Successful American Education

Education in America is one of the most important issues that face our nation. If the education in America is not thought of one of most serious issues we face, our nation as a whole will fall. There are many debates and they seemly extend to all walks of life. The debates range from the decline in education, school vouchers, and the no child left behind law. As a nation, the United States is ranked above others. We must search for that solution to all of the pro’s and con’s in education. The solution should allow all walks of life to excel in the education realm. After all, the children of today will be the leaders of tomorrow.

The educational system in America has always been a controversial topic of conversation. Whether it be about the different techniques implemented in the classroom or the role and effect the teacher has on the students. Most importantly the struggle we stress on the proper and more efficient way to teach our children. We have set goals for ourselves that would be impossible to reach and Ravich explains in great detail about how the American education system does just this. In Chapter 3 of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, Ravitch focuses on District 2 and their implementation of the concept of balanced literacy and constructivist mathematics.

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.

Education is a necessity across the globe, from America to Africa to China. Some education systems, however, are more successful than others and hold differing views and approaches to education. Culture greatly impacts education, which in turn impacts further opportunity. As unfair as it may be, a child’s cultural background largely determines their level of success. The American education system is lacking when compared to various other world cultures, and this is causing the socioeconomic gap to grow. Because of this inadequate education, more and more families are dipping beneath the poverty line. This could be due to poor discipline as well as the diversity of students. The diversity of the students results in a wide array of needs that are not being met by the public education system. This issue could be minimized by working to create a more inclusive academic environment to ensure equality and success.

For instance, in Korea their “pressure cooker”(24) style of education “school never stopped”(57). In comparison, Korean student typically went to school from 8am to sometimes 10-11pm, while in the United States generally school is from about 8am to usually at the latest 4pm. With this style of schooling the Koreans never use excuses found commonly in the United States such as, “the test was unfair or not everyone can be good at math”(57) instead their mindset was “You didn’t work hard enough”(57). While Ripley and Korean Education minister Lee Ju-Ho think this method is extreme she uses this comparison to show that their is no denying that working harder in school whether it be more rigorous or lengthy improves scores tremendously. In Finland the utopia of education, many comparisons were linked to the teachers as well as students. In Finland “all education schools were selective”(85) meaning that most finnish teachers had received “the highest levels of education in the world”(85), in comparison to the United States where an Oklahoma algebra one teacher’s college had “low standards and little rigor”(88). This comparison also shows how seriously foreign countries take teaching compared to the United States where “jobs were protected by powerful unions”(84). Many finnish kids also were

The LCFF today is a first of its kind, and the first great step in the right direction to provide all students the opportunity to have a valuable education. The LCFF is not designed to give every student the same education, but to bring equity to disadvantaged students who need more resources. Equity is not equality. Equity is not giving every student equal resources, because disadvantaged students need extra valuable resources to be in the same playing field as their peers in advantaged situations. Dianne Ravitch, Research Professor of Education at New York, depicts in her book “The Death and Life of The Great American School System” the many flaws in America’s education system and portrays a beautiful image of what a great school system should

Antonia Darder sets a language in Culture and Power in the Classroom that critiques the traditional American educational system while challenging teachers to a new thinking of culture and diversity in the classroom. Using the groundings from several theories, theory and resistance, regimes of truth, and theory of hegemony, she set the platform of the hidden curriculum that is valued in traditional public education. She seeks to use several theoretical frameworks to create a bicultural critical pedagogical approach, which links education to impactful politics. In Culture and Power in the Classroom, Antonia Darder makes is clear that education matters, but yet more importantly that all students matter in their educational experience. As educators there needs to be awareness and consciousness of the hegemonic forces of race, class, culture, ethnicity, gender, and/or ability shape that inferiority within students. Cultural hegemony is so natural, that even in the classroom students are immune to the shoddiness of living within the realms of the dominant culture.

