Education Reform Essay

It is undeniably clear that we read serious problems with our educational activity system. Talk to all teacher and you will hear the same complaints overcrowded classrooms, lack of supplies and text books, unfairness of the grading system, discipline figures, drugs, underpaid teachers and the list goes on and on. The end point our children gitt read, spell or solve basic math problems without a calculator. legion(predicate) students can not even find their own country on a map. In the midst of debates going on in m some(prenominal) a(prenominal) different levels, the big question is how can we animate these problems?The depicted object relegation on Excellence in Education delivered a devastating perspicacity of American education in 1983. According to the commissions findings 23 million American adults were illiterate by the simplest tests of reading and writing. Al well-nigh 13 percent of entirely 17 division olds in the coupled States were functionally illiterate . Illiteracy among minority young was a scaring 40 percent. Scholastic skill tests ( SAT ) showed that average verbal scores fell over 50 points and mathematics scores dropped 40 points from 1963 to 1980.Inter res globeaal comparisons of student achievement revealed that on 19 academic testsAmerican students were never introductory or plump for and compargond to the other industrialized races, were last seven times. ( http//www. ed. gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk. html (3 of 10 ,2005 ). These findings fright the nation and in 1989, an education summit involving all fifty soil governors and president George H. W. Bush resulted in the adoption of national education goals for the year 2000. The same year, National Council of Teachers Of Mathematics published the Curriculum and evaluation Standards for schoolhouse Mathematics, a standards based document. ( Schwardz, 2000 ).Standards basedschool reform has become a predominant issue facing public schools. In the 1990s , The Standards-ba sed National Education Goals were set by the U. S. Congress. This movement resulted in the famous No child Left Behind Act of 2001 which is still an active nation wide mandate in the United States ( Schwardz 2000 ). A standards-based system measures each student against the concrete standard, instead of measuring how well the student performed compared to others.The of import goal of this reform is that no student by virtue of poverty, age, race, gender, cultural or ethnic background,disabilities or family situation will be unloosen from learning the call for material. ( Robinson,2000 ). The school income from property taxes and the federal funds are based on the student attendance. E very public school is required to take attendance every day so the budget can be given to the state accounting department and the money do avail qualified. If a child stays home even for one day, the attendance shows less need for money.Because of this system, we have overcrowded classrooms. The organization legislators should realize that fewer students meat better classroom management and better education.The fight for the control of public schools also contri unlesse to the problems we are facing with our education system. In the United States, schools are regulated by laws and regulations at the district, county, state and federal levels.The approximately of day to day activities have been influenced by district level government usually by a district bureaucracy led by a superintended and controlled by a locally elected or official school board. ( Smith, 2001 ). State and federal governments often mandate programs and reforms or repeal certain activities by criminalizing them through legislation or court power or restricting state and federal funds to schools which are not in compliance. ( Robinson, 2000 ).In the early days of our nation, our constitution left education matters Mostly in the hands of states. In those days founding fathers did not want the federal go vernment running education. But times have changed. Now we have a mobile society, new technology, and a globose economy which has erased district, county and states lines that once had meaning. Nowadays, whether raised in California, Florida, Colorado or Virginia, all children in America need the same knowledge and skills that will swear out themcompete in both national and the international marketplace of jobs. awry(p) local control of public education under the influence of provincial attitudes and ideologies can leave our children ill prepared to survive in this very challenging global environment. Federal government leads the way in meaning(a) areas such as food, drug, product, financial and environmental regulations and policies. Should not education, one of the most essential contributors to the success and well being of our nation, be naturally include in that list? The violation of the separation of church and state issue has also been an ongoingdebate in our public scho ols.In our constitution, the first amendment states Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, this indicates that a person is free to guinea pig any form of religion and that the government will not adopt any religion as the official religion of the state or nation nor will they favor any religion above another ( start-off Amendment to the United States Constitution, retrieved June 29, 2010 ). There are conflicts over school praying and most hatful agree that allowing somegroups of children to pray inside the classrooms could offend other children with different spiritual backgrounds or the children with atheist parents.Author Randall Eberts ( 2007 ) states that if we take a examine at any humanities course, we will find religion somewhere. He also states that religion is in science, literature and art. The battle of evolution vs. creationism vs. searching design never stops. Science teachers can teach closely the planets, stars and galaxies but they have no answer regarding how it all started. They can come up with several theories but it is difficult to satisfy many students withvarious phantasmal background.In art classes, Leonardo Da Vincis Last Supper and Michelangelos Sistine Chapel are among the greatest pieces of artistry which are both spiritual in nature. In order for a student to be able to analyze these types of artwork, they must be able to refer to the religious themes pictured in the pieces. In literature, Dantes Inferno is a good lesson of how religion is approached in a high school literature class. In the text, Dante has established series of rings of hell and categorized which sins would banish a soul to that region for eternity.Since not all students believe in paradise and hell, teachers must be extra careful how to approach this topic so it wont appear as if they are trying to follow through their viewpoints on the topic. There has to be a fine line amongst te aching religion and teaching about religion. According to a study by Christian Smith, ( Smith, 2002 ) religion affects students many ways including the following phantasmal students are more likely to be involved in community of interests work. Religious students are less likely to be suspended or expelled. Religious students are more likely to be involved in student government.Religious 12th graders are less likely to move at school. Religious 12th graders are less likely to cross school without permission. There is a positive correlation between religious students and their involvement in extracurricular activities. Researchers mark Regnerus and Glen Elder ( Regnerus, 2003 ) conducted a explore and found out that when youth from low-income neighborhoods attend church, their academic performance improves principally due to social influences of the church. It seems like most problems in the schools are the result of inability to make important decisions about the next of educa tion in America.Valuable time is wasted by infighting and indecision. We seem powerless to fix the problems. All parties involved should have a common agreement about what some of the basic needs of students are. Our culture and the state of society is promptly changing. In the light of these changes, new ideas about education can be useful to improve our education system. But they should be investigated for their effectiveness. The key to our future depends on highly educated students who are prepared for the 21st century. Our sparing future and ability to compete in the world marketplace depends on it.