After more than 200 years later, this great America has overcome many hurdles such as becoming independent from Britain, a civil war, and the civil rights movement; yet it still has not overcome one thing: education. Administrators or the school board may think they are doing well at their job based on test scores taken by the students but they are not. Too many kids are unprepared for college and too many students drop out of high school for reasons such as pregnancy, financial issues, and having lost the motivation or desire to learn to continue their education. Although the education system is better than it first started hundreds of years ago, it needs improvement in order to educate the students better to prepare for the tough world waiting upon them.
The definition of a true education is when every student no matter who they are; what their statuses are; what their situation or circumstance they might be in; receives the same high quality of education. It also goes beyond just receiving their education. The students are truly educated when their teachers guide them, “to make them think through,” to understand what is happening around them (Gitlin). The goal of a teacher should be for their students to be free thinkers and, “stop off his uproar, fooling, and horseplay---keep his nature and arm it with knowledge in the very direction to which it points” (Emerson). They are truly educated when they are able to make reasonable decisions in their classes and, “think for themselves when they are out in the world on their own” (Ravitch). School is not only a place to educate students on math, language, history, science and other subjects but also to help be prepared for the time when have to making the decisions on your own. When...
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...hings, so it is best for the student and not for the school.
Works Cited
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "from Education." Renee H. Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, Robin Dissin Aufses. The Lanuage of Composition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 189-195.
Gitlin, Todd. "The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut." Renee Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, Robin Dissin Aufses. The Language of Composition: reading, writing, rhetoric. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 251-253.
Mann, Horace. "from Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education." Renee H. Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, Robin Dissin Aufses. The Lanuguage of Composition: reading, writing, rhetoric. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 248-250.
Ravitch, Diane. "Stop the Madness." Renee H. Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, Robin Dissin Aufses. The Language of Composition: reading, writing, rhetoric. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 257-260.
President Ronald Reagan once described America as, “A Nation at Risk,” He was addressing this statement to the education department thirty years ago and meant it as a wake-up call. He was aware that the United States was falling behind in education and needed to take action in order to prevent the demise of the country. Reagan correctly predicted the grim fate of America if education did not see improvement. Today, research finds that American education is failing to provide the necessary skills to succeed in college and various careers. The quality of education in America is a growing issue and every year graduate students are finding it more difficult to obtain high paying jobs and start his or her career. According to studies conducted globally, the curriculum in America is not as advanced and years behind international schools in countries such as China and Japan. There is much controversy in government over what can be done to reverse the situation in public schools but possible solutions that have been suggested are hiring more qualified teachers, more classroom time, and investing more money into education.
True education is the process of developing the ability to learn, apply, unlearn, and relearn. Schools mostly serve to give their students a true education, but they should focus on teaching students the facts instead of focusing on topics that should be learned outside of the classroom.
Schooling has a lot of problems that need a lot of solutions. Many of these problems stem from the fact that the American school system is notorious for wasting the time of students and teachers. Students rarely get the chances to learn and experience topics that not only interest them but are also topics that have the potential for being important in their future careers. Time is also wasted during standardized tests that do not give American students an accurate representation of their intelligence compared to the intelligence of others worldwide.
Today education has an endless amount of definitions which are correct in certain aspects of society, but most leave out the one part of education that is truly vital. That is the concept of real life experiences. The debate on what it means to be educated has been going on for centuries, yet the answer isn’t esoteric at all! The scintillating Henry David Thoreau amazed scholars of his philosophy that one simply doesn’t just go to school to be educated, but one has to experience the world in order to be prepared for it. He lived in a small house on Walden Pond and lived off of the land. He quoted “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to
Something I have always known since I was a little kid is that the educational system in this country is a complete fraud. American schools claim to live by the ideal of No Child Left Behind, but millions of students get cast aside each and every year. In schools these days, it is obvious which students are the elite—those that are raised up and motivated to go to college—and the ordinary student— those that are somewhat ignored throughout their schooling and are lucky if they even earn a GED. As a recent graduate of high school, and a product of this country’s educational system, I have had the opportunity to develop my own opinions regarding the myth of education in our society. Based upon my observations going through the school system, and the various arguments posed by several authors in “Rereading America”, I strongly believe that schooling in this society caters solely to students in the elite category while ostracizing students that do not live up to the elitist ideal.
