In Class - Turn in homework ("News War" handout). In your groups, work on your public opinion analysis. Although I will give you class time to work on this, you may need to work on this outside of class. You will present your information on Thursday (final exam) and your analysis (one per group) will be due on Wednesday, July 21 by 11:59 pm via email. Each group is responsible for completing their analysis. I will collect the written work on Thursday morning. Begin new topic of education. Individually, rate your education on a scale from 1-10. Discuss this as a class. Watch President Barack Obama's back to school speech from September 2009. Write down anything that catches your attention in his speech. We will continue to work on this tomorrow and the discussion will be Thursday afternoon. This will be one of the last grades in the grade book and participation is vital.
Question of the Day: Using some of the resources below, respond to the following prompt: In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country? You may want to research some of these questins to help you in your response. What is the purpose of your education? Do schools need more money per pupil? Should standardized testing be the only way to measure a school? a district? or a student? Should No Child Left Behind be renewed by the federal government?
You do not have to answer these questions, but it may help you when you write. Be sure to write a minimum of two solid paragraphs that are well organized and contain some specific information. Although you do not have to cite your sources, you may want to look at some of the articles below.
Homework - Keep working on your group analysis. Final question of the day is due on Wednesday, July 21 by 11:59 pm.
Articles/Videos to check out:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/video/President-Obamas-Message-for-Americas-Students - POTUS back to school speech (we watched this in class today)
http://www.2mminutes.com/news/pdfs/The%20Forgotten%20Man%20Blog%2012_10_09.pdf - Economic policy - good introduction to the topic of education reform
http://www.projo.com/news/content/central_falls_teachers_02-10-10_INHDDCD_v28.3b40f6e.html - Rhode Island High School shut down
http://www.times-standard.com/othervoices/ci_14424958 - Race to the Top
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/02/17/are-unions-blocking-school-reform/ - teacher unions
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education - White House views on education
http://www.ed.gov/ - US Department of Education - some interesting articles on this site
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/State_of_the_Union/obama-overhaul-no-child-left-behind/story?id=9725517 - Obama to overhaul NCLB
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1972820,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1978589,00.html - should kids be bribed to do well in school
31 comments:
Question of the Day: Using some of the resources below, respond to the following prompt: In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country? You may want to research some of these questions to help you in your response. What is the purpose of your education? Do schools need more money per pupil? Should standardized testing be the only way to measure a school? a district? or a student? Should No Child Left Behind be renewed by the federal government?
First of all, we do not live in a perfect world. Who really knows when the world will be perfect is still a mystery. We all have problems in different areas. Which ones are more important to who is something else? Right now we see ourselves in a recession, but things could change pretty fast. One topic that comes up a lot is the issue of education. Education is said to be the future of our country by many. But how important is education really to everyone. It’s really important these days since if you want to succeed in life, you have to have a higher education than a high school diploma.
Things need to be changed in order for our educational system to be progressive. California has fallen behind a lot in the issue of education by a lot. Europe has left us behind and we are struggling because of this fallback. In order to bring in a new order to this problem a lot of new methods will have to be made. To start, I would change the levels of classes available to students. In order to succeed in school, you have to be challenged to fulfill your potential. It’s time to test students in classes with tougher education to prepare for journey after high school. By testing student’s levels academically, it can assure a brighter future for all students. Sometimes all someone needs is a little push to figure out what they can really do in life. By stepping up levels in academics, it will challenge the future of this country’s mind in order to promise a successful future for all mankind.
As we all know, education is the top priority in not only the United States but as well the world. Many may think they don’t need education but without education i believe you will not succeed in life, or who knows maybe you will but i doubt it will be something you enjoy doing. Education is our top priority but we have failed in in making it that. Education can be very hard at times, but thats the whole point of it, if you make a mistake you do it right the next time and then you learn. We are not a perfect world but that does not give us the right to not care about education. Its sad how when things are not going so well, one of the first actions they make us cut down some money from education. If i had the leadership and power to change the education system i would do pretty much the opposite the federal government does. And no im not saying they do nothing at all but i don’t think they put enough effort and put themselves in the students position. I would stop schools to be seperate by normal classes and advance classes. I would would have every student to be in an advanced class, or maybe not even advanced but every class to be a bit difficult. Doing random investigations in classes to make sure the teacher is doing their job as well as the students. The reason i would do this type of action is because i believe if you have a student start like this with difficult classed would prepare them for the future. And after a while it will be something they will get used to, and then they will think it is easy and of course it will make them a lot smarter than having the same old methods we currently have. They might not realize it but when they go to college the teacher there don’t care if the student passes or not. That is why preparing them early would get them ready to have success and some type of profession other than a job at a retail store or fast food, or in other words a job where you only get paid minimum wage. If there were problems such as the ones were having now such as unemployment, war, oil spill etc, i would make many actions but one would definetly not be cutting down money on education. The federal government should realize the reason why they are in the position they stand, they are important people because of education, education brought them there. So why can’t we try to make our future dream profession come true as well. So by classes being difficult will be a challenge for students at first, but the key to success is education.
Using some of the resources below, respond to the following prompt: In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country? You may want to research some of these questions to help you in your response. What is the purpose of your education? Do schools need more money per pupil? Should standardized testing be the only way to measure a school? a district? or a student? Should No Child Left Behind be renewed by the federal government?
I believe our educational system can be improved with help from the teachers, students, and government. Right now, the educational system is lacking support for various reasons; budget deficients, low test scores, inadequate educators, etc. These are a few criteria’s we all need to focus on. As a nation, it can be argued that Americans are becoming less educated than the rest of the world. It is true that the educational system is not as important as some of the crisis we face as a nation today. But from my perspective, I see education as a way to fix some of the major, particularly economic, problems we have today. Let’s make education the number one priority for the United States and, if so, the future will look bright just as the students that come from the system.
In a perfect world, education will be priority number one for everyone. Schools will be a learning haven for all and the teachings will be coming from the best. The educational system will meet all requirements that are needed for real world. A basic standard will be set for all schools, but the school will have control on what should be taken. Students will have various options to choose from and they should be able to choose classes that strike their interests. Since this being a perfect world, money will not be an issue and educators will be provided with reasonable salaries. Test will be given out on what the student has taken interest in; for example, a student that focuses on history would not have to take a math orientated test. But of course the students will have to be well rounded. This may seem too perfect, but I believe if we take strides towards a better educational system, then the system will not be as flawed as it is today. We need to push this to the forefront and provide the teachers and students with quality materials needed for an adequate education. Of course the system will never be perfect, however with actions from teachers, students, parents, and government, the United States can be the leading nation in education.
