Problems in Education free essay sample

Our topic was problems with education and thinking about this was overwhelming because we came up with so many issues and could realistically talk about just a few so our journey consist of: funding issues and the importance of this is that the more money invested in schools produces better environments, better teachers, better courses, expanded teaching capabilities and students encouraged by this would exceed our expectations. Discrimination: with the change in funding we could eliminate the unequal standards of schools which would foster equal opportunities and hopefully come to alleviate poverty and a future with no need for discrimination. Benefits of arts: arts of variety expand imagination, open creativity, allow feeling, thinking and connecting with others, it fosters peace and appreciation of life and people. It could possibly be a bridge to a cure for hostility and negativity in schools. It has already proved to better skills and performance in academic studies. We will write a custom essay sample on Problems in Education or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page No child left behind: A absolutely good idea but the program itself has many problems, the idea that every child gets equal education is great, but the standards of teaching to a test stifles the learning possibilities and the variety of what is being taught. It hinders growth, imagination, creativity and delivers a very narrow scope of living skills or what we encounter in or contribute to society. Being well rounded means having a broad educational background, fully developed varied abilities and well balanced in range or variety of aspects, this cannot be possible when teaching to memorizing tests. Looking into or fixing any one of these individually would not give what is needed in our education system, in combination or simultaneously would be big step in working in the right direction. Ignorance is lack of knowledge, and if everyone is educated on an equal field we could safely say that ignorance would be wiped out. We may still have some that think and act unintelligently but there would be few, by widespread education we as a society could possibly not have some of the pressing problems that we face today. With diligence and encouragement we could make great strides and changes in our society that would benefit all. We could see less addiction, less need for government assistance, dwindling of prisons, families intact, more caring of other people, less crime, no shortage of needed jobs, much less discrimination, standards higher, better possibilities in government and our next generation making better choices with other societal issues. All because education becomes a priority and we will have fully developed, well balanced educated people with a varied range and variety of abilities to make our world better. We chose education because it is the best start for things to change, without education many may not see what needs to change or how to make the changes. Education as a priority is the jumping off point. Funding is a large problem in education. Though education is inarguably an extremely important asset, it is constantly getting the short end of the funding. Though funding varies from state to state, it is safe to assume that the more money that goes to our education, the better we will all do. By funding schools we invest in our future and American competitiveness. With better education more Americans will be able to find jobs to support themselves or their families; we will also solve many other economic problems. An obvious economic problem that would be decreased is the unemployment rate. With improved funding to education, less affluent children, or adults looking to go to college, could have better affordable schools to attend. An initial problem that comes to hand with low funding to schools is overcrowding. Schools that receive less funding tend to have a higher amount of students per classroom. This in turn, creates a less effective learning environment. This problem is prevalent among K-12 public schools across the country. With more students, teachers aren’t allowed the time to give each student the attention they may need. While some students can function in an environment like this, the average student will have issues learning in such an environment. â€Å"In 2008, 17 of the nations 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50%†. (11 Facts Bout Education and Poverty in America) This statistics are unfortunate, and can be improved through adequate funding. Because approximately half of all education spending is state-funded, state cutbacks force districts to raise revenue on their own, or trim resources like educational services and lay off teachers. The cuts have also hurt economic recovery, as  194,000 school jobs nationwide were lost between August 2010 and August 2011. (Zhao, Emmeline) In 2011 thirty-seven states cut their budgets towards education as much as 12. 9%. (Zhao, Emmeline) With education, cutting budgets entails many things that take away from the schools effectiveness. For example, laying off teachers, removing programs, or reusing old equipment and books. Perhaps more government funding could help aid this problem? Most of the United States money goes towards areas like Medicaid, Social Security, and defense, leaving only a small 2% sliver of the money going to education. