Is our Jordanian government doing its job when it comes to education? Are we getting the best out of each individual, or are public educational systems failing their students? It is rather obvious that public schools are not meeting the needs of each child, and as a result children end up losing their eagerness to learn. It is fairly disappointing to realize that the majority of Jordanian students are much more concerned about scoring high grades than about learning. Public schools are failing their students and are considered inferior because of three major issues: Underqualified teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and the negligence of creativity and individuality.
The first reason behind the inferiority of public Jordanian schools is their poorly qualified teachers. According to Professor Richard M. Ingersoll, University of Pennsylvania: “there has been a great deal of controversy over what kinds of preparation are necessary for teachers to be considered qualified. ‘Highly qualified’ teachers are those with a college degree, a teaching certificate, and competence in their subjects.” Those three qualifications are rarely present within the same teacher. Moreover, a teaching certificate is not even required by our Jordanian schools. Other than the absence of high standards when it comes to employing teachers, schools especially those located in remote governorates sometimes oblige their teachers to teach outside the scope of their fields, which reflects poorly on the students. Public schools’ weakness lies within their assumption that anyone with a collage degree is capable of teaching, which is not always true. A successful educator is both passionate and devoted; he inspires the child to become the best that he can possibly b...
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...o memorize with little emphasis on analysis and critical thinking. The answers are right or wrong, either black or white; there is no room for innovation. Students have a difficulty voicing their opinions because they have been spoon-fed facts and rules throughout their entire educational journey.
In conclusion, Jordanian public schools have many deficiencies and shortcomings that need to be properly addressed; shortcomings that vary from the quality of the teachers, student to teacher ratio per class, to the traditional teaching styles that they cling to. Our government needs to take drastic measures to change what is fundamentally discrediting our public educational systems. Without the necessary measures the Jordanian youth will not be capable of keeping up with our ever-changing world, and our potential for achieving greatness as a nation will be lost forever.
The article, “Critical Thinking? You Need Knowledge” by Diane Ravitch, discusses how in the past people have been deprived from the thinking process and abstract thinking skills. Students need to be given more retainable knowledge by their teachers to improve their critical thinking skills. (Ravitch).
Truthfully this method allows the student to simply memorize information and spit it back out for a test and severely lacks all critical
Labaree discusses how the United State’s education is in a school syndrome, as people in America want schools to teach society’s ideals as well as let people express their individuality. These two demands are polar opposites that cannot be achieved. As the focus goes towards balancing these in hopes of improving society as a whole, the bettering of actual student learning is put on pause. Labaree talks about the beginning of education reform, in the 19th century, being the most successful in developing society; however, as education reform continued throughout time, its effectiveness wore off. He then addresses how the desire for education reform is more about improving society than it is about learning. He finishes his argument by providing possible solutions to fixing this problem, but states that fixing this problem will never happen because no one is willing to give up both demands. Overall, Labaree goes in wonderful detail explaining the problems of education reform. What made me choose this article was that he addressed the desire that people have on school systems in promoting both society normality and individuality. This correlates well with my topic in whether public school systems promote conformist ideals or individuality.
The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.
Everyday students attend school, but not every single student attends the same type of school nor do they receive the same type of education. This thought may be very concerning to some, but for others, this is all too much a reality. For example, some may ask how is it possible that students in public schools that are located within the same state somehow receive a different education; the answer is simple. The concept of quality is a factor that can hinder or facilitate anything, especially ones education. The difference between a public school education in a particular town compared to another is its demographic. Some students are fortunate enough to be afforded the opportunity to attend school systems that perform well, while others do not have the privilege to do the same. Something as simple as a couple of miles can be the difference, the difference that makes some feel entitled to certain things such as higher education while others can only hope to appreciate a secondary or trade school education. Therefore, education is not a right rather a privilege, and the level of quality is contingent upon the environment wherein the learning takes place. The immense importance of environment is self-evident in examples
In my view, system-wide, large-scale reform is needed to achieve the goal of "getting all young people as close as possible to their upper limits of learning potentialities" (Perrone, p. 15, 1991). This is crucial to ensure change because "trying to transform schools within the existing structure is a contradictory process" (Murphy, p. 38, 1991). The first step is to involve the traditionally voiceless at all decision-making levels to best determine what the needs of the least privileged are, if we are truly committed to providing opportunities that respond to children's needs. I specify, "opportunities" through funding based on my assumption and belief that money can improve education through attracting and keeping good teachers, reducing class sizes, establishing programs to respond to different needs, and maintaining healthy facilities and quality resources. Equitable funding, where all children have the chance to receive a high-quality education, is the first step towards education acting as the great equalizer in a country where oppression limits, dehumanizes, and disempowers in virtually every other life realm.
Mehta, Jal. "Why American Education Fails." Foreign Affairs 2013: 105-16. MasterFILE Main Edition. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. .
For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused elsewhere, particularly in the inner city schools.
Education is the source of all power allowing people to achieve any dream they choose. A person without a true education is nothing more than an empty shell living an empty and pointless life. The process of education begins at conception and the human mind continues to learn until the time of their death but most lessons are learned in the first five years of life. When the topic of education is discussed it isn’t how much is needed but how best to provide the education. The need for high quality education is typically agreed upon; how best to provide that education is not as easily as settled. The line in the sand has been drawn with neither side willing to back down and possible casualties are the children.
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.
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.
Public schools today face several issues that affect the standard of education our children are receiving. They face issues such as teachers with limited experience. Budget cuts, dilapidated facilities, not enough teachers, and school violence, lack of parent participation, and
Change is sometimes a difficult thing to undertake. Therefore, when you force change upon children who do not fully understand everything that is going on around them, this can cause things to not work like they are suppose to. This is the main reason why the education system of Iran was a failure. The students were forced to go from a secular based educational system to a religious based education system. Individually the education systems of Iran may have succeeded, but
The solutions to improve our educational system is one, stop using students for international competition. Instead of competing against other countries, we should learn from each other and help each other improve. Two, our standardized testing scores should also not be depended on for funding, which can stop the process of “Teaching the Test”. Our educational system can improve if the system stops focusing on numbers and more about our education.
Firstly, the characteristic of teachers and students in school and at university has great differences. The school teachers dismantle to translate the textbooks word-by-word from limited information-based, and whether the students understand the lessons or not, they can passively copy down the information and refers to their notes later at home and memorizes them. However, the university students are no longer allowed to sit quietly and negatively throughout the class. They are being demanded to discuss academic matters or cooperate with other classmate to perform projects. They are require to find sources, gathering information and put them into order. As Marshall and Rowland (1993, 34) pointed out, ¡¥the ability to think critically is a generic skill that are expected to acquire in the undergraduate education and transfer to daily life, future or current work.¡¦ Therefore, the tutors at university who offer not only textbook instructions but also helps students to think critically and independently by encouragement. Besides, students can choose and adjust their own learning style independently from freely choices of materials provided at university.