The Troubled American Education System

In an enlightening phrase by writer April Shenandoah, on March 20, 2002, the reality that Americas instruction schema is in real trouble turns clearly evident. The writer feels that when a squirt in America attends school, he is, in item, often at bump than if he did non attempt to attend. This is because, of late, it has make obvious that most proscribe influences that tikeren ar faced with atomic number 18 being increasingly found in the worldly concern schools that they attend, and it is during the past few decades that the situation has worsened even further.In a simple comparison between the situation in public schools right away and that during the 1940s, it is indeed amazing that punishments were given for offences such as, for example, running in the corridor, chewing gum, talking in the class, and at quantifys, unfinished homework, whereas today the lapse offences ar drunkenness, drug abuse, assault, rape, and many new(prenominal) similar crimes, incl uding murder. (Shenandoah, 2002)What has made the dust even worse is that non only does the child have to neck with drugs and the immorality that is broadly speaking associated with them, besides he would besides be force to study in the second rate education transcription of today. This is evident in the occurrence that from the year 1963 onwards, the realizes for the Scholastic Aptitude Tests have been endlessly dropping. This has developed into yet an early(a) problem, and this is that since the grade have been dropping, students are non able to cope with the existing syllabus, and today, newer school texts have to be compose for students at a lower grade level, so that they whitethorn cope better.It is the loyalty that todays newspapers and magazines are written for people at about a one-sixth grade level, and this is the standard of the average Ameri finish citizen. What is even worse is the fact that many students are not at all aware of how weeny they are actu ally learning, and when they apply for University education elsewhere, it is then that they are forced to accept the fact that they have not received a wide and solid education. (Shenandoah, 2002)An additionalct from a speech made in the Senate on January 23, 1990, shows that the author believes that the American education corpse is in deep trouble. mavin reason for this may be that everyone, politicians, educators, and numerous approximately early(a)s who are involved in the system seem to have forgotten one important expectation of public education the child. No one in truth seems to care for the child more concern is being shown towards racial balance, effective didactics methods, an im attestment of the curriculum, and so on and so forth, but the student, the child has buy the farm at sea is all this.For example, in a school in North Carolina, magnificence is given to racial balance, wherein school children belonging to all casings of races are portion into the bus two hours originally the start of school, and dropped off an hour before school is supposed to begin, and the children are quite worn out and commonplace even before school has started. (American Education in Trouble) In a similar manner, teachers are being trained into becoming more effective teachers, and this would necessitate that they follow a cut back pattern of behaviors within the classroom so that they may be able to secure a better score with the administration.What about the children? Who cares about them? They are not allowed to interrupt, or even to become involved with the lesson being taught, because this may interfere with the mandated behaviors that the effective teacher is set to follow, and lower his rating. Today, most states are becoming aware of the fact that this system is doing absolutely no good for the children, and are therefore trying to eliminate it. other is the merit pay system.This may be a credible thought and linked to the paygrade of te achers, but the problem here is that even today, the evaluation is carried out under the effective teacher plan and not under the merit pay system, and therefore, this is not at all valid. The textbook system in public education in America today has, in fact, become more of an absurdity than anything else. Textbooks today are not only becoming more and more expensive, but the content of the textbooks is also going down in its standard.Today, it is a fact that more and more textbooks are being written by the so called experts in the field, and the curriculum as such is inflict by either the current educational fad of the time, or by the additional interests that the expert may have in the entire episode. It must(prenominal) be remembered that almost all educational fads last for a maximum menstruum of ten years, and it is a sad fact indeed that by the time the teacher becomes accustomed to the content and the information contained within the textbooks, they have already become ob solete, and it is time to change them yet again.In addition, it is a fact that the textbook industry is a huge and lucrative one, and all the littler schools and the smaller states find that they are completely at the mercy of the textbook selectors in the states, where they are the man-sizedst spenders. One example is the influence that a large state like California has had on the textbook industry.In new times, California had rejected all the science textbooks because it felt that the subject amour of evolution had not been given enough importance and the information was much too scanty, and today, all science textbooks are full of assertions that want to prove that the unproven theory of evolution is indeed a fact. At the analogous time, religion was banished from textbooks, especially during the 1980s, because of the separation of the church and the state and the controversy touch the issue. Teachers are also scapegoats in the education system in America, for who really car es for them?At the outset, they