-Kenny Tran 7/20/2010
Tuesday, June 20
(Terecita Vega)In a perfect world I would change the learning concepts of how education is managed. I establish a new and effective rules and regulations in the school. I would create more challenging classes for all students. I would expect more of the students in taking advantage of what the school offers. A method I would consider using is having more communication with the students and the teachers and being aware of what is needed in order to make their education better. It would benefit the students if they were given more tests in order for them to be prepared and to be aware of what to expect when taking more difficult tests like the SAT and ACT exams. This would prepare them for college and what's expected in college.
These students also need to know the purpose of why they are in school. School is a place where you will be taught and the students are to do their school work at all times when they are in school. A student can not learn if they are easily distracted and isn't focusing in their classes. If the students don not agree with what the rules and regulations are then they don't deserve to be in the school and shouldn't be wasting there time. Not all people have the advantages of having an education and yet people that do have the advantages and opportunities to make a carrer out of their education just through it all to waste. The purpose of an education is to be successful if you try your hardest and give it your all.
Most schools around the world use a method in which uses standerized testing to measure the standards how to the students learning level. Standards in learning shouldn't be established. Some students don't have the same taking strategies as other students. There's students that may be smart in areas in which other students may not be so good at. There has been cases where students just completly bomb these standerized testing but succesed in other areas.
In a perfect world there can be so many possibilities. There can be the student who is always attentive and does what he/she must do. Start on their homework right away and finish time without procrastinating. The student would study very hard everyday and finish projects done with creativity and effort. The student would have no missing assignments and would get A+ on all their tests. My point is that students these days have it too easy and the educational system should become much more stricter. On the other hand the teachers also need improvement. SOME shouldn’t even be teachers.
A perfect world with teachers having the ability to teach in such a way that every student wouldn’t need to struggle in a class. Well then that would be awesome. I believe that its easy to describe the perfect world but we will never grasp it, but we cant try. Maybe making things a bit more challenging and/or having to do some hands-on experimenting will make the brain function better. Instead of just having to read out of the text book and respond to questions on a worksheet we should motivate student to become more active. The purpose of education is to get you started in life and living with knowledge inside your brain that helps you in certain situations. In general, your educations determines the direction of your life, future and your country. I believe if we all focus more on education and teaching/learning skills then we will all have a brighter future ahead of us. Overall I hope they add more hours and longer days to our school attendance because 180 is not enough! EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT!
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country? What is the purpose of your education? Do schools need more money per pupil? Should standardized testing be the only way to measure a school? a district? or a student? Should No Child Left Behind be renewed by the federal government?
If there was a perfect world, the education system would be flawless and everyone would try hard and keep pushing themselves, but since this is not a perfect world everyone does not care about their education so they are more likely to fail in life. The way I would change the educational system would have more teachers be more passionate about what they are teaching and have more mandatory tutoring. I think that if there were more tutoring involved there would be more students who understand their work and also there is less of a chance that there will be less kids on the streets and being involved in gangs. We would do this by adding one more period at the end of the day which would be the tutoring session and while they are there they could finish or start on their homework and if they are having trouble there are people around them that could help them. This could also help out the sport teams by having them start on their homework instead of having them wait till after practice when they are already tired and don’t want to do anything.
Another way we could change the educational system is by having the teachers teach passionately about the subject they are teaching. If the teacher is very excited about what he/she teaches then you could get the sense that it is going to be a fun and educational class. I don’t know how to explain it but you can feel the enthusiasm and the joy they have when they are teaching and when they teach you can understand the concept more clearly and get to grasp the methods used. The way I see it is by when the teacher enjoys what is being taught you get to learn more and have fun at the same time. If the teacher is boring it is probably because they are not interested in what is being taught and that’s why more students are ditching classes and staying in others because they like the ones that are more lively and fun. We could change it by having more teachers give more interviews and having them explain their subject and how they would teach it, and if the ones that don’t really give a lot of enthusiasm they could try more times until they sound like someone who is very passionate about their subject. I know it sounds harsh but this is my perfect world.
-Jeremy Gonzalez
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country?
IN A PERFECT WORLD EVERYONE WOULD HAVE TO TAKE EITHER AP OR HONOR CLASSES SO THAT THEY COULD BE CHALLENGED AND FIND THEIR POTENTIAL. EDUCATION WOULD BE A PRIORITY IN LIFE. BECAUSE AS AMERICANS WE ARE NOT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE OPORTUNITIES WE ARE GIVEN. STUDENTS, SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS WOULDN’T BE THE ONLY WAY TO MEASURE A SCHOOL. INSTEAD MANY SCHOOLS WOULD BE MEASURED BY THE PERFORMANCE OF A STUDENT IN AN ACADEMIC TEST. I.E. SAT, ACT, AND FINALS. TEACHERS WOULD BE EVALUATED MORE TO SEE HOW WELL THEY PERFORM TEACHING AND HOW WELL A STUDENT UNDERSTANDS WHAT THE TEACHER IS TEACHING. INB THE OLD DAYS EDUCATION HAD A PURPOSE.WHICH WAS TO HELP STUDENTS FIND WHAT THEY WERE GOOD AT AND TO CHALLENGE THEM SO THAT THEY WOULD BE BETTER PREPERED FOPR THEIR FUTURE AFTER THEY FINISHED SCHOOL AND MOVED ON.