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) Though it’s hard to say exactly what could be alleviated in order to provide education with more funding, there has to be some excess expenditure somewhere. An example would be in defense. Perhaps if there were less involvement in other countries, the government would have more funding available to up the quality of education in America? Why is it especially important America improve its education system? With the economy unstable, America’s middle class is dissolving. With the unemployment rate up, we need affordable education available to all ages. In this highly technological world, with increasingly complex jobs, education for less affluent individuals is a must. Without it our poverty rate will continue to rise, and America’s need for a highly educated workforce will not be met. In order for education to be made more readily available, legislatures must agree to provide more adequate funding to public colleges and universities, as well as student aid. We need governmental policies and programs that provide sufficient federal and state funding to public higher education institutions and increased financial aid to students, most importantly low- and moderate-income students. Funding must return to levels in which spending on higher education per student keeps pace with inflation. (Kallison, 41) The fear of massive college debts should not be a barrier between a person and their ability to attend college. A possible remedy could be pricing of college based on your income or that of your family. Or perhaps discounts on the basis of good grades? However, both of these would e hard to enact without proper funding to the college. Public education in the United States is a very valuable aspect. It is the education that is offered to our children to hopefully establish a better future. The public school system in America today is lacking in academic achievement. As demands for better education increase, the complete education that our chil dren truly receives is decreasing. From the lack of government support the students faces not only a type of stereotypical and racial inequalities, but also lack of support and funding for their school from the government especially those less affluent children. This can progress to negative attitudes toward themselves and students learn to fail due to low self-esteem. Ethnic discrimination in schools can be described as not giving a person an equal education based on their race. The term racial discrimination generates a distinction between one group of people with another. It differ depending on the social economic factors and culture that lead on the decision by students and teachers in choosing who is to succeed and who is to fail in the school performance. We find that this discrimination in schools has led to unfair disciplining system among other factors in schools. Though teachers claim that the policy and disciplinary practices in schools are balanced and objective, there are still main reason that lead to an increase in the number of students of color being sent out of school. The consequence of racial discrimination which teachers are assumed to be practicing to discipline on students depending on the gender, socio-economic factors and race causes inequalities in public schools. Due to the growing urban population, many suburban schools are growing hence increasing the racial differences. This has directed to a cultural adjustment through which teachers lacking knowledge with the belief systems, cultural values and perspectives of the students. Consequently, due to lack of the teacher’s knowledge, teachers are not able to understand the behavior of a particular students socio-economic factor. This experience creates differences among the members in the learning organization. Ethnic discrimination especially in public school is a growing concern. If we discriminate against our students we are ultimately creating a big problem because it adds to society’s social problems such as violence, drugs, early dropout and lower college attendance rates. Students of all ethnic backgrounds lose when they are not given the chance to learn from teachers of all races. We believe teachers also lose out when they are not given or taking the chance to learn how to teach to students of different races. We think that complete removal of ethnic discrimination in schools is a long way away. Some might not be aware of how much discrimination still exists in our schools today. Teachers are valuable part of a child’s education. They are the thrust that children need. Teachers in wealthier school has more of a successful outcome and will more than likely push students to their full potential. While the teacher who is just there for a job will just push the children to get out of high school, so the less affluent children are often held back later in life due to lack of decent education. In an affluent area, the schools are clean, well kept and look more like small college campuses. Any child attending this kind of school will continually want the finer things in life and will unlikely settle for less than the best. But in a less affluent neighborhood where schools are run down, vandalized, and are usually un-kept, a child will likely settle for less. We believe that the problem with school lies not in the idea of public education, but in the way public schools are managed and funded. If one walked into any public school, the odds are great that youll find demoralized teachers, overflowing classrooms, and possibly unsafe classroom. Additionally many students endure psychological or behavior problems that teachers are not adequately qualified to handle. Therefore, both teachers and students end up failing one another. In conclusion, there are many solutions to prevent the inadequacy of our public school, the discrimination and the lack of support from our government. You should always challenge discrimination at school. It is crucial that one can recognize anti-discrimination practice. All schools have a discriminatory policy. All teachers, faculty and teaching assistants should read and follow. It is not easy to alter the views of others, but discriminatory comments and actions must be challenged. But what the government and institutions and rest of the public can do is help minimize this issue. Our suggestions for resolving this issue are to push more accountability in everyone. Push for more responsibility on student performance and change how assessment will be measured and judged in public schools. Students should also be assessed not only through test scores but also through attendance, schoolwork, and participations. Parents should also play a big part of their children lives. Parents should also hold the schools responsible for the advancement of their student’s knowledge and skills. Accountability needs to apply to everyone, starting with the students and parents, the teachers and administrators. We have covered Government funding, discrimination racial and ethnic but discrimination presents itself in many forms, it is not always as apparent as race, ethnicity or gender and sometimes not expressed intentionally, by default older returning students and students with different learning abilities seem to get passed by