Tested: One American Struggle To Make The Grade

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.

This is her best supporting statement because it is the most accurate and easiest to verify, just ask any current student or teacher in a public educated school system, higher test scores equal higher ratings for the school. Furthermore, she not only offers a clear and persuasive outline of the various issues facing public educators today, she offers ideas for how to fix those issues. For example, she explains the importance of how parents need to get involved with where they are sending their children to school and need to be the ones to put their foot down with these test score curriculum school systems. Ravitch suggests, “An educated parent would not accept a school where many weeks of every school year were spent preparing for state tests. An educated parent would not tolerate a school that cut back or eliminated the arts to spend more time preparing for state tests” (Ravitch 108). However, this is the area where the reader may disagree with Ms. Ravitch, as the suggested solution, may be her weakest argument because, it seems that a more dynamic solution would not only include the parent, to change the ways the schools are, but more importantly, it would include the student. This only makes sense, as the students are the most vested in this argument and are the ones most impacted by what is going on in the classrooms, if they want change,

Diane Ravitch wants her readers to know the difference between the schools, and remember that what she is discussing is limited to only certain schools because the facts she gives in her article can only be applied when talking about wealthier schools. This clarification allows for the readers to properly assess and understand the meaning behind the article, and not misinterpret the information that is presented throughout the paper. With this in mind we can take a deeper look at information given by her article.

In the year 2001, the United States government passed and established a law called the No Child Left Behind Act. This law created a set of standards for public schools to follow to prepare their students for college. For that to occur, schools must have their students to meet the minimum testing score in Math and Reading. If students do not reach the minimum requirement, that school would not receive federal funding. Diane Ravitch was an original supporter of this law but later changed her mind after realizing that schools became more focused in basic skills like Math and Reading and started to ignore other subjects that were deemed irrelevant since these subjects would not help a school recieve federal funding. In her essay, The Essentials of a Good Education, Diane Ravitch uses effective reasoning and pathos to persuade her audience that there is more to education than just the quality of test scores and that incorporating other subjects can be crucial to a student’s participation in society.

Diane Ravitch is a historian of education at New York University. She makes a very compelling, but extremely one-sided argument that educational reforms such as “No Child Left Behind” are causing students to have lesser opportunities in schools. Her argument is directed towards school boards, parents, and lawmakers who have the ability to change school and state policies on education. She wants those people to believe that the current school system is not effective in giving students a quality education and preparing them for life. Diane Ravitch’s argument brings up a question for readers: Is it beneficial for students when schools cut funding to non-tested subjects? According to Ravitch, most of the schools in the country, except for the ones in the most affluent communities base their

Sometimes I wonder if my personal political ideology will be a challenge to my teaching; as much as Americans try to boast about getting involved with and supporting their community, that wars with their personal piece of the American dream pie. To have their own success, particularly financially as that seems to be the direction for most, doesn’t mean sharing their personal wealth with the less fortunate in the community. Understanding that I tread precipitously close to the edge of socialism and communism, I still don’t see much in the way of society as a whole here in the U.S. sacrificing their personal gain [financially] for the advancement of the poor. Not only these chapters but study after study, article after article, can make a clear connection between wealthy suburbs with wealthy tax bases supporting the best schools with the best facilities and the best teachers producing the best students. So why can’t the money be redistributed more appropriately? Why don’t Americans want to share their fortune with the lesser? It’s because that is not the American dream: what’s theirs is theirs and will only serve to make them more successful. If others cannot succeed with what they have or what they can do, that is on them. The lack of a

The educational system in the United States was originally developed using concepts from around the world, created using ingenuitive ideas from countries such as China, Japan, and Korea. However, as the United States quickly moved into position as the leading country for state-directed educational standards, America looked less and less to the systems of other nations and more into how we could improve what was locally and currently being applied in education. Consequently, an improved type of education instruction was officially launched in 2010. These new state standards, practically titled Common Core, were declared to focus on developing a child’s skills in reasoning, problem solving, communication, and competition (Conrad, et al. 52). While the standards are professed to be an extremely practical and beneficial method of teaching today, there are issues which have recently surfaced and raised some concerns. The Common Core State Standards are emerging as the subjects of a provocative controversy in society today as they prompt discussion on global economic efficiency, nationwide academic standards, and the ultimate well-being of school-age children.