NOW IT HAS CHANGED. MANY STUDENTS ARENT CHALLENGING THEM SELFS AND TEACHERS DON’T CARE EITHER. MANY TEACHERS NOW ONLY FOCUS ON THEIR AP STUDENTS BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THOSE STUDENTS ARE THE ONES THAT ARE GONNA MAKE THEM LOOK GOOD. I ALSO THINK THAT IN A PERFECT WORLD WE WOULD ONLY BE LEARNING THINGS THAT WE ARE ACTUALLY GONNA USE IN LIFE AND NOT WASTE STUDENTS TIME TEACHING THEM SOMETHING THAT HAS NO PURPOSE.FOR EXAMPLE HALF OF THE HISTORY CLASSES THAT WE TAKE IN MY OPINION SHOULDN’T EVEN BE THOUGTHT. ALSO SCHOOLS SHOULD BE GETTING MORE MONEY PER PUPIL SO THAT EACH STUDENT HAS THE SAME OPORTUNITY TO LEARN IF THEY WANT TO LEARN. ALSO I BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD BE TOUGHT BY EDUCATIRS WHO ACTUALLY LIKE TO TEACH AND KNOW WHATS AT STAKE. FINALLY, STUDENTS DON’T DESERVE TO BE IN A CLASS WERE HALF THE STUDENTS DON’T WANT TO LEARN AND THE TEACHERS ARE FOCUSING MORE ON DICIPLINARY ACTIONS THAN ON TEACHING
In changing the education system, I believe that we should first start with having the educators that actually care and love to come to there job everyday. What is the point of having educators who don’t want to bring about change in students or make an impact on their lives? I thought the purpose for education is to learn from our past experience in the U.S. and allow ourselves to learn and gain more knowledge. In a changed education system every student would be challenged and not have material dumb down, allowing the same challenging class such as Advanced Placement and Honors course. That way they would be prepared for college level work and not be afraid of what is to come. However that would also need for schools to have to adapt to the changes in how students learn, by using more technology. Although there would be the thought that with technology being apart of education student would have access to information on test and essays. But using technology for education purposes would allow for students to gain more information and not have them complaining on how boring school is.
In this perfect world that I would create in my mind, the education system would have educators that motivated their students on education is not for getting you in a profession that you want but for knowledge that will last a lifetime and being a lifetime learner. No Child Left behind Act would not be established in the changed education system because it is ultimately only leaving children behind. Its hold them for their talent and capacity of what they actually want to learn. Giving them the idea that everything in life will be that easy for them, but in reality it’s not as easy as putting your name on a quiz and test or filling in bubble. Education should be the main priority and would be the first thing that would make education stronger and allowing future generations to reach higher levels of learning then the one before, rather the other way around.
In a perfect world there would be little things to worry about, but since there isn't such a thing maybe we can strive to get close to it. First of all to improve student education the student must be willing to learn. But to accomplish this the school must offer them something that would interest them to learn. For example if a student has a talent for things like art or writing etc. they should let them enter that class, basically giving the students the freedom to pick their class, but they must have at least some core classes, for instance English and Math. I want to include this classes in because, these classes can help them in the future. Also even though i want to give the students the freedom to choose their own classes, I don't want them to have to much freedom that they wouldn't be challenged. Most importantly the students would have more dependency in school because they like what they are learning.
The plan of having the students interested in their class is not complete without a teacher that will truly guide them and help them. For that it is better to hire teachers that are dedicated in helping students understand what they don't know. I am saying this because nowadays the teachers don't exactly know how students are understanding what they are trying to teach them. Also most of the time what the teacher is trying to teach is not even understandable. That is why the teachers that would be hired to teach this children must know what they are talking about and they must be able to understand how the student is perceiving the information. Lastly it would be nice if the student's have a direct relationship with the teacher, whereas the student's can approach the teacher with the questions they have.
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country?
“We are what we learn”, said our President Barack Obama in his 2009 speech. Education is the main focus for our future since it will determine the destiny we hold. It is up to us to take advantage of our education with the help of our teachers. But not all teachers teach with passion for their job and that leads to failure of students in some cases. This is why I believe there should be a teacher evaluation each year to keep the bad teachers from the students. It will make sure that all teachers are doing their jobs correctly and for students no excuse to fail. With the evaluation our education system could improve by having students secure with great teachers. Since the teacher union makes it difficult to fire teachers with the evaluation there could be a reason.
It is not necessary to invest any more money in the education system due the strong effect it could hold as make the schools worse. As it did in the Kansas schools, the money they received turned their schools worse. The standardized test should measure schools and districts together but all the states should have the same standardized tests to be fair. Since it is not fair for schools to have more difficult test then other schools. Our country should have all fifty states take the same test at a certain level to determine who has the best education. Having all the states take the same test would improve schools, and this would close the bad schools. The closing of the bad schools will lead to the elimination of the zip code. Since a zip code should not determines a school for a student, the parents should have a choice where they want their child to attend. Due to the fact that not all parents have the same financial aid to move around better schools. With these changes our education system could improve greatly.
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country?
In this day and age, education has become a topic that is only cared about by a few students and teachers. Most fail to realize that education is and should be viewed as the most important topic in our society. If education reform became our top priority, I believe that many other issues could be solved, including our over filled prisons, which are filled with tons of prisoners who can barely read or write, showing that there must be some connection of prisoners to a poor education. Also, without education, we cannot have jobs that we need in our lives including doctors, lawyers, and engineers, all of which contribute to the health and growth of our society. Furthermore, if we stay with our highly flawed education system then we will slowly grow dumber and dumber, compared to the world. Maybe, if we lived in a perfect world, we could fix our education system thus leading us to having a better America.
If we indeed had a perfect world then there would be various aspects of the education system I would change.First off, in a perfect world I would set up teams of people to go to all schools and separate all of the good teachers from the bad, and after this all of the bad ones would be fired for good.Next, I would hire large amounts of teachers in order to cut the teacher-student ratio to 1:10, allowing for more personal teaching, which would allow for a better learning experience, and for children to have all their educational needs fulfilled. After that, I would allow parents to choose the schools for their children, making it so that schools will fight to be the top school and in the proccess promote overall good schools. Finally, I would allow students to have a say in their education by allowing them to have more of a choice of the classes they take as well as by giving them review surveys on how good their teachers actually were. However, all this is only possible in a perfect world, unless our country rises together to reform this system this really cannot occur.
In the perfect educational system kids will learn how to read and wright and learn basic math. After a certain point they shouldn't be forced to go. I think making school a choice to teens instead of forcing them to go might encourage them to use opportunities that are available. Honestly, I think kids choose to mess around and get into trouble and because they are forced to. I think kids have that sort of mentality. Lots of kids see school as a place they don't want to be. After a certain point by making it optional might encourage them to go and do something with their life.