without adequate response to their needs. With unemployment on the rise, people being laid off from jobs, others in recovery looking for a new start and the call to mothers with empty nest syndrome, going back to school and exploring new careers has become a new phase in our society, one that should be admired and encouraged. This movement to reeducate is a positive reinforcement of people wanting to be productive in society and also serves as example of how to respond to hard times. Our schools seem to have added programs (that are always threatened with budget cuts) to help welfare to work (fast track), veterans returning, second language students, students with disabilities and students with high performance but somehow the missing piece is students with different learning abilities and older returning students. This is important because instead of leaning on government assistance or becoming criminal to survive these students are trying to reeducate to be productive members of society and financially care for themselves and their families. Older students have expressed a feeling of wanting to inspire young people with their example. They are proof that monies should be put into continued and alternative education instead of more prisons or weapons. Arts education has been facing many challenges even though teachers, business leaders and a large number of Americans agree on its value to students. It seems that the when cuts are being made it is always the most needed programs that are cut. Studies have shown that arts in all forms help students grow intellectually, socially, emotionally and test scores improve. Arts have been highly motivating and seem to reduce tardiness and truancy at schools and foster critical thinking, creativity and problem solving as they become adults â€Å"which are necessary skills in the 21st century economy†. All research seems to show that arts advance academic excellence and are the desired courses which bring children to school. Research professor of education at New York University, Diane Ravitch about arts says â€Å"they expand student’s ability to think, feel and get connected to other students†. With all the studies and the majority of Americans agreeing that arts are needed how does it become such a challenge to provide? As a society we should be outraged, this kind of thoughtless blunder is what keeps us from reaching our full potential. Allowing things to slip by or finding something else more important at the time, we should be looking to the future our children are what we expect to make things better but our money goes in another direction. Education is the key to expanding our minds and gaining understanding, this is what will not allow us ignorance but open doors to better our lives everyone’s. These are a few options for change, first there needs to be an assessment of returning students and if they are over 30yrs of age give them different criteria for reaching their degrees or credentials. The college requirements are made for young students who are not sure of their course in life and it gives them well roundedness. Where older adults returning to school most know what they are back for and some of the side requirements take up precious time and their financial aid which are both very important to older students. There is no benefit to the rearrangement of life and possibilities or new beginnings to follow a new career if the requirements don’t allow you to get there in a timely fashion. Next would be to stop placing students who have different learning abilities into the category of disabled. Auditory teaching is but one form and as we know so many students learn differently, and are not offered the experience of the best teaching technique for their skills. Instead most are diagnosed with learning disability and stigmatized from then on, and not given the benefit of their different ability. There should be teachers with different strategies and effective learning styles and new spaces for particular abilities. This can be integrated into the curriculum and students can pick there form of learning and we would down size the amount of students with disabilities. Many students would rather do poorly than to be labeled with a disability, it never goes away and all that is seen is disability by students, teachers and employers. How cheated they must feel that we not recognize the possibilities and teach to their abilities. Last on the list is Art education I am still amazed that with all the positive views we still ave to find financial stability, education needs to be at the top of the list for money and programs. With education at the forefront of everything we could change so much; ignorance would be a word in the dictionary instead of how so many people live. Education could take the place of addictions, prison population, poverty which in turn would change so much discr imination. People who could feel good about themselves and support their families without struggle would give way to more peace and lower stress cut medical spending. If we could only see the benefits and strive to do better what a world we could live in. No Child Left Behind Act and schools teaching to the test is one way that the public school system is failing these generations of children. Teaching to the test eliminates teachers ability to teach children lifelong skills, has created a larger achievement gap between the affluent and the poor and minority, and has brought down education standers rather than bringing all children up to a higher stander. Teaching to the test reduces teacher creativity, innovative instruction, the use of varied teaching strategies for diverse students, and teacher and student motivation. This type of testing is forcing instruction to change from exploratory, lifelong learning to teaching to the test through memorization and repetition eliminating the opportunity for teachers to teach students life skills like creative thinking and problem solving. These are skills that follow children through their life, allowing them to; think through ideas, create their own opinions and work with others cooperatively. If we do not teach these important skills to the next generations we are selling them and our future short. We are creating a population that can memorize and recite but are not able to make and think through hard decisions