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Impact of educational reforms in US
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Waiting for Superman Brittney Lekas, Gwen Williams, Valerie Copeland West Georgia Technical College Waiting for Superman The documentary “Waiting for Superman” directed by Davis Guggenheim, takes an in depth look at the public school systems and how it affects the children of America. One of the first things the film points out is there are clearly good and bad schools in every district in the country. There is never enough room for all the children in a district to attend excellent schools; because of this many children are put at a disadvantage for their education. The film follows the stories of Anthony, Bianca, Daisy, Emily, and Francisco as their family’s attempt to improve the quality of their education. It was assumed …show more content…
Geoffrey Canada wanted to make big changes to the school systems of America, however, when he became an adult, he realized it was almost impossible to make drastic changes on a federal level so he created the KIPP charter schools. KIPP is a non-profit network of college-preparatory, public charter schools serving elementary, middle, and high school students (KIPP, n.d.). The KIPP schools are the highest performing middle school in the Bronx and most of the students are from low-income families. The KIPP schools start with children before they start school and helps them until the child graduates from college. The schools refuse to let any students fall behind and makes students who fall behind attend class on the weekends and over the summer. There are 183 KIPP schools across America today, making a big difference for families whose children would have been forced to go to a poor quality public school (KIPP, …show more content…
In many different states there are struggles and difficulties that the students face in order to get a decent education in grade school. The documentary states the many different changes that were practiced in order to try and make education better still failed due to the lack of resources for the students within districts. Michelle Rhee, who was an American advocate for the Reform of Education addressed these concerns and came up with many ways to try to better the districts in order for students to be successful. Although there were many programs and laws passed in the education system the NCLB( No Child Left Behind), was an act that protected the students to ensure they could understand and perform at basic levels. In many states, this still remains a problem throughout the school system for students, but they are gradually working to solve these problems and better the education for these students. Lastly, there are many states that are following the KIPP charter schools, which were created and organized to ensure that students will have the resources in order to look forward to a better
This film is one that has faults, but is also very credible and a major wake-up call for those currently in power to make a change and help improve the schools of America, securing a better future for all.
The story follows three girls- Jeanette, the oldest in the pack, Claudette, the narrator and middle child, and the youngest, Mirabella- as they go through the various stages of becoming civilized people. Each girl is an example of the different reactions to being placed in an unfamiliar environment and retrained. Jeanette adapts quickly, becoming the first in the pack to assimilate to the new way of life. She accepts her education and rejects her previous life with few relapses. Claudette understands the education being presented to her but resists adapting fully, her hatred turning into apathy as she quietly accepts her fate. Mirabella either does not comprehend her education, or fully ignores it, as she continually breaks the rules and boundaries set around her, eventually resulting in her removal from the school.
Kozol describes schools that run almost like factories or prisons in grim detail. According to Kozol, US schools are quite quickly becoming functionally segregated. Kozol lists the demographics of a slew of public schools in the state, named after prominent civil rights activists, whose classrooms are upwards of 97% black and Hispanic — in some cases despite being in neighborhoods that are predominantly white. It has been over 50 years since Brown vs. the Board of Education. It is sad to read about the state of things today.
An article from the Los Angeles Times showed that the majority of Californians give California schools “a grade of C or below” and half think that the quality of schools will continue to decline (Watanabe). While the economic downturn affected the public school system in a negative way, it was not the sole root of its problems. It just simply exacerbated existing issues. Because of widespread discontent with the public school system, many different solutions to reform the mainstream public school system have been brought up in public discourse.... ...
America’s public school system started off very rough, but through the dedication of many hard-working Americans, it was starting to shape into a system that allowed all children, regardless of race, gender, religion, or nation of origin, to have an education.
The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. We do not even have to step further than our own city and its public school system, which many media outlets have labeled “dysfunctional” and “in shambles.” At the same time, Montgomery County, located just northwest of the District in suburban Maryland, stands as one of the top school systems in the country. Within each of these systems, there are schools that excel and there are schools that consistently measure below average. Money alone can not erase this gap. While increased spending may help, the real problem is often rooted in the complex issues of social, cultural, and economic differences. When combined with factors involving the school itself and the institution that supports it, we arrive at what has been widely known as the divide between the suburban and urban schools. Can anything actually be done to reverse this apparent trend of inequality or are the outside factors too powerful to change?