I don't think schools need to make more money off of each pupil. Schools make allot of money and need to spend it on the right things. If the schools were full of people that aren't doing anything and ditching class everyday, maybe the schools would stop losing as much money. With kids that wanna be at school and really try standardized testing would be more accurate. Some kids just bubble in staircases on their answer sheets. Lots of kids really don't care about standardized tests and care about their grades more. Especially if they will get grounded for it.
Question of the Day: Using some of the resources below, respond to the following prompt:In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country? You may want to research some of these questins to help you in your response. What is the purpose of your education? Do schools need more money per pupil? Should standardized testing be the only way to measure a school? a district? or a student? Should No Child Left Behind be renewed by the federal government?
First of all we don't live in a perfect world and will this world ever become near perfect? Overlooking on what we are going through today; I say we are far from perfect. We can achieve more if we do the right things, and it takes time and patience. One of the things we can look at is our education system. Education is definitely important if you want to succeed in this society, and we have to look out for the future generation. It will just get tougher and tougher, and it may not be on top of everyone's priority list but it should be because it is something we are fortunate to have and no one should take it away from us. Things need to take action if we want to progress in our country because education is something that can change the future by a long shot.
So, in my opinion I say the government should be focusing more on the children's education and becoming stricter. Do something to get the children involved because the more they are involved the less trouble there will be. Children with a good education will most likely progress better, and they will have a better future. They have the opportunity and need to take advantage of it because it will help them achieve what they need in order to succeed in their careers. The teachers and schooling helps them develop their talents and intellect. Don't give up, even if you failed once or twice. The ones who became the most successful have had the most failures. Just learn for your mistakes, and set goals for yourself. Some may think standardized testing is the only way to measure a school or district, but i think there are different ways also. Children have different ways of learn for instants some may learn by playing games related to what they are learning or some may do better by studying out of a book. The teachers should find ways to help the children succeed, but then again they can't make things easy for them.
Education
The educational system in my opinion should be changed based on helping students bring up their need for improving their potential, knowledge, and their character. Though I don’t believe there can be a perfect educational system, because it wouldn’t be the same if I had the chance to change it. Education right now seems decent, the only problem I believe include the budget cuts and the lack of interested children not taking advantage of a great opportunity. The purpose of education is to basically to set goals and prepare for the future. But the students have to want it, and work hard to earn it by listening, studying, and participating. I believe the teachers also have to act as equal partners to the students, the teachers should challenge the students to show them their best potential, and the students should want to learn and take that advantage. Education can bring the best of people and make the world a better place. As Obama said in his speech, “ for every good job comes education.”
As to everything there always seems to be problems, one problem I would change would be to have more challenging classes. For example, the classes that do challenge students are honors and AP courses. But I think why have those separate courses only to bring potential in the students. The regular classes should be taken more seriously and help prepare students by bringing up the class a level. School should be fun by having that place to learn different subjects, and get involved. But most students don’t take that and use it to improve themselves, mentally, morally, and their personal best. Do schools need more money per person? I don’t believe the schools should have more money for each student, there are many students that lack interest and don’t even care for their education. Why should they help those that don’t want to help themselves, if the opportunity is handed out to them all they need to do is to take it and work hard. Many refuse. And as said in “stupid in America”, the more money they spend on the schools the less they improve. It brought more low test scores, I agree money doesn’t teach kids. Some say that we don’t need the classes we are being required to take, because it wont be relevant to them in the future. It just might, it might not but I do believe that these classes are to open us up to new things, and besides students can take classes in college that would be relevant to them in their future careers. Overall, we do all learn the same thing but that doesn’t always bring us success. Its what we know that’s different, our own unique quality that gives us a new experience in knowledge that brings the good things in life.
I have come to realize that our educational system is wrecked in various ways and should be fixed. We have been experiencing numerous things that have been affecting the educational system for quite a while now. Recently we’ve seen how several teachers have been fired, how the school year has shorten do to shortage of money, and how more and more money is been cut from the educational system and is being used in other things like war and such. Schools have started to cut many advantages they had for students that helped them because they have lost a lot of money and they just can’t afford it but money doesn’t seem to be the only issue going wrong in the educational system. Money seems to be nothing but the excuse for so many schools doing bad. They either don’t have money or don’t have enough to keep the school running but reality is that money is not the issue. The issue is that many schools don’t give enough focus to students, that the standards are set lower and lower for students each year for an unknown reason, and that basically, the educational system is just not doing its best to enhance and give a better and proper education to its students.
In a perfect world, all of this would change. There wouldn’t be a wrecked educational system but a system where all America could truly be proud of and recognize as best rather than being looked down upon by other countries as “stupid.” In this perfect world, the parents would be the ones choosing where their kids would be attending school and have a variety of options where each school would have a great opportunity for every student to excel. There would be no more sitting through a class you completely despise or teacher whom you fall asleep to with just the hearing of their voice. Standardized tests where if you mess up, your school is looked upon like a bad school would not exist any longer. Everyone’s main goal would be to be better educated discarding the fact you may never use the information out of school. We would all have excellent teachers and would not have to see half of them go every now and then because of money shortage or what not. Money would not be an issue anymore and education would be the main focus to everyone. Only if we lived in that perfect world would there be that kind of education system.
-Nydia Lopez
Obviously the educational system is an enormous system, something that needs to be handled with intense care and strict policies that instruct the foundations and basis of education to coincide appropriately. After viewing and discovering much information of how our educational system is distorted and flawed at an enormous level, there are things that should be amended. For instance, from experience the system has gone to an extreme sense of relieving the students of the United States of America from choice. This is an enormous issue in which we are deprived of. From a personal point of view, after Junior Middle School, High Schools throughout the United States should seriously consider shifting their focus upon fashioning themselves into the system in which colleges abide by. Which is, allowing students to focus their energy on what they believe would help them in their career. This I believe would prevent students from dropping out of high school, because the percentage of high school drop outs is too high. How this would prevent this? By allowing students to gain an interest in what they would desire to do in their future, to take courses that interest them, would allow them to gain an interest in high school. High school in America is after all mandatory for students. By experience I see people mostly dropping out because they don’t seem to have an interest. They don’t care. And honestly it is a very difficult task to make someone care for an education. Education to me is something you want, something in life that challenges you. As I see so many people walk down the halls of Norte Vista High, I see the bleak gleam on their faces, I can tell that their interest is slim, their care for their future is dwindling, and this is occurring with every following generation. Personally, I despise math, and most people do, though I don’t dislike it because I think it is a useless thing that I will never use, I just don’t have that skill or strength. Some people on the other hand do. And along with the students spread among the United States they believe, I’m sure that math is just a waste of time. Now in my opinion if we were to change that, for example as I mentioned earlier, giving students the choice to decide what courses they want to take, beginners courses for more advanced classes that they would take in college. it would give that amazing interest that students actually crave. This would exercise more involvement in school and develop proper habits among the student body (perhaps the level of drug use would decrease).
