From First to Worst? The Quality of Our Education System

I certainly agree with the basic premise of this post. Education is extremely important because it is the seed or the basis if you will for the this countries economic well being (and I would add social, creative, and philosophical well being as well) when you begin to look outward 20 years. One must also note that the strength of this country, and the basis for our economic well being as been innovation. Europe has typically produced better quality, the Orient has typically cornered the market on efficiency. One can debate on way that is, but I think most people will agree if that is the case if they stop to consider it carefully. If we are to capitalize on our strength this means that it is essential that we teach our children to think, to research, to reason, and to draw innovative conclusions. I will touch on one more tangent, than I will bring this all together. One thing I have discovered is that people, systems, anything that requires fixing or improvement has multiple parts, and each of those must be addressed to fix a problem in it’s entirety. In education the pieces are: The Student The Parent The Teacher The Administration The Resources (includes budget and facilities) The Teaching Method (Perhaps you can think of a couple of others) Each of these need to be addressed. Here are a few of my ideas in addition to my full support for Will’s ideas about Administration. Teachers should be critiqued anonymously by their students, and the results should be reviewed and acted upon. Some common sense would have to be applied. My children have told me about teachers that said “their job was not to teach” (that’s absurd). They have also had fantastic teachers that had a profound and positive effect on their lives. This will help us find non-performing teachers, and give us an opportunity to rehabilitate them (Always try to fix before you fire). Then reward those who are performing. Testing is good for comparative bench marking, but ineffective in rating teachers due to cultural and economic factors. Quickly remove disruptive children, with serious discipline problems from the class room. Set up evening/weekend classes and require them to attend them with there parents for a week before reintroducing them to the regular classroom environment. Teach the basics, and have a solid core curriculum, but be innovative to. Teach kids good life skills. I would be all for classes in contemplation, meditation, yoga, thai chi (These activities balance people and support innovative thinking by clearing the mind. Give them artistic outlets suited to their own likings (music, art, etc.) And as Will stated, fund schools, but spend the money wisely in activities that actually benefit the student.

I absolutely agree with the sorry state or our education. I teach in the psych dept of a community college and am appalled at the poor prepartion for college level work of the students in my class. One of the most serious problems is the attitudes and expectations instilled in the students. Somewhere the students were taught that it is up to the teacher for them to learn. That they can sit back and the teacher is responsible for whether they pay attention or not. We need to instill in students that teaching and learning requires that the students bring much to the experience. An essential part of education is instilling in students a sense of the importance of education to them, and that they are responsible for bringing motivation and attention and a desire to learn to the process. Have we created a generation interested only in being entertained. Passive and expecting others to do the work for them? Maybe 10% of the students seemed interested in learning. The rest seem to sit back and passive expect the instructor to “interest me.” That teachers often accept this situation is appalling. There is little as rewarding as teaching eager to learn. Nothing more draining that trying to teach students who couldn’t care less. The PSAs trying to get parents involve should instead address students motivation. If we don’t sell students on the importance of education, parents’, teacher’s commitment to education does little. Richard Bull, M.A.

I could not agree more that our education system is in the dumps, and the administrators are raking in the cash while the students in the classroom suffer. However, in my little part of the world, it is a myth that the teachers are not making enough money. While it is true that the teachers are paying for classroom supplies, those same teachers are bringing in salaries $20,000 - $25,000 higher than the average working adult in the coommunity. In addition, they get an automatic 4% cost of living increase every year. Next to school administrators, the teachers have the cushiest jobs in the community, yet our county is not top in the state, and our state is at the bottom of the country. More parents pull their children out of the public school system every year to put them in traditional private schools, charter schools or home schools. The solution? Limit the number of administrator and staff jobs, cap those salaries, stop teaching for standardized testing and return to the basics in the classroom. The average teacher will tell you that they spend the majority of their teaching time preparing students for standardized tests rather than drilling the basics. When students reach high school, they fail because they do not have a solid foundation on which to build a good education. Home schools succeed, because parents spend classroom time drilling the basics and teaching their children how to learn for themselves. Pick up any homeschool curriculum magazine or visit any home school curriculum store, and you find piles of textbooks on the basics, logic and critical thinking skills, as well as the reading material which focuses on traditional classics. Public education must return to the basics, get rid of the bureaucracy and begin teaching our children to think, or we will continue our downward spiral to the bottom.

Part of the problem is misplaced emphasis on the teachers’ educations. As the public schools get worse, the bar keeps being raised to become a teacher — but it’s weeding out more good than bad. Now, many teachers have to pay out small fortunes to earn the degrees and certifications necessary to make miniscule salaries. I entertained the idea of becoming an elementary teacher, but admit I wouldn’t put up with the requirements (M.A., etc.) and cost. And why do I need 19 years of education to teach math to an 8-year-old? Not because it makes sense, but because the people who run the public school systems had to — “if I had to, you’ll have to.” I now teach by conducting professional seminars and workshops (adults), making far more money and working far less — and without the politics, violence, parental interference (or lack of parenting), and general nonsense so prevalent in the public school system. There are many people like me, teaching in the business world and other arenas, who are excellent teachers, who would do our children well, but never will because of the unlivable salary, bureaucracy, and as Will wrote, “broken system.”

most teachers are dedicated, and full of love. shortly after being hired they are retrained and brainwashed into thinking they are inadequate. they have to constantly explain themselves and be retrained. administration is a waste and usually corrupt. superintendents move from district to district collecting high salaries. top heavy! teachers are not trusted to spend money as needed; someone needs to seriously investigate this.

Good Day to Everyone. I will add to my first blog with these comments to say that we are looking in the wrong direction. The best test for a system is its output at the highest level. We always focus our comments on the school system by focusing on the lower systems K-12. This is good point to consider but far from the truth about the system and its state of condition or worthiness. Our society though influenced by well rounded experienced and educated individuals was strongly constructed by “people” who focused on ideals and points of interest that held a higher focus on life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not education. We are trying to repair a system that at that time was not even in place or considered. Utilizing our modern day egos to resolve the poor peoples problem. We have MBA and BA degreed individuals now who have no jobs no real since of the real world they live in. We have retired gang members at the top of the game. We have athletes from other countries with no education cheered on by those same MBA & BA graduates. I know you would like to change the world through your kids so you don’t have to take on the responsibilities but the kids don’t run the world, misguided adults do. And they all are educated at the highest level of schooling this world has to offer and yet we are all still here looking for answers to question we visit and i mean visit each year after year. We must revisit the purpose of our quest and focus on the well being of people and not their goals, that responsibility belongs to them.