what ails our education system?

Politics. Our educational system is driven by politicians who haven’t been in a classroom, much less a public school, for years (maybe since the last time that they were in school). Politicians have no clue as to the types of populations that we’re working with on a daily basis. Instead, all they see are numbers— test scores from students in other nations and test scores from our own, which makes it look like America’s students have been “left behind” in comparisson to those in other nations. The problem is that our politicians keep creating laws without truly knowing the impacts that these have on our teachers, administrators, and students. Our schools are influxed with students of a completely different generation and mind set. They don’t altogether see education as something of grave importance— they see it as something they have to do because compulsory education laws say that Americans must attend school until they reach a certain age. As someone who works in education, I feel that our system needs a complete overhaul. I do feel that all children should have to attend school until a certain age (maybe 13 or 14), but from that point on, students should have options as to where they head next— perhaps have students opt to continue their education at the secondary level or have opportunities for trade schools, military preparation, or other alternatives for those who do not want to remain in a traditional classroom setting. The bottom line is that until our politicians wake up and smell the coffee and until laws, such as compulsory education, are changed, America’s educational system will only continue to leave children behind.

That’s a tough one with no easy answers.

First the system is designed around the concept of getting on ready for the next grade intead of about thinking.

Thinking doesn’t start coming in education until the Masters and Doctorial program.

So roting, memorization and pre-requistes make up the bulk of K-17

Then 18-24 is about being independent and thinking and telling the powers that be somthing new.

School is about taking 24 years to turn something in something. That’s an awful long time!

They should be something by the age of 16 (10th year).

When the school system finds out a given child is not grade 12+ bound, they simply become leftovers in a non-college program that does not adequately prepair them for the work place.

Honestly, money is really not the problem. Yes, we could always use more, but if you look at it on a money-spent-per-student basis then virtually EVERY country that ranks ABOVE us on the international tests spends LESS per student than we do, some only about half as much as we spend. That’s just the cold hard facts. We do less with more, they do more with less. There are a LOT of “solutions” for our “ailing” education system, but the “Federal government from sucking funds out of the classrooms” isn’t really one of the problems we need to worry about (they pump in far, far more than they may remove). It sounds more like a distracting, poorly informed talking point for someone pushing a specific agenda than an actual problem needing to be addressed. If you really want to improve education, look at what the countries that out rank us do and adapt that model–less rote memorization and more hands on application, more critical thinking, increased student collaboration on work, stronger social emphasis on education, higher level of parental engagement in their child’s school, longer school years, etc.

Not wanting to sound “flip,” everything is wrong with education: ill-prepared kids, ill-prepared teachers, too much bureaucracy/paperwork, no understanding of what education should be doing, etc. I could go on for hours….

If you really want an eye-opener, try a book called “The Conspiracy of Ignorance” by Martin Gross.

Stupid kids

stupid teachers….

stupid structure…

stupid system…