Also, in my opinion (as much as I would hate to say this) students and faculty should stay in school longer, by adding one extra hour at the end of each day dedicated to studying for tests such as; the SAT and ACT, as well as the standardized tests that everyone despises. Quite honestly I believe that people despise them so much because they don’t know the material. Which involves the teachers. Dedicating an extra hour after school, which would be mandatory would dramatically shift the test scores toward a positive direction. Something that I learned in French class is that France, has a four day school schedule, four days in class, and they take Wednesday off. This day though is entirely reserved for the students to spend at college fairs, anything that involves education. And the children actually take a huge interest in school because they begin doing this by the time they enter elementary school. This is something we should mimic in a way. Which is why I believe adding an extra hour at the end of each school day would help students to gain an interest in school.
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country? You may want to research some of these questions to help you in your response. What is the purpose of your education? Do schools need more money per pupil? Should standardized testing be the only way to measure a school? A district? Or a student? Should No Child Left Behind be renewed by the federal government?
I believe that no one is perfect thus the perfect world doesn’t exist. However, I would change the education of our country by ensuring that all students understand the importance a good education can have in their life. As well as encourage teachers that we are the future of this country and it’s a must that they need to teach us their knowledge so we can strive in this world. It’s not the need of more money for which some schools do so poorly in the system, but rather the ignorance in teaching that the educators have and how impassionate students have become. Now a days it seems as if our education has no importance, I question whether students as well as those teachers that careless about educating right or not, would take matters different if poverty surrounded their lives. I’ve seen cases in which those less fortunate then the majority of students strive and take education as a wonderful enjoyable experience.
Yet, we having a great opportunity don’t take advantage. Who are we to blame? The government as well as states state they make sure to know the performance of schools by setting standards to be met and testing state wise. So why is our education system doing so poorly? Maybe yearly testing isn’t enough, I dare say that maybe if teachers were evaluated more and schools focused on making sure that classrooms didn’t “sell off grades” but rather push their students to earn them, we would be receiving a better education. But there isn’t much to do when we the students don’t have much saying our education and are assigned a school to attend. We don’t select the teachers, rather it is up to us to take what is given and make the best of it. Rather than just doing good we should always set the bar higher and if the teachers aren't motivated enough to give us the education we need , one if passionate enough will find other ways to becoming a knowledgeable person.
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country?
-The thing I would change about our educational system is the fact that our whole “purpose” of going to school is in preparation for a job. And as I once heard, “education isn’t preparation for life, education is life itself”. I believe this statement to be correct. We may not necessarily need all the subjects we learn in our future jobs, but it is definitely part of life. I believe learning should not only be limited to the things we “have” to learn, but the things that help us as human beings, the things that interest us and challenge us to explore ore on the subject. I believe the educational system has based itself off of standards that are forever changing. I mean, there are 50 different sets of standards, one pertaining to each state. How then is it likely we know what true education is when we are not setting national standards. I believe that due to this, the states should not have as much control over regulating education and standards. In y opinion, our educational system would greatly flourish if our country as a whole developed one set of standards as well as expectations for all students.
Another thing I would change is the fact that parents are being forced to enroll their students to certain schools because they live in certain area. I believe it to be unfair that parents don’t have the choice of a good quality school for their children. If there were more options for parents, I believe kids would be motivated and so would the teachers because they‘re expected to be excellent. It is evident that in other countries such as the Netherlands, education is of higher quality. This may be due to the fact that people get to choose where they want to attend school, and being that every school is of equal quality, every student gets the opportunity to learn and strive at the same level. Changes such as these may improve our educational system, because it’s not about spending money to better schools. It’s about shifting focus, starting to take education as a part of life.
-In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country?
Our educational system has been deteriorating in the past years as we can experience in our local schools. Standards are not met by students, there are behavior problems in classes, and schools complain about the money they need and they do not receive. But how would our educational system be in a perfect world? In my opinion, an educational system in a perfect world would be characterized by quality teachers and motivated students that feel the need to acquire knowledge. First of all, I think that the level of quality of teachers is very important in the success of students. Teachers that actually make their classes interesting motivate students to want to learn even in subjects that they don’t feel interested in. By being interested, students pay more attention and therefore they perform better in their classes. Opposite to teachers who make students be less motivated to learn and even make them loose their interest on the subjects they were excited to be taking before.
But I also think that if students are not motivated by the simple reason of being able to have the experience of attending school and getting an education then everything else will be useless. In a perfect world, the only reason students would need to be successful in school would be having the opportunity to go to school. Not everyone in the world has the opportunity to attend school and be educated and I think that students are not aware of how fortunate they are. There are a variety of classes in our schools but there is the lack of interest to actually learn. Students are encouraged to pass their classes in order to graduate but they are never encouraged to acquire knowledge and apply it to their lives. So, students pass their classes and forget about the information that was taught in them and that is how they pretend to head to the real world. Expectations should be set higher for them because students will only rise to the level they are expected to be at.
Question of the Day: July 21, 2010
Using some of the resources below, respond to the following prompt: In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country? You may want to research some of these questins to help you in your response. What is the purpose of your education? Do schools need more money per pupil? Should standardized testing be the only way to measure a school? a district? or a student? Should No Child Left Behind be renewed by the federal government?