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.

The United States of America used to be known as one of the greatest countries to be apart of. From the jobs to the economy to education people loved to be apart of the American culture. The problem many Americans are facing today is poor education. Since America is viewed as a high profile country many people have prominent expectations on what they are receiving, specifically the education. The fact is that there are major problems with all levels of the education system today. Starting with early education, teachers are quick to say children needs to be medicated or put into special education. Proceeding to the general or high school education where kids are graduating but not prepared for what’s after. Lastly how higher education or college can hardly be afforded in today’s society. As a result of the failing education system, many parents blame the child or society when in actuality the failing system is corrupted by some teachers, lack of preparation, and lack of affordability in higher education.

Diane Ravitch, an “educational historian”, answers four questions in her book, Reign of Error. Is American education in crisis? Is American education failing or declining? What is the evidence for reform being promoted by the government and adopted by many states? What should we do to improve our schools and the lives of our children? According to Ravitch, the “crisis” concerning American education is actually a myth. In this book, she addresses myth after myth providing adequate clarity and information. She looks deep into the facts and brings to light what is actually happening in education in America in the following areas: test scores, achievement gaps, graduation rates, teachers and test scores, merit pay, charter schools, virtual school, government involvement of failing schools. In the latter chapters she offers specific solutions with detailed plans and recommendations to preserve and improve American education. Ravitch’s thesis is that American public education must be protected against government privatization and that we must work together to improve our schools. I couldn’t agree more with Ravitch. Government involvement in education has negatively impacted education since the passing of NCLB. Our focus has changed from being innovative teachers to cookie cutter teachers. Government officials should not make decisions without advice from educational professionals. We must all work together to make education work.

“The world’s greatest problems do not result from people being unable to read and write. They result from people in the world-from different cultures, races, religions, and nations-being unable to get along and to work together to solve the world’s problems.” These statements by James A. Banks have made a profound impact on my view towards multicultural education and the nation’s current trend of standardization and high-stakes testing. Scholarly research shows that the emphasis placed on testing and standards, mandated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, is causing teachers to focus entirely on basic skills in reading, writing, and math (Banks & Banks, 2010). This focus on basic skills is taking much needed time and attention away

The author's main point in this article was focusing on the problems of standardized testing in the school system. Ronald Roach states how in the past decade since the no child left behind program was established that there was no sufficient gains in the overall student math and reading scores. The author then goes on to explain how the Obama administration has been criticized over the issues of no child left behind program and how they are not effectively improving the program.

In chapter 3 of The Death and Life of the Great American School System Ravitch is trying to explain that rather by trying to implement strict programs in the schools to get a successful outcome in education that the government should focus on one school district at a time. She starts off by bringing up goals that were set by President George H. W. Bush in 1989, in hopes to reach them by the year 2000. The goals were “that American students would be first in the world in subjects such as math and science, at least 90 percent of students would graduate from high school, all children would master “challenging subjects”, all adults would be literate, and every school would be free of drugs, alcohol, and violence” (Ravitch, 2010, p. 31). She also

The article discusses how teachers are discovering that the No Child Left Behind idea is flawed, developmentally unfitting, lacking funding, and leaving more students, educators, and schools behind before the bill was passed. Later the article presents a short history about educational testing, investigates the argument of teaching to the test, and focuses on subgroups of school populations that are negatively affected by No Child Left Behind bill, distinctively students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, minorities, second-language learners, and students with special needs.

The authors’ also go on to mention how “American educators need to lead the development of a new, shared vision for our public schools. If they do not create an inclusive vision for our public schools and learn how to raise much more students to mastery levels of learning, the American dream and the quality of life we cherished will be unsustainable in a global economy” (Pg. 6, Introduction). Though this statement is true in theory and concept – I ask the question: “how can ALL students be held accountable for the same mastery levels if ALL students do not learn the same way, have different learning styles, varied disabilities, speak different languages, etc.?” The answer is simple: They Cannot!