Educational Reform: Can Public Education be Saved?
Education is the key to success in every nation. Recently in America, the deteriorating public school system has become a very hot topic of concern. This worry is clearly demonstrated throughout the depressing statistics between international test scores. In 2015, America was ranked just 17th overall in public education. Due to many flaws, the American public school system is constraining American children and their necessary education, causing countless unfavorable effects. It is impeccable to set the blame upon students and their educator, for it is the system of education that is liable. Without the fundamental knowledge public education is supposed to provide, American kids are at a disadvantage when contending in the workplace. The aftermath produces a deterioration of the United States' global force on the world
"Therefore, it is not only a social concern, but also a major economic issue."
Grade inflation has become a recent dilemma in most American public schools. Grade inflation is where some courses have more lenience when awarding grades. This diminishes the value of a student's academic abilities. One may ask, why inflate? There are a few reasons grades are inflated. One reason is that teachers feel the need to help their students get Besides their evaluation score, teachers are concerned that giving students low grades puts them at a disadvantage towards their peers. Moreover, grade inflation saves teachers time on grading.
Additionally, teachers would not have to argue with students and their parents about grades.
Dress codes are staple to modern day schooling. They require students to obey a specific set of rules in order to create a sense of unity throughout their school day. Though they seem as a great addition to a student's education, many question whether or not these codes are effective in their purpose? Dress codes were sanctioned as far back as medieval times where kings and queens mandated all attire. They were also used during the civil war when southern colonies enforced dress codes in their slave laws. It comes a point in time where the question should be asked, "should Americas future really be treated just as slaves were in Americas past?"
Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg would be suspended from most schools wearing his daily apparel. With that said, a question has arisen that if students are taught to look up to the successful people in their lifetime, why would they be taught that what someone so successful wears are not appropriate, especially at such a core time in their life. Another problem with school dress codes is that students worry whether their apparel is "school appropriate". Not only does this place stress on students, but it also diverts precious time from learning.
Throughout America, more than $218 billion dollars in food is wasted each year. Even worse, America is teaching their kids to waste food as upwards of 1.2 billion dollars in food waste is contributed by the students of American public schools. This problem is influenced by a number of problems, one of which is time. One public school mother states," Lunch at my son's school starts at 9:55am!". Assuming the child eats a nutritious breakfast before school, students are not ready to consume more nutrition. Another problem is the amount of time public schools allow for lunch. In Seattle, elementary schools have an average of 20 minutes to eat lunch. In this lose-lose situation, students are forced to throw away the food they could not finish and still be hungry for more. There is a simple solution to this: make lunches longer, but still, public schools refuse to give up education time for a healthier lunch. Furthermore, public school lunches are funded by the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The NSLP funds meals for more than 30 million kids. Its spends around $3 per meal; only some of which goes towards buying quality foods as it also includes labor and energy costs. This means that the quality of food being sold to public school students is very poor. With low quality food, many students are not enticed to finish their whole plate.
Although solving food waste may seem like a daunting task to most public schools, there are many ways to decrease the amount of food waste in schools, many of which are not implemented. One solution is to give students a variety of choices. The USDA allows schools to give students the choice between 3-5 food items. This lets students pick what they want (and will) to eat instead of being demanded to eat something they don't. Another solution to public school food waste is to make foods easier to consume. One study shows a 60% higher consumption rate when apples are sliced rather than whole. Conjointly, displaying creative names such as "X-ray vision carrots" or "Super strength spinach" can also help with food waste. This solution is part of Cornell Universities Smarter Lunchroom Movement which is a precedent for a lunchroom layout optimized for minimizing waste. These displays create a clear benefit that a student can know their getting from eating that food as well as enticing them to eat it. Another solution is to move recess before lunch. For decades, it has been a precedent for schools to have recess after lunch, but for no apparent reason. Now, there have been studies that show a strong correlation between recess before lunch and increased food consumption. In fact, one recent study says that there is a 50% more fruit and vegetable consumption if lunch is placed after recess. This makes sense as students will burn off previous meals during their time in recess causing them to be hungrier than if they had eaten before recess. Additionally, redistributing unopened items to people in need around the community creates a win-win situation. Not only will this help those in need, it will also help students learn about helping others. One of the most efficient way to eliminate food waste in public schools is composting. Composting is a process where organic matter (in this case, food waste) is decayed into beneficial and nutritious soil. Composting in schools have many potential benefits such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, money saved on trash bill and it also fits perfectly into a science class where it could be used as an extra educational piece. Seems like a great idea, right? The only problem is, less than 1% of schools compost any excess food. One critic summarizes this as "[filling] up landfills rather than creating healthy soil"
Standardized assessments are used to measure and compare success in students, teachers, schools, and districts. They tests a common group of students what the state thinks is "standard." The tests are meant to be a useful tool to categorize one's achievements, but their intended purpose is not quite the reality. First and foremost, standardized tests force everything to revolve around it. There is a very good reason for this as some standardized tests can be worth upwards of 50% of a students grade. This means that 1 out of the 180 day school year is the same as the rest of the 179 days. Not only does this cause stress for students, but teachers also feel the need to teach the standards. With that said, teachers are not focused on actually giving knowledge to students as much as they are prepping them for the final test. Most teachers have to "switch gears" entirely in order to work on test preparation. During this time, actually productivity nears zero. In California, the STAR, standardized testing and reporting, takes up a full 2 weeks, while leaving a pointless half day to learn in each subject. The other problem that comes with standardized tests are not even the tests themselves. For other tests such as the quartile benchmarks, students are not punished or rewarded for these assessments; therefore, these test are not taken seriously by students.
American education has been on a rapid slope in recent years. It is unfortunate, but there is always a hard path to success. Education needs to be tackled not just by lawmakers and parents, but by every living being in the democracy. The future of these children IS the future of America. Soon, these children will become the doctors, teachers and entrepreneurs of America, to lead the future generations that come after. This change in education has to be big and bold, because right now, students are following the words of Mark Twain.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." – Mark Twain