Be sure to write a minimum of two solid paragraphs that are well organized
In a perfect world, only the bare basics of education, such as reading, writing, and math, will be mandatory, and will be taught at an early age. After the mandatory learning, the children (or teenagers, if it takes them that long), will be given a couple of months what they want to do. From there, they will continue to be educated in that field. However, from that point on, education will be completely voluntary, and the student can choose to quit their learning (after their year ends), to continue to learn, or to change what they want to learn (again, after the year they are currently in ends). The student can then use their knowledge to try and acquire a job. At any point in time, the student/worker can go back to school to continue their education, or to learn a new subject.
The purpose of our education is to prepare us for our lives after school, whether it be after high school, or after college. Not only does our education have to prepare us for the jobs we will (hopefully) acquire, but it also has to prepare us for paying taxes, buying houses, and other such things. As for money for education, students should only use enough money to buy their supplies. As food is a necessity to live, school should serve food for free. All other supplies, such as desks, markers, and such, should be supplied by the state. Standardized tests should not be the only way to measure either students, districts, or schools. Rather, they should be measured by their determination. That is, by the amount of time students spend in the classroom, the amount of work they did (as opposed to a quota of work done), and by how much the school tried to help the students. If anything, the standardized test should be a full out questionnaire.
-Luis F. Tapia
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country?
What is a perfect world necessarily? In my opinion, there is no such thing as a perfect world but a world that try’s to focus on the positive aspects of life and that doesn’t include “me, myself, and I” statements; it would also be concerning others. A major aspect of life would be the hope to have a great and promising future. Anyone could literally have a million opportunities at the tips of their fingers but, does everyone really take advantage of them? Education is the key to pursing a great future. It’s so important now a days that we need more than just a high school diploma to have a fulfilling career that we love and enjoy. Although, many don’t appreciate what they already have or are not simply determined to get farther in life and enthusiastic in learning new things. People blame our education to have fallen behind in the past years. The problem is not just the lack of money for supplies, the quality of teachers etc. I strongly believe that most part of it has to do with the learners.
The students are not doing their part in being determined to go beyond their abilities or challenging themselves in one way or the other. Since there are a lot of opportunities in education it makes students take choices on whether they should challenge themselves or be “average”. I say ALL schools should be challenging either way choices or no choices, students shouldn’t have a choice what level they want to reach since they ARE the future and we need them to move on in life and help out our country. This is why I think students shouldn’t really have a choice so they can just go one way that would be the BEST way.
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country?
While it is true that every school system that man can think of seems to be flawed, there are some aspects of the education system that would defiantly benefit if it were to be changed. Education is something that every individual experiences to go through to life on a daily basis, whether it is at home for those less fortunate, or be at the highest ranking public or private school in the spectrum. Education, I believe , is taken too likely, considering it is usually the first to get cut back from, and it fluctuates so much from region to region. In a perfect world this gap between the education system would be narrowed down and life as we know it would discover a world full of inspiring intellectuals.
In a perfect world I believe the government and/or state would take other actions when shaping school systems. And even though some may say that money isn’t everything in education, I do still believe that it has a major impact on the support system, even in a perfect world. Because of this I think that the American Recovery Act should have more emphasis, which would help divide the economic portion of schools. Which also I deem as a major problem that needs to be addressed. In a perfect world the division of spending would not be on reconstruction of perfectly good gyms (such as in Norte Vista) but rather in providing more supplies so each student has a desk to sit in (rather than the floor with a clip board!) and text books to have at home and school. I also money would be deviated for the pay of educated and degree earning teachers. More money would be given to teachers so there would be better teachers. Also the government would not let teachers get away with having relationships with their students in all 50 states. This would then make the firing of a teacher process not as long and tedious. Lastly, the state definitely would NOT cut back on the school hours in a day, for any school, there might even be a couple of extra hours in a day for tutoring or any other thing the state deems justifiable.
Aside from the state, classes would also have changes in this perfect world, if there ever were to be one. And what I find what would be the most beneficial to school systems, are smaller class sizes. With smaller class sizes, or larger student to ratio figures, and more interactive learning, I believe that students would have a better learning environment. Also, as for the standards, I think there should be higher standards, but not for the written ones, but more of higher expectations. In this perfect world, there would not be “lower and normal classes” and instead there would be all challenging classes. These classes would be fully embraced by each student. This also ties in with another aspect of those higher expectations, which would be college. In this world, college would be just another step in education that everybody planned on attending; there would be no debate on college (the only debate would be on which college to choose). In addition to the classroom portion or this education system, there would be less tolerance for trouble makers. These individuals do not deserve to take up both the teacher’s and student’s opportunity of learning. Or even better, there would not be any trouble makers, and everybody would have the same aspiring dream of earning the best education that they can get. And lastly, the teachers in the classroom would have to be certified to work at the level of education that they apply for (such as elementary, middle, or high school). I do not believe that teachers are interchangeable, some were born to be elementary teachers and others high school teachers (and if each wants to change their level, they should have to go through proper training and evaluations).
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country?
In a perfect world our educational system will make everyone and anyone succeed and be as intelligent as one wants to be. The schools would have the best faculty, best supplies, best students, and just the best learning experience. That would be the perfect world but the real world is not like that. The real world has corruption, fraud, and has lost its value for education. This is something that has gone wrong because in order to come close to this world we need to have a better future, there has to be education from the people to the people that will run the future of this country and world.
In order to have a better future we must rebuild and better the educational system because lately it is not doing its job. It is causing schools to fail, wasting money on non-academic classes like sports, and worst of all it is making the students to do poorly not only in tests but in life. The ways to fix this is not to give money to the districts because all they would do with it is make a new football stadium or more useless buildings that do not benefit the students. What they should do is to use that money to buy computers, textbook, and hire high quality teachers, but the only way this could work is if the students want to make it work. It’s all about the students and if the students do not want to learn then the system would fail but if students do want to learn and get that knowledge then the system would not only succeed but the well educated students would lead this country to a better future.
