As evidenced from my previous post, I am a huge, huge, HUGE proponent of education reform. I know that this isn't exactly an issue that's incredibly controversial and is making headlining news at the moment, but the education system in this country is something that should be making news.
It's not as if the education system in the United States is terrible. Compared to a lot of countries, it's pretty darn good. I personally think it's average, occasionally bordering on mediocre. But I feel like it has so much potential to be better.
Great way to commence the de-sucking process? Early childhood education. It is SO vital that children start the education process at a young age- especially for children in poverty. Academic success is proven to come more readily when children start schooling at a younger age. Unfortunately, opposition comes from the fact that establishing early childhood education programs will cost billions of dollars in taxpayer money. However, if you educate these kids earlier, they'll consequently be smarter, graduate from high school, graduate from college, and then go get a successful, well-paying, tertiary job in which they can pay all those tax dollars right back. You get a highly-trained working class, and you have an educated population. Win-win, right?
Second way to de-suck the education system: pay teachers more and get rid of labor unions. We're already lacking qualified teachers, and a huge reason as to why this is happening is because people are hesitant about taking on a job that's going to pay crap. If we focus tax-payer money on education instead of questionable projects (such as funding those dinky rural airports), we can pay teachers more so they actually feel appreciated and consequently do a better job. And while we're at it, we can get rid of teacher labor unions. Ever wonder why that terrible teacher was never fired despite millions of parent and student complaints? Yeah, he/she is in a labor union. Honestly, if you're good at what you do, why do need a labor union to protect you?
Third way to de-suck our schools: stop coddling all the stupid kids. Not just the No Child Left Behind program, just stop coddling in general. It is the most annoying thing ever when I read in the paper how another county has had parents complaining that their son received a D- and now the school board is changing the grading scale so that it is now impossible to fail. I honestly think that the majority of crappy grades come from laziness- not that the kid is stupid. And sometimes, the only way to carry across the message that a kid is lazy is to let them fail. Really no way around it. If we keep on devising ways to "leave no child behind", we're subsequently holding back the children who are capable of excelling. Standards of Learning are stupid. If we accept mediocrity, that's what we're going to receive. Set the standards higher, and people will aim higher. It's not an impossible task.
There are honestly so many other ways to improve our education system, but there's really just one flaw: there's no money. So I recognize that. People would rather have money spent on other things, whatever.
And I apologize on how informal the writing in this post was. Kind of going against my own beliefs.
Down with the sucking! :P
ReplyDeleteI think you hit on something really important by mentioning teacher unions. And I agree, but there do need to be some protections for teachers against (stupid) parents. I'm thinking of those hard-ass teachers that rule through fear. Machiavellian but effective. Kids don't know whats good for them, they complain, their parents complain, and suddenly that teacher's in trouble.
The other thing is that teachers need to stop being paid bonuses based on how their kids perform on tests. It only encourages them to teach strictly to the test. Which is basically the whole point of AP classes, but I really mean this more for elementary schoolers.
And that was really long.