with an understanding of their true outcomes. An example of this is when teacher was talking to an eighth grade history class about the Articles of Confederation. The students were able to give certain facts about one of the eight Features of the Articles of Confederation regarding No Chief Executive; but could not make the connection that they chose that Feature because the colonies just experienced an abusive rule by King George III. An eighth grade history teacher at Springveiw Middle School, Rocklin, CA) The No Child Left Behind Act penalizes the educationally disadvantage students it is supposed to help. It has created a new gap between well-off children and the poor and minorities. Funding for schools are based off the standardized test scores. The affluent schools already have the funds to maintain the privilege of studying a full and varied curriculum. While the re is growing evidence that the curriculum is narrowed for poor children and children of color. These are the children that are subjected to the most pretest pressures, the lack of variety in their curriculum, thus leading to a higher dropout rate, lower interest in furthering academics, and discouragement from teachers. This is creating a system that perpetuates the problem. â€Å"NCLB is just not working –at least not for inner-city schools. According to a recent report by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 30% of all American students do not graduate from high school. For the predominantly minority students living in large cities, the statistics are even worse. Only one half, 52%, of students in the nation’s fifty largest cities graduate from high school, and in four large metropolitan areas (Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, and Indianapolis), fewer than 35% of the students graduate. † (CUMBERLAND LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:2] pg 397-398) Under the No Child Left Behind Act each state creates the standard the schools have to meet, this allows states to create low standard tests. Some states have established a lower proficiency standard, and some states declare most students proficient even when their performance is miles short of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) standard. By setting widely varying standards, states render the very notion of proficiency meaningless. †According to Thomas Toch, co-director of the research group, Education Sector, the increase in testing required under NCLB puts pressure on states to switch to multiple choice tests. Although the multiple choice tests generally require students to merely recall and restate facts, they can be scored at a fraction of the cost of tests that are hand written— those with essay questions. Forty-two percent of our nations children are now taking mandated math and reading tests that are entirely multiple choice. † (ENCOUNTER: Education for Meaning and Social Justice Pg. 34) There has been a lot of criticism of No Child Left Behind Act and standardized testing. One recent solution that is being brought up and trying to get implemented is The Common Core State Standards Initiative. The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare children for college and the workforce. Their idea is to take the standardize testing and add more analytical thought, creative thought and preparation of life skills. This is their new definition of the standards: that they are aligned with college and work expectations; that they are clear, understandable and consistent; include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills; build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards; are informed by other top performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and are evidence-based. This will not solve all the problems but it is trying to take the already standardized testing and create a more well rounded baseline. In conclusion we have discussed the possibilities of solving the education problems, the benefits of making education a priority and the starting place for making strides in problem solving in our society. We have to start here with our education or we continue to breed ignorance and continue to become more stagnant and problems only get worse without solution. Government funding: Solutions are more money in every aspect because this is our priority, monies to make teaching a job worth its weight, monies to all schools, produce funding towards our future, allowing students to attend any and all choices of learning without financial worries. Racial Discrimination: Everyone speaks out about discriminatory practices, everyone should be more accountable and the more equal the playing field the better our chances. Other discrimination and arts: Assessment for older retuning students, and different requirements to fast track them to their goal. To teach to student’s abilities instead of labeling them as disabled, new effective learning styles and strategies, spaces for different learning and integrating the different teaching styles into the curriculum so students can sign up for appropriate classes. Arts education money-money-money. No child left behind: There have been specialists looking at how to revamp this initiative and that is all good but the real issue is to keep teaching open to the teachers and the students they teach. Our best effort would be to expect the best and keep education a priority so students become educated and well- rounded. Once more we chose education as the priority because everything will become clear with equality of education and higher standards for everyone. With this we will have fully developed well balanced educated people making choices about a future. 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Cumberland Law Review; 2009, Vol. 0 Issue 2, p397-461, 65p Scholarly journal: Hout, Michael Elliott, Stuart Frueh, Sara 5. â€Å"Do High-Stakes Tests Improve Learning? † Issues in Science Technology; Fall2012, Vol. 29 Issue 1, p33-38, 6p, 3 Color Photographs, 1 Chart Scholarly journal: Haretos, Chrisanti â€Å"THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT OF 2001: IS THE DEFINITION OF ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS ADEQUATE? † Kennedy School Review; 2005, Vol. 6, p29-46, 18p Online Magazine: Baker, Beth – (2012) â€Å"Art Education† Retrieved from: CQ Researcher, volume 22 issue 1