High school and college dropout rates are at an all time high. Secondary school students are told throughout high school that if they don’t go to college then they will never be successful. Going to college doesn’t always make a difference because many career choices such as teachers and lawyers are highly contested and result in either no job or low salary. Low pay deters teacher’s motivation and they tend to work part time jobs to supplement their income. Public schools standards are comparable to a kangaroo court’s procedure; private schools are known for better teachers, environment, and test grades. The major problems in the public school system include the lack of funding, lack of resources, and lack of standards.
After reading Joel Spring?s book, and reflecting on some of the issues facing our schools, it is apparent that our educational system requires much attention among our nation?s leaders. While the system has transformed in many beneficial ways, we are still plagued by the growing problems of society. I look forward to reading another book by Joel Spring, and developing my evolving understanding of the educational system within the United States.
College preparation is not the only area in which schools are failing students. According to Achieve, Inc. (2005), 39% of high school graduates in the workforce say that they have deficiencies. When asked about being prepared for future jobs, forty-six percent say that they are deficient in the skills needed. These shortcomings in the education system will escalate when in the next 10 years, 80% of job openings will require education or training past the high school level (Achieve, 2010). One third of jobs will require a bachelor’s degree. Lower educational attainment is a national problem. Competing countries now boast more workers with associates degree...
Education has been a hot topic in every political campaign, top news headline, and teacher’s first thought when they head to their classroom to teach America’s future. The education system is the most vulnerable aspect of a nation. It is the building block for creating successful individuals who dare to dream of changing the world and have the power of doing things people only dream of. A country is only as strong as the weakest link and for America it’s the uneducated. For as long as anyone can remember there has been one thing that the majority of the news headlines, workers strikes, and state questions have revolved around, education reform. Three highly educated authors provide three common overlapping issues that harshly impact the education system in the United States. In the article “Why the United States is destroying
The American public education system was founded on the radical notion that all members of society should have equal access to education. Also crucial was the notion that a basic common education was essential for a true democracy. This revolutionary system is now in indisputable trouble. Many worry about America’s ability to compete with foreign countries while others address the growing dichotomy between the quality of education in different economic areas. Recent rural shootings have only exasperated the problem, and caused many parents to entirely abandon the public system for a private alternative.
In the United States, many lack the skills necessary for college. Unfortunately, the education system fails to prepare some of its students for work or higher learning. Despite these circumstances, teachers and bureaucrats seek improvements to obtain higher success. In spite of the pressure for success, the current situation is not yielding the desired results. Moreover, in the recent State of the Union Address in early 2014, President Barack Obama stated the need for improved education, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM fields. Yet, what should reformers pursue? Researchers have observed recurring problems to direct the improvement of education. The information presented, particularly over the past ten years, has revealed a need to involve the students that lag the most. Education risks excluding k-12 boys and minorities, as well as remedial education collegians, in higher education.
Education has come a long way in the history of man, but has it come far enough? Education now days is getting more generalized and robotic; it is just memorizing specific facts for test questions. Although many believe students are getting a true and valuable education, many students would argue that America’s education system is profoundly lacking.
There is no one single definition for what education really is. Experts and scholars from the beginning have viewed and commented about education in different ways. The definition mostly agreed upon was that education is an acquisition or passing of skills, behavior or knowledge from an institution to another. This institution can either be a person, a school, a family or even the society. If we go in the ancient meaning and the ideology of education, it means to lead out of ignorance. In other words, education or knowledge in this sense was light and education brought the person out of the dark. The purpose and ideology of education is therefore to bring out the potential of a person and pass on knowledge
Education is a vital tool for lifelong success but there are many areas of concern in the current system of public education. Education reform has been a constant occurrence since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Every year, specialists develop
A time approaches in every person’s life when they must come to learn new things. Speaking on behalf of all those who have attended school at some point in their life, I must say that most do not like it for its educational significance. Today’s youth undervalue the worth of America’s public school system to the point of shame. Hard-working, underpaid teachers and professors prepare to educate these ingrates as their living, and it’s exasperating for the students to not even care. I must be fair though and call attention to the fact that not everyone shares this loathe for education and schooling.