are extremely overworked, in fact, more than any other worker. They are forgotten too, just like their students, in the long run. At the same time, they are expected to care for the forgotten students, and they are also expected to teach more and more, despite the fact that they are not given more and more time in which to teach. Neither extra time nor money would be able to solve all these problems. And teachers may be asked to teach the basics of mathematics, English, science, a foreign language, and social studies instead.They must also be asked to teach those children who are healthy rested and well fed, and not exhausted after long bus rides and longer waits in the cafeteria. They may be evaluated by those persons who have a valid teaching certificate in their possession, and who have been active in the classroom for at least a minimum period of one year. In addition, if they were not given any extra duties, and if the administration was willing to share in any extra duties, then the teacher would be able to come on much better in the classroom, and care for her children in a agency never done before.It is the opinion of Michael L Berger in his book authorise The Public Education System that there are six important controversies that generally appear in American public education systems, and these are the budget that has been allocated for the educational system, the various auxiliary services that are needed, the facilities and the equipment needed in schools, the basic curriculum of education, the various personnel involved in teaching, and finally, the administrative rules and regulations that have to be followed by the schools.In the book Critical neighborly Issues in American Education Democracy and Meaning in a Globalizing World, the authors feel that it is the various interrelationships between different educational institutions, public education in particular, that is very important in the American public educa tion system. Public education is in general, subject to a vast come up of influences, like for example, community pressure, and community concerns.Schools also tend to interact with other schools, and therefore, leave an impact on each other in other words, it can be said that there is a wide interaction between various aspects of the educational system, and when cultural and religious and other beliefs interact with budgetary concerns, and demographic concerns as well as politics and ideological debates come into the picture, the educational system has to keep all these considerations in thinker so that it may be a good and an effective one.It is when it does not happen that the educational system suffers a setback. (Purpel Shapiro, 2004) It must be remembered, however, that teachers are a very important part of the public education system anywhere in the world, and especially in the United States of America, and when taken from an economical point of view, it is the so-calle d teacher unions that are not only producers of delegate services, but are also consumers of such representative services in the educational system.From the time when unionization took place for teachers, during the 1960s, the National Educational Association and the American Federation of Teachers have been monopolizing the market in terms of representative services. This type of monopoly does indeed have its adverse effects, and these are that the costs have skyrocketed, and at the same time, the service has become vastly inferior to what it was before. (Leiberman, 2003). Finding the lift out possible schooling for a child in the present fortune has indeed become an uphill task today, especially for minorities, like African- American children.Perhaps this may be because of the large number of options available to children today, what with the educational system being bombarded by magnet programs, charter schools, and manifold other public school options. Parents today have to b e choosier than ever before, and at times, this can very well be overwhelming. (Lord, 2005) Recently, when two important economists were asked the foreland about what was Americas greatest challenge today, the reply was that it was the education system.The problems can be seen as being from both outside and also from within the school and perhaps one of the most important reasons is the breakdown of the family unit. As parents today find less time to spend with their children, the school is expected to compensate. In addition, the decline of values in society is a major alter factor, and this leads to a lack of basic discipline, a lack of attention, and so on. Another important factor is the worsening health of American children, and while some are exhausted and tired, some more are hungry, and some others are diagnosed with learning disabilities of some kind.The teaching system is also at fault, because children are forced to learn according to the teachers convenience and not to theirs. The lack of stress on spiritual development can also be taken as a major factor contributing to the lackluster American public education system, and along with various other factors, this can become a major drawback. What can be done to change the educational system? Redesigning the public education system is a daunting task, but it must be undertaken for the betterment of American children and eventually the society.Long rest practices have to be reconsidered, high quality learning opportunities must be provided to American children even before kindergarten, and perhaps the existing method of promoting a child from one class to the next can be eliminated so that children may be allowed to learn and to progress at their own pace. more(prenominal) teachers must be brought in, and the quality of teaching must be improved. If at least some of these measures were to be adopted for a start, then changes can indeed be brought in to the declining public education system in the United States of America (Guillory, 2001).