Ultimately it comes down to the students, and how much effort they are willing to contribute to earn their own education. Within this education system, I do believe that there should be resources that the students have access to, like laptops in classrooms, and tutoring before and after school every day. Also there would be more parent involvement, which would keep students on track both at school and at home. One way to do this would be to have parent conferences at least quarterly. Also in this system students would have more involvement in the classes that they would want to take. So instead of taking 3 years in a subject that would not help them in their future career, they could take a class that would help them in the subject they want to major in. And along with this, there would be more choices in classes. There would be more languages to choose from, more history classes, maybe an extra sociology class, or even more psychology, there would be a wide range for each student. Also students would be able to take summer school classes, not just because they failed, but because they want to get ahead, or even take interesting classes to better their skills, like creative writing. All of these would be great benefits, but then again, students are students, and there would need to be some incentives for them to learn. Because face it, most students are not fully educated-driven and they need a little push every now and then. In elementary they would be rewarded for their grades and attendance, in middle school there would be rewards for their grades, and in high school there would be the pleasure of getting off campus if you are passing all your classes, which would make students strive for more (it would be cash rewards, half would go to them to spend as they like and half would go towards a college fund).
While others tend to look at jobs as the greatest factor in the US I feel that education is right side by side to it, if not even higher (as a concerning factor in the US). The main reason that I find it so important is not because it affects me directly in this moment in time, but rather because the students that are being educated today are the future leaders that shape tomorrow’s government, and society! Byahhhhh!!!!
-Reyna Lanzas
Question of the Day: Using some of the resources below, respond to the following prompt: In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country? You may want to research some of these questions to help you in your response. What is the purpose of your education? Do schools need more money per pupil? Should standardized testing be the only way to measure a school? a district? or a student? Should No Child Left Behind be renewed by the federal government?
Considering all the evidence I have to go with the cliché answer. WE DO NOT LIVE IN A PERFECT WORLD. We never have and we never will. It’s as simple as that. The purpose of education in my opinion is an opportunity given in life to make sure later on you can be successful making lots of money and working in a profession that you enjoy. Maybe even throw in a family to consider. The educational system in our country is focused less on the education, and ran more like a business, rather than a facility of learning. Come to think of it I don’t agree with people who say” money doesn’t buy happiness” that may be true but, consider someone who didn’t take school seriously and was a real slacker in class but came from a wealthy family who could buy his way into anything? That doesn’t seem fair at all. What about the straight a AP student who couldn’t get into that same college because someone with money could afford to take her spot? Just goes to show you how corrupt our educational system is. In a perfect world I simply could not yet come up with the answer for if I did I would have proposed it and would be earning a Nobel prize for it.
Moving on, the fact that parents think that we need to spend more money in schools on students is completely vague. I think because we are doing that not only are our students becoming worse but also starting to take everything at school including their education for granted, and expect everything to just be handed to them on a silver platter. Furthermore students who don’t have as much as we do in other countries seem to stand us up and out perform us all the time because the difference between the majority of students there than here. They care about their education. For many of them education is their ticket to a better life and many great things in life. Our students fail to see that and take advantage of what they have at their disposal. I could go on and on but lets move on to the next thing.
SAT and STAR testing. It fills me with excitement just writing about this.(chuckles) in my opinion these are very inaccurate ways to rate a school on its performance level as well as the way its students are represented. I think a more accurate way to represent the curriculum of the students intelligence is just simply submitting to the board this school got this many A’s B’s C’s and this school got this many A’s B’s etc etc. Since many students know the material but just have poor test taking skills (especially state tests) I feel like it is not showing their full potential and or what they are capable of. Plus they are compared to schools that have a lot more students than some others. Making it seem even lower.
Finally We come to No child left behind.
President Bush administered this program and has supposedly “solved the problem with education” obviously this is not the case and it is not only encouraging students to do the bare minimum when it comes to school standards. Not to mention the fact that the state keeps lowering and lowering the standards so students can make barely an effort in class and still pass it. that’s just wrong. In conclusion this was my opinions and views about education and how our country deals with it. Feel free to comment
In a perfect world, what and how would you change the educational system in our country? You may want to research some of these questions to help you in your response. What is the purpose of your education? Do schools need more money per pupil? Should standardized testing be the only way to measure a school? A district? Or a student? Should the federal government renew No Child Left Behind?
In a perfect world, students would take either AP or Honors Classes, which challenge their thinking skills and prepare them for their careers. Studies show that AP classes improve your GPA and help you prepare for college. These classes are more in depth and give you an opportunity to examine your interest in a specific field of study. I would also separate the visual learners from the auditory learners, so each teacher will focus on how the students learn. This will make it easier for the teachers to teach these types of learners. From time to time, teachers take the whole class time punishing the disobedient students. Therefore, in my perfect world, I will separate the obedient students from disobedient student, so the students that want to learn do so. As a student, when other students are being disrespectful, this makes me lose my attention span and I don’t give full undivided attention to the instuctor.
The educational system needs to be changed. A way I’m going to change the system is by not giving more money to the schools. The more money the public schools get for the government, the less they help the students. The documentary said, “the less money the better for the kids”. Private schools strive to raise students’ grades better than public schools. A reason for that is if parents don’t see that their students are learning in private school, they will simply remove the children for this school and place them in another private school. The fact that public schools are paid by the government, Public schools do not care as much as private school, if the parents removed student from the school. Standardized Test should not be the only way to measure schools, students and districts. Norte Vista High School was listed as one of the lowest performing campuses in the state, according to Southern California experts. Its not that Norte Vista is a bad school but most of the student can’t show their whole potential on tests including myself.
-Maribel Saldana
How would I change the educational system in a perfect world? That right there can be the easiest yet, at the same time, most difficult question to answer. If I had the power to change the educational system, first of all, I'd start by getting rid of State testings. State testing seems to only put pressure on teachers in the reason being that they have to teach their students the lessons required by a certain date. By doing so, teachers have the urge to rush through lessons, and not really help those students who need extra help. The reason kids go to school is to get a good education so they can have a good job and be successful in life. They are not getting that, if teachers are constantly worrying on how they are gonna cram all the state's requirements into a certain amount of time. Living in life with a perfect educational system, students will have the privilege of choosing their own classes. Why have kids take classes which will have nothing to do with the career they wish to pursue. For example, if a student wants to become a dancer or a singer, why have him/her take Trig or calculus. Next, I would provide schools with enough money for them to have programs and for them to be able to provide students with all the supplies they need. There will only be highly-classified teachers at schools. Teachers who will encourage students do their best, help those who need extra, and enforce in students the idea of having goals and doing their best in achieving them. Teachers will be evaluated every semester by their students and their student's grades. Depending on the evaluation, it will be determined if the teacher will be kept or given time off for him/her to reorganize his/her teaching techniques.
