The following is an article I wrote in January for a now defunct blog. It was never posted. In it, I discuss two ideas that I think are key to improving the United State’s public education program; improved teacher education programs and extending the school year.
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Americans have been hearing for years that our education system is failing to prepare our kids for the world. Time after time, other countries place higher in international standardized tests and other measures of academic achievement. It did not always used to be this way. What can be done to improve American schools so that our students are better prepared to interact and thrive in the global world we live in today?
As the internet and other communication technologies have improved and become cheaper, the world has experienced a “flattening” affect. Now, people across the world can integrate with the global economy for a fraction of the cost. Americans are probably most familiar with this flattening through the phenomenon of outsourcing. Indeed, many American companies are utilizing the competitive advantage other countries have in labor costs and that can result in a loss of jobs stateside. However, this trend of globalization is doing more than moving manufacturing jobs overseas. It is making competition for almost every job, particularly white collar managerial, science, and technology jobs, much greater. Instead of having to compete with other Americans in the job market, modern graduates must compete with other Americans, Japanese, Indians, Russians and every other 1st and 2nd world country.
With this increase in competition for good jobs, it is now more vital than ever that the American school system prepare students adequately. Many would argue that our current system is not doing this well enough. Proposals have run the gamut in terms of government involvement and radical nature, but most would agree something must be done to regain America’s education superiority.
For starters, I, and many other teachers, would argue that teacher certification programs must become more rigorous. Public education starts with the teachers and the higher quality educators we have running our classrooms, the better our students will be. Teaching must become a prestigious occupation along the lines of doctors and lawyers to draw the best candidates into the profession.
Secondly, the American school system must re-think its stance on long summer vacations. Studies have shown that a vast amount of knowledge is lost, particularly among lower socioeconomic students, during the school-free summer months. Some of the most highly achieving students in the world go to school for well over 275 days a year, while Americans attend for approximately 180. In a world where these students will be competing directly for the same jobs, Americans are automatically at a disadvantage.
I will not pretend for one second that a topic as complex as this can be solved alone by improving teacher education and lengthening the school year. However, I do think that these two steps would be positive improvements to a system that is showing its age. Education reform is a subject that illicit strong responses from both end of the political spectrum. Policy makers must soon put their partisanship behind them and attack a problem that is instrumental to the success of our country in the future. Americans must not be at a disadvantage in the global economy– their schools must not let them down.
I recently read a publication by a organization for improving the educational standards of my highly populated North Carolina county. It’s certainly worth a read:
http://www.wakeedpartnership.org/news/d/Suspending%20Disbelief.pdf
@Pierre Lourens
Thanks for the link! I’m halfway through it but I was enjoying it so much I wanted to make sure I remembered to thank you. I especially like that the key competency is the ability to keep learning after graduation. I think this is such an important aspect of education that is sorely neglected in most school districts.
Thanks again!
I apologise that I don’t have time to leave a more in depth response.
I have just never seen any study that connects success in school to success in life. When you look at the fact that very few valedictorians go on to distinguish themselves, and very few millionaires are college graduates, the opposite could be argued.
Just something to think about.
@Craig
I don’t believe I’m trying to argue that “success in school” directly leads to success in life. I don’t doubt that there may not be much correlation between the two. However, that doesn’t mean schools should not strive to improve the way in which they prepare students for the future. Regardless to what extent a student succeeds at school, I can’t help but think they will benefit from an environment where certain characteristics and expectations are cultivated (i.e. an excitement for learning, the ability to synthesize multiple sources of information, an expectation of personal responsibility, to name a few off the top of my head).
Anyway, I think I’m talking more about whether or not schools are succeeding in preparing students for life after high school and not whether students are succeeding at their respective schools (not that there really is much in the way of a standard metric to measure that, anyway).
Anyway, you see that I’m coming from the perspective that formal education, in its current form, is highly overrated. I’ve always been amused by the idea that Japan, known for providing a very good school system, has very few Nobel Prize winners. Japanese students are good at doing what they’re told but have trouble creating something new. That’s not really the American way.
Anyway, my understanding is that a big reason other countries score higher than our students is because they aren’t obligated to educate every student. Students take regular tests and, if they don’t pass, they don’t move on. They’re done. They become milk men and laborers. We, on the other hand, school every student, from special ed to gifted and talented, for free up to adulthood. The deck is kind of stacked against us. You’ll notice that American private schools, who can be selective about their students, and whose pupils by and large want to be there, generally score very well.
We could go a long way to make some improvments by cutting administration, taking the savings to hire more teachers and reduce classroom size, and doing away with tenure.
I’m not sure if I could go along with schooling through summer. Many jobs for school age kids are seasonal. Summer jobs are great for teaching work ethic, gaining real life work experience, and getting references for the future. A lot of kids around here couldn’t go to college were it not for the money earned picking strawberries.
Finally, I’d really like to make education optional. If a student truly doesn’t want to be there, why should society waste resources trying to convince him otherwise? Maybe he knows something we don’t. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard. You may argue that the kid will likely go on welfare and become more of a burden to society. I’d counter that we should do away with that as well. Society needs to realize that propping up the weak doesn’t do them any favors. Our culture values freedom. It’s cliched, but with freedom comes responsibility.
I’m on a rant. I apologise.