High School Reform Is Flawed And Now Essay

Frederick Douglass was, and still is, a golden example of why education is so important to

Change is difficult, making changes in schools can be extremely difficult. Schools have many moving components; students, teachers, parents, the community and the required curriculum. Schools have to contend with numerous outside factors that are beyond their control. With all the things that contribute to the running of a school change is not easy, making significant changes can be extremely challenging. Change cannot be facilitated if the problems or concerns are not identified. The identification of problems can be one of the most difficult steps. When identifying problems, it is best to use data to support the need for change rather than personal feelings.

Preparing high school students for college is every parent and teachers goal but sometimes that goal is hard to achieve. Students are not getting a proper education now-a-days and they do not realize that it is going to hurt them after they graduate. A study says, “That composite score dropped to 20.9 among high school students in 2013, the lowest in eight years” (Adams, 2013). That is a very low average and it is because what students are learning in high school just isn’t sticking with them through college. After students graduate they start taking harder classes, some have to start paying their own bills, and so many other changes they are not ready for. It is a big jump to go from high school to college and I think schools can do a better job of preparing students. It is their experience and education in high school that is going to help them in college. If they are not ready they are going to struggle which will result in some not so good outcomes such as having low grades or even worse dropping out. I do not believe that high school education has prepared students for college because there are many useless classes, it is more about memorizing than learning, and students drop out in a year or less because of the workload.

If the problem is with teachers that do not value or wish the best for the students before them, then we need to stop that. If the problem is inequitable funding within and between school districts we need to correct that. If the problem is in the homes and hearts of the students themselves then we need to address that. Whatever it is, we cannot do nothing and scratch on heads as the current statistics continue to rise.

The United States, schooling system is failing to provide a well rounded educational future of the millennial generation and the generations to come. Why are traditional public schools failing to successfully graduate a diverse number of students? Students of all backgrounds should graduate being able to go into the workforce or secondary schooling successfully. Changing traditional high schools to career-based schools could help education flourish, access to career-based high schools could help lower the dropout rate, allow students to truly enjoy school, and allow all students to have the same opportunity in life.

In “Project Classroom Makeover” by Cathy Davidson, has many great ideas and facts about why should the school system should change. Although i may agree in some points as like the school system is working as a factory. I believe that changing some aspects like the way we learn things can and may keep the kids coming to school. For example, in my classes some of my classmates struggle the way the teacher teaches us so when they ask for my help i have tried different methods and it works. They start to understand instead of struggling but that’s because i didn’t choose to teach it the same way as the teacher. And with this experience i noticed that teaching the same way all the time won’t work students will be struggling because they learn in

In chapter 9 of Assault on Paradise Kottak discusses the different political changes that Arembepe went through as well as how it affected the villager’s everyday life, and how it could possibly change the way Arembepeiros live in the future and effect their future generations. Throughout the chapter Kottak discusses many things, but he hits on about 4 main topics, Welfare and Education, Public Health, Marriage and the State, and the sex Ratio and Female status.

In 1635, the first American public school was founded (historyeducationinfo.com). Located in Boston Massachusetts, and soon to spread all over, our American Right, to a free and public education still exist today. Unfortunately recent studies suggest that the American Education system might be broken. In the 2013 PISA Education Ratings of international developed countries, America ranked 28th out of 34. These results were mind blowing as America at the same time, also ranked fifth, in most amount of money spent on education. These uneasy numbers led to change in congress and in 2001, under President Bush, the “No Child Left Behind” bill was passed.

Another way to better prepare high school students for their future is changing the way they are taught. Right now, students are being taught by a teacher standing in front of a classroom, telling them what they should know. This system of teaching is a major problem because it doesn’t cater to the students. Teachers prepare what they are going to teach in class every day and usually it takes the whole class period. That leaves little room for students to ask questions they have on the material. If they do have questions they need answered, they have three options, stay after class, ask a friend, or email they teacher. Usually, students don’t have time to stay after class, friends won’t know the answer either, and teachers don’t have time to answer the email in time. This leaves the student not knowing the material and not taking in the information they need to.

Public Schools in America for a long time were regarded as the best public schools in the world, but with the development of Asian and European schools American schools are not ranked as highly. American Public schools in 1999 were ranked sixteenth and seventeenth in science and math right behind Bangladesh. Some students are graduating from high school with little more than an inadequate ability to read and a diploma that should mean the student knows at least the core subjects. Other students are dropping out and not graduating at all. Colleges are not trusting diplomas and grade point averages as a basis of admissions because they know that with the large variety of classes that high schools offer as credit that the student may not know as much as his or her GPA says. Colleges are recalculating GPA 's deleting non-core classes and evaluating SAT and ACT scores for the purpose of admissions. Colleges also have to offer more remedial classes to teach students what they should have learned in high school. Something needs to be done to reform America 's public schools, especially at

Upon examining the schools of America, one can find a plethora of issues within the system. This is proved time and again when students graduate high school unprepared for college, a lack of exposure to different cultures, and without basic life skills. Students are breezing through the years of high school and receiving a rude awakening when they graduate. The four short years of high school have an enormous affect on the next forty. So many things such as GPA, ACT scores, clubs etc. can mean the difference in thousands of dollars of debt from student loans or a free ride to college. The failure to prepare in high school directly impacts the future of America’s students.

In consideration, the first reason that students have a difficult time attending public high school or coping with the high school processes is because of after school extra-curricular activities, such as sports or dance classes. Since my friends and I dance many hours a week, most of the people at my studio do online high school. If we did not have online high school, most of the girls would be late to classes or not be able to come. Some of the girls in my dressing room (a specific dressing room for people who have to get to dance earlier) are still in the 8th grade, which means they do not end until 2:45 or 3:30 at a public school. They are always complaining about how much homework they have to finish on time before the next day, or how late they go to bed to finish the homework. They wish they could work online, but their parents will not let them. If they did not have an option of online high school, which has more work than middle school, then there would be a lot of tired dancers waltzing around the studio and hurting themselves. If we did not have young dancers going to class on time or at all, then there would be a decrease in adult dancers and dancers on Broadway. If we had a decrease in adult dancers, for example, ballet dancers, then many famous dance companies would shut down, and there would not be many people on Broadway.

According the most recent national assessment recorded in the Washington post, “the nations high school seniors have shown no improvement in math and reading performances since 2009.” In the most recent years, education has taken a huge downfall. Since 2010, over 45% of students drop out. Many students have problems with the grading system, so many different testing programs and having to follow a set of rules and not expand on those rules. The education system needs to induce more creativity, enforce the ways on how education is important and elaborate more on the rules of grading.

Think back to when you were a senior in high school, as you come to your final destination: Graduation! There’s nothing more exciting than getting that diploma and saying “Sayonara” to your high school days! But what if it wasn’t that easy? Many people believe students should be required to pass a standardized test before being awarded their high school diploma. I believe that students should be required to take a standardized test to graduate because it helps recognize higher academic schools, it would encourage students to work harder, and would help prepare students for college.

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.