The United States is the land of opportunity in my country we think of the United States as the country of the “American Dream”. As prestigious as our country is we should be able to receive a better education. Our education system is broken, and as a society we need to do something to fix it. We need to be able to allow our educators to educate in other words we should allow the teachers to teach with no restrictions. Students should be focused on learning and reaching their full potential. This country deserves better students’ teacher and laws that will help implement better learning methods for different people. We need to move away from the one size fits all mentality, we don’t all learn the same way and we are not all good at the same things.
Our Education System
Education has always been an important subject for me, growing up I always wanted to become a teacher. As I began to understand our education system my mind changed completely. Through research I have found that our education system is not up to par with other countries, which is disappointing. In order to fix a problem, we must understand what we are trying to fix.
The History
The history of our education system has been running by the government, setting a standard on public schools and how they should meet certain standards, or they will not get the federal funding. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was established in 1965 by president Johnson, he wanted all students no matter their economic status to receive appropriate education. The act mandated that funds are authorized for professional development, instructional materials and resources to support educational programs, and promoting parental involvement. Different education Act of 2001 called No Child Left Behind became a law signed by President Bush. It came in at a time when the state of education was in the forefront of public concern. The legislation for the NCLB placed requirements in place that were spread across the majority of public schools in the United States. The federal role in education was expanded and focused its aim on disadvantaged students and improving their educational level. As one of the biggest goals of the No Child Left Behind Act, student achievements were driven by a number of measures for improvements and states as well as schools were held in stricter accountability for the progress of its students. Significant changes were made to the landscape of education through this Act (NEA,November).At the start of the 2002-2003 school year, each state was required to provide report cards on an annual basis that offered a range of information that includes data of student achievements were broken down by different subgroups and other information of how the districts performed. Each district must also furnish a similar report card that shows data school by school. Because schools are receiving funding from the government they have to follow the rules. The rule makers of this country have done it to were schools are solely focused on meeting the average and making sure standardized tests are being passed instead of making sure students are meeting their fullest potential in every field. All the rules and restrictions being set are also restricting teachers and students of this country.
Standardized Testing
Standardized testing has been a controversial topic for years, this assessment in schools was said to be a way to measure student achievement. The way standardized tests have become they measure the achievement based on an average scale. The way standardized test results are being misused should change into making the scores to measure the student’s strengths and weaknesses and the student’s aptitude for certain abilities. Standardized tests are being used to measure students’ academic achievements. If standardized tests were used correctly teachers would be able to use the results to determine different learning abilities of their students. Tests could be used to help benefit all students to know how different everyone learns to help the country and public schools move away from the one size fits all. Using standardized tests for college admissions is putting a lot of stress on students. There are also many students like me that do not do well on tests, the anxiety or other mental issues can interfere with a student taking these tests. There are many negative things about standardized tests, after the NCLB passed in 2002 student achievement hasn’t really improved. Rule makers should also take into consideration that this is a country of immigration we have many students whom English their first language is not making these standardized tests twice as hard and stressful for them. With these standardized tests the goal of education rotated completely from making sure everyone gets a balanced education into making sure everyone is preparing for these exams.
Teachers
A role model is a person that inspires and encourages to strive for greatness and reach our fullest potential. Ever since my daughter could speak she’s always said she wants to be a teacher, as a parent this makes me sad. Teachers are no longer seen as role models or superheroes; the way teachers are being told to do their job they are now seen as some type of monsters. They say that the future of the country is with the children, whether the future appears positive or negative it depends on the children and the education they receive. As Teachers have successes with some students and failures with others. The rules and limitations to teachers are making them weak and miserable. After interviewing my daughter’s teacher, I realized that teaching is a tough job and underpaid. Not only do teachers work an extensive number of hours but they also are held reliable for the standards that need to be met by all children in the classroom. Teachers now can’t just teach they have to follow a certain rubric or standard made by rule makers that aren’t even in the classrooms. Teachers have to do so much paper work and reports that the time that should be spent on teaching freely is being spent of doing paperwork. As a parent and student, I would like an education system where students receive a balanced education. To do so teachers deserve to have more freedom instead of standardized rubrics and curriculums. I don’t think I could ever be a teacher, but I do believe that teachers should be one of the highest paying jobs in the country. As a mother I can relate with teachers, taking care of children is the hardest job I have ever had to do, it’s rewarding but it’s an everyday challenge. “Teaching to the test” is replacing good teaching practices with rubric and standardized curriculums. Teachers have been put on so many restrictions and accountabilities from these students taking exams, that has led to many unhappy teachers all over this country.
Students
As a parent and student, I can reinforce the need of a better education system. Kids in first and second grade are getting packets and packets of homework, to prepare them for a standardized test. My second-grade daughter is in a dual language public school, she gets two different packets of homework one in English and one in Spanish per day. It is a large amount of homework but its repetitive the work they get at school and the work the students get to take home is focused only on the standardized test and preparing them for it. Students should be getting homework that not only challenges them but work in which they are learning. My daughter will do her homework in less than 30 minutes each day because the work is repetitive students get to the point where they figure out hacks to finish faster. My daughter said that the homework has been the same since she started first grade the only difference is that they are getting different words to match with that week’s spelling words. Students in college some get grants some scholarships or some pay out of pocket with the goal of a career. This country is at a place where if you don’t have a career and sometimes if you do you still have to work two jobs. After I had my first child I was working two jobs and my boyfriend was too, you will not be able to have a decent lifestyle if you don’t have a career or you’ll be stuck working two jobs for the rest of your life. As a college student I want to be able to get my money’s worth, I want to have hands on experiences that will prepare me for the outside world. I want to be in a challenging environment where my brain hurts from learning so much and this is what I want for my kids as well I want them to be challenged I want them to learn things each and every day. I don’t want my kids to get lazy because they figured out a “hack” to finish their homework faster. I don’t want my kids or anyone’s kids to be settled for a passing grade that will do only the very minimum in school and with their homework. Since middle school I remember having friends that would not show their parents their report cards because their parents didn’t care about their grades as long as they passed. These types of behaviors with both student, parents and should also be changed.