With the changes in the educational system, all states will have the same standards. There will be no competition between districts nor schools. The schools' only focus will be to educate students and give them a good and rewarding education. The students will have the opportunity to enjoy school by having clubs, sports, and other extra curricular activities. Students will be able to have fun at school and look at it more as a second home, and less like a prison like most do today. Students complain that they aren't given enough time, or that their teachers are plain retarded, or that they are not challenged enough. But if I was able to change all that, students would be challenged to the bone in education. I would have them learn through strategical thinking and by practicing and practing some more. Students will realize and see that in order to have a good future, they have to try hard in school and give it their 100% effort. I would have all these things and changes in my perfect educational system in MY perfect world, but then again, there is no such thing as a prefect world.
If there was ever to be a perfect world with the perfect education, our education would be somewhat like this. Equality for everyone to start off, money wouldn’t be an issue since everyone would be equal. There would only be one set of standards that everyone in the country would have to follow. There would be an equal ratio of students to teachers per class. And last but not least all classes would have to be challenging to the students and encourage them to pursue their studies. This is just a quick way to put it.
Yes money is what runs schools now days. Schools across the nation complain over and over how they need money to have a better education system. Yet it has been proven many times how schools really don’t need as much money as they say. Like in the video we watched today Stupid in America, it talked about a school which runs on very little money yet has outstanding brilliant students promoting from it every year. Every student in that school achieves excellence in education. And yes this is without having to spend the thousands of dollars that are spent annually on an average American student per year. What we need are teachers who can be more passionate about their jobs, teachers who are willing to take those extra steps in educating their students. There are millions of dollars spent annually on teachers who don’t even work as teachers anymore. This is due to the Teacher Unions which are formed and are very powerful. They basically run the terms and conditions’ which makes it difficult to fire a teacher. They would have to go through hundreds of steps before being fired. That is why when a teacher is found guilty of doing something offensive; they are taken out of the school but are still getting a paycheck and benefits without having to work. This angers me because this money can be used for more important stuff like purchasing textbooks and programs that can help kids in school.
Another issue concerning this country’s education is the actual material being taught at school. Yes we have 50 states in our country and because each state decides on their school standards there are 50 different set of standards in this country. In order to have a more perfect education system we need to be more equal. And in order to be more equal we should only have one set of standards for our whole country. I believe this will because then the standards won’t be set too low nor too high. By giving us more challenging and rigorous courses I believe we can also become more educated, but this should apply to all students. I do think students need to learn about all subjects, this will just help them by making them well rounded students. Yes this might sound communistic but if it was to be a perfect world this is how I believe our country’s education should be run.
-Ignacio Montor
-First off, perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Everyone pretty much has a different definition or idea of what perfection is. Perfection is like an idea or characteristic developed through experiences, thoughts, likes and dislikes, and the what-not. A "perfect" world is pretty much the same as a dream-world because everyone may have one, but almost none of them are exactly the same. It's pretty much impossible to have everyone share an idea of what a "perfect" world may be. It may be close to perfection, but a world made of perfection agreed upon by all people may never really exist. So, in my "perfect" world, things may be perfect to me but they may be absolutely ridiculous to other people.
-In my "perfect" world, education, as most people believe, should be the top and main priority. Education is basically the acquirement of knowledge, and if a nation or state or household does not care about education, then they obviously don't care about knowledge. Without knowledge in the world, where would the progress we've worked so hard for from the past go? Without knowledge, there would be a stop and/or decrease in progress in topics like science, health, communication, justice, and even success and tranquility in a nation or place. Education is knowledge and knowledge is progress in a society or place, which is why education should be the primary focus in a group or society. Education is pretty much progress for a brighter and more successful future not only for individuals, but for places and nations alike.
(continued)
-If it takes a lot of money to achieve a generally well-educated population, then so be it, just as long as it isn't for nothing.I understand the concept of spending for the purpose of having the majority of the population as equally educated. I also understand that by raising the standards, it's expected that the education level of the population will also increase. However, if the population can't reach the expectations, then something has to change to get the desired improvements. If students can't keep up with the expectations, then their expectations should be lowered- but only for the students who can't handle it. If some students are doing fine- even if there's a tiny percentage of them- then those students should stay in the higher expectation classes. After all, what's the point of raising the expectations for students who can't even meet the lower expectations given to them? What's the point of lowering the expectations for students who have the potential to reach the higher expectations?
-So how should one know if they meet the expectations or not? Well, there should be monthly tests given in the four basic subject classes (math, science, language, history) on the lessons they should have been taught in that month, that way they won't forget all of the information they learn by the end of the year and they won't take tests so often as weekly so there won't be so much time taken away from actual learning. Students would be put into classes depending on how they met the expectations- which is basically how well they did on the tests. The classes should be small, about 10-15 students per class, so the teacher can have more time and focus on the smaller amount of kids and work they would have. Students would go with the class that went with how they tested on the previous year's monthly tests and they would go with how the teacher taught (oral, auditory, hands-on) to make sure they had the best possible chance at understanding and learning the lessons. If ever they feel they're struggling or having trouble, they'd go to a two-hour long tutoring session after school- or just ask for help. Also in my "perfect world", cameras would be put in the class-room, every single one, to make sure the teachers are doing their job correctly and to see and observe the problems that may need to be fixed. If something's wrong with the teacher, there will be a meeting to try to fix whatever problems they have until they improve in whatever way they had problems with before. If it's the student who's causing problems, then the footage will show it.
- If the decreased amount of improvement has something to do with money, then there should be constant adjustments in amounts spent and how it's spent in attempts until improvement is noticed. If it's the way things are done, then there will be constant adjustments and attempts to improve until progress is being made and expectations are met. Once expectations are met and exceeded by every student, then the expectations can raise and then we can work on gradually adapting the students to the higher expectations. Obviously, some of the ideas for change in education may not make very much sense or involve a realistic approach. However, they may happen eventually just as they may never happen. My ideas for education in a "perfect" world may be ludicrous, exaggerated, and unattainable, but that's how perfection is perfectly characterized to me.
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