“Multiplication is for White People”, by Lisa Delpit, presented the facts about what was missing in American education. The missing pieces added fuel to the already burning achievement gap fire. Throughout the text, I connected personally with several of the opinions and information provided. According to Delpit (2012), “educational policy [had] been virtually hijacked by the wealthiest citizen, whom no one elected and who [were] unlikely ever to have had a child in the public schools” (p. xv).I recalled many conversations with my colleagues pertaining to this very idea. How could someone, who had no idea what it was like to be in a classroom, dictate what I did in that classroom? Unfortunately, it seemed that the wealthy citizens in society

Education plays important role in society. It determines the final development of an adult’s personality. In today’s society most jobs require a University degree. To receive a University degree students need to rely on a good education system. Does America provide this? The American education system has relied on the grade point average system for a long time. The problem with this is there is not a universal GPA grade point system varying from course to course. This creates an inaccurate way to determine ones overall achievements. Teachers have different standards than others, grade inflation can occur and students can be exposed to different learning environments. Does the education system need to change to create fairness?

From 1945 until 1958 education was a secondary to most American adults, economic factors such as the great depression and military service contributed to low education level for the overall population. Most students during this time frame did not graduate from high school and did not plan to attend college. However, in the late 40‘s and early 50’s Soldiers returning from war begin to use their GI bills, and soon begin to realize their education level is woefully inadequate, this is due what they learned during elementary and throughout high school. Most curriculum during this time frame is life skill based, most rural school teachers are not equipped to teach advanced math or science and do not have the facilities to support this

America: the land of freedom and innovation. For upwards of two hundred years, America has impressed the world with the courage of her people, her ideas, her ingenuity, and her tenacity. Her very name is synonymous with the dream of freedom and the idea that one can make something of oneself regardless of beginning social status if only one works hard. America gives her working citizens, overall, an amazing quality of life compared to most of the world. However, she has her problems: political unrest, social justice issues, issues defining the Constitution, school shootings, police brutality, and many more concerning issues. Some purport that many of America's problems could be solved with education. However, that in and of itself is a problem. America's educational system is corrupt and not her own. It is an age

I believe in America one of the reasons that I believe in America is because I think America would give me a good education not only because you go to school for a certain amount of hours and because there are more opportunities but also economically because in other countries like for example Mexico parents have to pay for their child's food and education in general but, in America education is free taught and only if you want to assist a private school is the only time that lunch or school would cost you money. Some kids don't really appreciate education because they know that education is free but they probably don't know that people from other places would give anything to get their child to go to school. I also believe that America would

The human mind is perhaps the greatest object on the earth, animate or inanimate, but without the proper training, the mind is a relatively useless tool. Through the development of formal education systems, humans as a whole have tried to ensure the training of all minds so as to continue prosperity for the world. Most of the time, though, education systems do not realize the harm they are doing to developing minds and the subsequent negative consequences. Among the largest of these inadequate education systems is the American primary schooling system. The American education system is in fact failing; it continues to deplete children of their natural creativity and thirst for knowledge while preaching conformity, which in turn creates an

Schools have changed remarkably since they were first introduced centuries ago. Continue reading in order to find out how the past has shaped education, as we know it. There are six main eras or time periods in which important things occurred for the American School System, The colonial era, The growth of public schooling, The progressive era, the segregation and Integration era, the 1960s-1970s, and the 1980- present era.

Success defines who one is, what one has done, and where one is headed. In today’s day and age, every country is in the fight to be the best of the best. This mindset of becoming the superlative holds a lot of value to a country’s leaders as they believe it will lead them and their people to be the frontrunners of the world. Education has long been an area in which countries feel indicates how successful they are and will be. As a result, countries continue to adapt new policies and methods to ensure that their country’s children are receiving a superior education. France, while not as widely known as Japan or the United States, continues to fight to become the best education system in the world. In hopes to achieve this objective, French educators have allowed their schools to become a very competitive and goal-oriented environment. Furthermore, much emphasis has been placed on finding highly qualified teachers and identifying ways to improve education such as revising the scheduling of class time.