Parents
Parents are not free of guilt in this problem, this is something that should be fixed and helped by parents also. As a parent I worry about how my children are educated at school, I often think about how much she is being taught that is not being focused on the STAAR test. I know there is many parents out there that are not involved with their children’s education. If more parents would get involved in this education topic we could definitely get some changes. Many parents tend to get involved in the wrong way, like my mom she blames the teacher when my first-grade brother doesn’t get a good grade. I talk to her about how this is not the teachers fault and how the teachers can’t do all the work the work begins from what he is learning at home and if he comes home and all he does is watch tv and doesn’t study it will reflect on his grades. We need parents to get involved and raise awareness about how the education system is not the same it was intended to be years ago. As parents we tend to get upset over things our children tell us, me I usually get upset about how much work they give but not because I don’t think she should get homework but because I believe she should be getting work that challenges her even when she’s at home. Children her age should be getting projects and should be able to practice with oral presentations. I strongly believe that the education system should be reinforced starting in kindergarten all the way to college. Schools should give less busy work and make sure its work in which parents are staying involved with their children school work.
Mexico
Mexico is my nature country, I am here in the united states on a student visa my parents and I traveled here when I was 7 years old I was in 2nd grade I remember being super scared to go to a different country and learn a whole new language and culture I moved away from friends and family because my parents wanted me to get a better education. when I first came here the only challenge I had was learning a new language, I was a lot more advanced in everything else at the time I was young I really didn’t think this was the way the education system was here. Today I often think about our family in Mexico and how much more they have learned in math and science than I have in a country that is supposed to be a lot more prestigious than Mexico. On Saturday December 1st the new president of Mexico took office, he talked about how he is implementing a new education reform because he believes that everyone should have access to an education. “Education is a right” he said. He also emphasized how he is going to get rid of standardized tests all over specially standardized tests that lead to college admissions. I know that Mexico is not an exemplary country because of all the challenges it faces but I strongly believe that with a president like the one that has come into office Mexico will begin to see changes. The Mexican president emphasized on how much better a country will be with a better education system educating the children and college students will strengthen the country. Not to mention how Mexican teachers are able to teach more freely and punish the children that are being disruptive. In Mexico teachers hardly give homework and when they do its homework that challenges them, its difficult homework. Its homework in which parents have to step in and help their kids be successful in the assignment, and overall parent engagement. I hope that the united states can copy the elimination of standardized tests from Mexico. If rule makers begin to think like the new president because it would take rule makers to realize how important education is for the future to make changes.
Japan
Japan is one of the countries that has been performing high on a constant level (Japan, November). Japan is always ranking in the top 5 countries out of the 34 countries that are being reported. Many claims that it is because the Japanese education system holds a different curriculum. Japan not only has a different curriculum but the students there are in school a lot more than American students. Japan also implements different ways that students gain responsibilities, like in japan schools do not have janitors or cafeteria ladies serving lunch the students clean and serve themselves, as a way to teach their students responsibility. In japan the students do not get penalized for not passing tests. The students always get to advance to the next level regardless of their scores or attendance. Instead japan has entrance exams as a way to see which level and how much each student knows. I think it is very important that japan not only has a different curriculum, they don’t let tests affect the students, but also how much responsibility they are teaching the kids all while they are at school. In japan students are not taught to over think anything they are taught things in a way that will be a lot easier than we do here specifically in math the way they do math in japan is a lot easier than the way we do it we tend to over think everything we do, we are told to use our fingers to add, subtract and then we are introduced to calculators so we begin to get lazy and we lose interest in our math process, not in japan because they are taught different math skills (Richey, August 26).
Solution
After reading and being in school for so many years I think the best way to solve this would be eliminating standardized tests. Eliminating standardized tests would eliminate what the goal is set to be today to get all the students to pass these tests. Teachers would leave the focus of the standardized test, and they will be able to teach with a goal of educating and nothing else. Helping all the students in the classroom reach their full potential because that would help all students find what they’re good at, we don’t all have the same talents. I’m really good in math but I hate science and I have always struggled with that, I don’t know if my strengths and weakness are hereditary, but my daughter is the same way she is great in math and reading but she struggles in science, and her school unfortunately doesn’t even have a lab where kids could learn hands on, or visualizing. The funds that the government gives the schools should not be spent on standardized tests it should be spent on tools for the schools to help enhance the student’s education, like a new lab material for instance. Without the focus on the exams there will be plenty of funds to make sure teachers get the support they need and who knows maybe the pay they deserve. Teachers will no longer focus on this exam and will reduce the amount of paperwork they are having to do which will give them a lot more lecture time.
Conclusion
Our education system has fallen behind when compared to other countries, but it can be fixed. As a society of new students, parents and teachers we can initiate, and demand change from our law makers. I want to also receive an education where I am being challenged and I don’t believe that the human brain ever gets full so there’s a lot of room for me to learn a lot more.
This Chart is showing how all the countries perform in math reading and science, the United States being below average in math, we show up as low achievers in reading and science. Out of 34 countries that are being reported the united states is being ranked at number 17. The united states should be a top performer in education, and for that we need to fix the education system to where we are being taught instead of given busy work and assignments that do not teach.