high amount. The purpose of education has always been the same from the day of its existence, but many factors and traditions of education in general has changed drastically over the past millennium.

Deregulation of education in the United States aims to limit government presence within the education system in order to achieve efficiency, equality, and equity throughout the entire nation. Education policy is usually handled at a state and local level, raising the majority of the funds and regulating a range of aspects including the length of a school day and how much funding each district will receive. However, the national government still retains influence over the education system through funding, filling in the gaps where state and local government cannot provide services, and intervening when there is inequality. In order to go from the ongoing agenda to the governing agenda, the policy of deregulation must be brought through a Congressional committee, specifically the Education and the Workforce Committee, which concentrates on educational public policy and holds the power to bring it to the Congressional attention.

Education reform is a topic that every student, parent and teacher should be interested in because it effects everyone in the community. Many different approaches to education reform have been tried, and even though they seem to work for the time being, there are always more improvements that need to be made. One of the best ideas that has been discussed in the most recent years is getting the parents and students more involved in the actual reform process. Many school administrators see a problem with involving students, even though they are the ones most affected by the changes within schools. Student’s opinions should be taken into consideration because they are the ones who see what happens inside the school and within the classroom, and are the most affected by it. Involving parents and students in the reform of their schools will improve the quality of education, improve parent and teacher relationships and reduce parent and student complaints.