Schools were established to teach students the means of survival in preparation for a global economy. Education’s major objective today is to help increase our economy and prepare our students for future jobs. However, the progress of our public school education system in the 21st century has declined over the years. Other countries have exceeded our American Education system, especially in the areas of reading and math. Poverty stricken areas and minorities are being deprived of receiving a good quality education. Instead, only the fortunate and the lucky students are able to receive a good education. Families apply for the lottery scholarship in hopes to be accepted to a charter school as the key for to receive a good quality education. …show more content…
Typically, an average student at a 50th percentile would be encouraged to move up to a 58th percentile from the results of a good teacher. High qualify teachers can substitute for any shortfalls a student may have, i.e., broken homes, nutritional deficiency, and other disadvantage backgrounds. According to the results of the schools achievement scores, it is believed that good teachers are more in the suburban areas and bad teachers are mostly in the inner city areas. However, does not hold true for all teachers, because there are some good teachers that serve disadvantage students. However, good teachers are not supported for the hard work and how they impact students to learn. They should be given compensated with an …show more content…
The public schools system did not promote success. Instead, it protected an academic breakdown in the academics system. This encouraged parents lean toward charter schools even more. It was shocking to know that out of 55,000 teachers only 10 teachers were fired out the entire Harlem school district. The movie didn’t elaborate much about bad teachers, but it shared stories about teachers that worked in the public school system. In one case, a teacher who had worked two years as a fifth-grade teacher noticed her students with a reading deficiency at a lower grade level. Unfortunately, she lacked the support of the administration for providing help for these students. This is evidence of teachers who care about the welfare of students’ academic success. Surprisingly, community protesters marched against charter schools and felt threatened by them. Teachers and Harlem Success Parents were spokespersons who wanted better schools for
The first, and possibly most pressing issue that Jehlen and Noguera found in the current charter school system was the lack of equity. Jehlen reminds us that many times, a school is judged on its students’ ability to do well on standardized
I agree with critics of the film in one way; Charter schools are not the answer to our current system’s problems. Charter schools are a direct product of an attempt at privatizing education. That is, trying to make public education into a private business where companies can invest and profit. Public education is a basic right provided for us by the government, and paid for by taxpayers. Charter schools take taxpayer money, give it to companies, and put the burden of teaching our children on the compa...
A key to ending the cycle of poverty, is educational equity. In America today, public education is unequal racially and socioeconomically (Honda 11). Internationally, America is not excelling academically. When looking closely at American student’s Program for
As the 2010 documentary, The Lottery, reveals, the charter vs. public school controversy continues to increase, creating rising tensions in communities nationally. The film centers on the issue in New York's Harlem and an actual lottery enabling a select few children to attend a charter, rather than a zoned school. This is however, essentially a microcosmic version of the larger debate, and perhaps the most interesting aspect of it is that both sides are after the same goal: the best possible education for children within the public school sector. The issue is complex, as the realities of charter and public schools present a wide range of specific concerns. Nonetheless, both sides of the debate are united by another element, that of identifying whether charter schools actually serve student needs more successfully than public schools. When the actual circumstances are assessed, the important complications surrounding the debate are noted, and the misleading and enormous factor of public perception is addressed, it is seen that charter schools are not superior to public schools.
Weider, Joann M. “Charter School Lottery Gamble With Kids’ Futures—and Often Loses.” Politics Daily. 15 Jul. 2010. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
The challenge of creating equal opportunity in schools has existed for years in the United States. Student and teacher life can vary greatly based on which district the school is located in. Issues like unfair opportunity, unqualified schools, and funding issues shroud the progress of educational reform.
Peske, Heather G., and Kati Haycock. "Teaching Inequality: How Poor and Minority Students Are Shortchanged on Teacher Quality: A Report and Recommendations by the Education Trust." Education Trust. N.p., June 2006. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.