The American school system is no stranger to criticism, but everybody seems to have a distinct idea of what should be done to improve it. It was not too long ago that we had no public schooling system at all. A man would change that forever, immortalizing himself as the “father” of American education. It was surprising to me that I had never heard of this man, especially considering I had finished my journey through free and compulsory education two years ago. The man who went on to change American education, was Horace Mann, the first Secretary of the Board of Education in Massachusetts. Horace Mann tirelessly campaigned for the public to be educated, heralding it as a “great equalizer.” So why is the gap between social classes rising exponentially? There are fundamental issues holding us back from fulfilling Horace Mann’s dream of an education system which empowers citizens by leveling the playing field for everyone, including pedantic policies, a limited curriculum, and standardized testing.
Webber, Karl. “A Nation Still At Risk.” Waiting for Superman: How We Can Save Save America’s Failing Public Schools. Ed. Carl Weber. New York: PublicAffairs. 2010. 3-10. Print.
First, with all the money that is being put into public education, it needs to be distributed evenly. If public schools had similar resources and capabilities, students wouldn’t need to travel far to get a good education and this would solve many problems. An example of this from the film is when a Mother is speaking about her child’s experience at an open discussion. She talks about how her student loves music and music is taught at a one public school and not the other. Money is being distributed unequally and kids are being taken of opportunities that they could have a passion for. Another aspect that I agree with is that for things to change for the better in the future, everyone needs to get involved. Kids in these unfortunate situations can only do so much to speak up for themselves but it will only get them so far. Most of the students aren’t even able to vote yet so it is important the country as a whole is aware of these problems and learn about how to help. Students from everywhere need to feel that they are valued so they have the chance to
America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems with schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school system or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement.
“Making the Grade,” which was published in the Salt Lake Tribune in September of this year, is an article arguing the negative sides of the No Child Left Behind Act. Through this article, a majority of the discussion regarded the budgeting involved with NCLB. This article calls No Child Left Behind a “one-size-fits-all formula for improving education in America” (Making the Grade). According to President Bush, the NCLB Act is “’the cornerstone’ of his administration” (Salt Lake Tribune). Like with any legislation, however, come both positive and negative sides.
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.
In society, education can be seen as a foundation for success. Education prepares people for their careers and allows them to contribute to society efficiently. However, there is an achievement gap in education, especially between Hispanics and Blacks. In other words, there is education inequality between these minorities and white students. This achievement gap is a social problem in the education system since this is affecting many schools in the United States. As a response to this social problem, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed to assist in closing this achievement gap by holding schools more accountable for the students’ progress. Unsuccessful, the No Child Left Behind Act was ineffective as a social response since schools were pushed to produce high test scores in order to show a student’s academic progress which in turn, pressured teachers and students even more to do well on these tests.
The decade of the 1980s saw numerous calls for widespread school reform, with changes recommended in teacher education, graduation requirements, school structure, and accountability measures. With the advent of the 1990s, school reform finally to...
Year after year students put themselves through large amounts of stress, attempts to prepare themselves mentally, and spend majority of their waking hours studying for standardized testing required through the No child left behind act (NCLB). An act put in place by the Bush Administration in hopes and efforts for student around the country to excel in education. However, the No Child Left behind Act is hindering a student’s ability to perform in the classroom rather than the student to excel as planned. Amongst other countries around the world, the United States performs significantly lower in education. Overall, the act had good intentions, but does it really raise achievement and close the achievement gap? Improving education has always been a top priority in the white house. Many laws have been passed but how many have succeed? NCLB is one of the biggest social engineering projects of our time, but shows very little progress in our children’s education. The No Child Left behind Act causes more of a negative outcome by being ineffective at achieving academic improvement, closing the education gap, limiting the teaching material for instructors, and causes a harmful repercussion on children and adolescents mentally and emotionally.