In many low income communities, there are teachers that are careless and provide their students with poor quality education. These teachers are there just to make sure that they keep receiving their monthly paychecks and act in this way because they believe that low income students do not have the drive, the passion, or the potential to be able to make something of themselves and one day be in a better place than they are now. Anyon reveals that in working class schools student’s “Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps.” (3). This is important because it demonstrates that low income students are being taught in a very basic way. These children are being negatively affected by this because if they are always being taught in this way then they will never be challenged academically, which can play a huge role in their futures. This argument can also be seen in other articles. In the New York Times
Education is an integral part of society, school helps children learn social norms as well as teach them how to be successful adults. The school systems in United States, however are failing their students. In the world as a whole, the United States is quickly falling behind other countries in important math and reading scores. The United States ranked thirtieth in math on a global scale and twentieth in literacy. This is even more true in more urban, lower socio-economic areas in the United States. These schools have lower test scores and high dropout rates. In Trenton Central High School West, there was an 83% proficiency in literacy and only 49% of the students were proficient in math. Many of these students come from minority backgrounds and are often from low income families. There are many issues surrounding these urban schools. There is a severe lack of proper funding in these districts, and much of the money they do receive is sanctioned for non-crucial things. Schools also need a certain level of individualization with their students, and in many urban classes, this simply does not happen. While there are many factors affecting the low performance of urban schools, the lack of proper funding and distribution of funds, the cultural divide between teachers and students in urban districts, along with the lack of individualization in urban classrooms are crucial reasons to explain the poor performance in these districts. Through a process of teacher lead budget committees and further teacher education, urban schools can be transformed and be better equipped to prepare their students for the global stage.
Income greatly impacts a child’s learning ability. In the United States, where a child attends school is based on where he or she lives, which is based upon the income of the family. Typically, families with lower income must send their children to poor quality schools. Schools in low income areas are more likely to have unsatisfactory teachers, or teachers with little experience because of the salary the school can offer. Even though many forms of financial aid are accessible to low income students wanting to attend college, there is no such acclaim available to low income families who would prefer to live in a higher quality school system (Rouse/Barrow, 1-2). Children who live in a home where money is scarce do not have as many necessary resources as their wealthier peers. For example, many low income families lack books, computers, Internet access, and parents with a high education that can assist their children with schoolwork. These children are behind academically, and piling on standardized test after test to measure their progress and teacher worth is not productive (Strauss, 2). The federal education policy has been ignoring the issue of poverty for years now because many school reformers argue that the effects of living in pover...
As charter schools throughout the nation struggle to compete academically with the traditional public school system, the general consensus is that they continue to fall short. While many of these charter schools were established upon promises to improve student learning and aimed to fill the achievement gap that traditional public schools could not, many of them were unable to meet or surpass public school achievements. As a result, many charter schools are continuing to fall by the wayside. In the state of Florida, over the past five years, an estimated number of 56 charter schools have been closed. The termination of these schools has left thousands of students distressing over the fate of their education as they are seemingly forced to seek out other educational avenues. Unfortunately for these students, the termination of their school has resulted in severe academic setbacks. In a study conducted by Tulane University’s Department of Economics Chairman, Matthew F. Larson, which focused on a group of high school students in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that experienced the termination of their school, it was concluded that the closure of these schools decreased the student graduation rate by as much as 10 percent. Lawson’s research revealed that while the majority of these students went on to continue their education at other establishments, some being even better than prior, this decreased graduation rate still remained.
Some locations in the United States are trying to improve their education by adding quality teachers. A major reason why there is an achievement gap in education is because there exist a gap in teachers as well. Research has shown that teacher quality counts. Some states are seeking ways to keep quality teachers and ways to attract them. In New York City, the schools will not hire teachers that are not certified. Also, New York and California are adding some sort of incentive in public schools, to attract quality teaching to minority schools. Sometimes school add annual bonus up to $10,000 for qualify teacher to work in public school, with low achieving schools. Also, many state provide some sort of tuition assistance for teacher, but of all of the states only seven target the candidates to commit to the lower achieving schools (Olsen, 2003).
Every teacher has their strong points as well as weak points. Teaching is very hard work and some of them never grow to be anything better than mediocre. They do the bare minimum and very little over and above the call of duty. There are several ways to become a great teacher. Teachers are truly dedicated workers who put a lot of time and schooling into being able to teach for the rest of their lives.
What is a teacher? A teacher is someone who students rely on for further knowledge and comprehension. Often, a teacher is viewed as a role model towards their students. In many times, teachers can help guide students into a better future. Characteristics like preparation, compassion, having and showing respect to students can make a teacher more effective.
One good quality a teacher should have is, respect for the students. Each person’s ideas and opinions should be valued and not judged. They should be able to express themselves without feeling insecure. Another good quality is, having high expectations for your students. Each student should be encouraged to do their best and achieve goals that they may have never met before. Another good quality is, I believe a teacher should have is good communication skills. They should keep not only the students informed on what is going on in the class, they should definitely keep the parents informed as well. Teachers need to know how to communicate with all their students because some are at different levels than others.