What is wrong with education?
For those who don’t know much about me, here is some
information that I care quite a bit about.
Hopefully it will give you a view into how I think. Or maybe you’ll just think I’m an idiot.
I am a music education major. This means I have spent the last four years of my life honing my musical and educational beliefs. Both of them are rather intertwined at this point and in many ways I feel that they always have been.
I could bore you with endless chatter about my thoughts on music. I’ll save that for another time.
My real concern today is education.
There are so many issues with America’s current educational system.
Let’s begin with the biggest joke educators have seen in recent years: No Child Left Behind.
The very name itself is a complete misnomer.
For those not in the know, it goes some thing like this…
You hold schools “accountable” to standardized test scores. Standardized tests that are designed to create a perfect bell curve where 50% fail and 50% pass (and when that doesn’t happen, the test are re-normed). Then when a school is considered failing, it is closed down. Now all of the students from that school flood into other area schools with better test scores. The influx of students from the “failing” school (which is never a full 100%) pushes class size to its limits. These schools are now unable to provide more individualized instruction and test scores begin to plummet. Before you know it, this school is “failing.” Then it gets closed and the students are forced into other schools once again. Every time this occurs, some students (aka children) are left behind. Sounds a little strange, yes?
Here’s the explanation.
For years, the public education system has been attacked for not providing adequate education for America’s youth. In every decade since the late nineteenth century, there have been articles published bemoaning the lack of “basics” training in our schools and how current students are not graduating with the same skills as the previous generation.
George W. Bush and his pals in the government have the incredibly bright idea to privatize just about everything they can. Social Security is one of these institutions. Public education is another. School vouchers and the push towards sending children to private schools (whether parochial or not) are a reflection of this thinking. No Child Left Behind and the (unfounded) atmosphere of failure that surrounds public education are two ways Team Bush plans to push their ideas across. They are on the attack in regards to education. We must fend them off and work towards change in our educational system.
Reliance on biased and unreliable test scores = out the window
Teacher centered learning = thing of the past
Arts as a “special” = who thought this was ever a good idea?
I won’t go on anymore of a rant. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or spark up a conversation on AIM. I look forward to hearing from you.
I am a music education major. This means I have spent the last four years of my life honing my musical and educational beliefs. Both of them are rather intertwined at this point and in many ways I feel that they always have been.
I could bore you with endless chatter about my thoughts on music. I’ll save that for another time.
My real concern today is education.
There are so many issues with America’s current educational system.
Let’s begin with the biggest joke educators have seen in recent years: No Child Left Behind.
The very name itself is a complete misnomer.
For those not in the know, it goes some thing like this…
You hold schools “accountable” to standardized test scores. Standardized tests that are designed to create a perfect bell curve where 50% fail and 50% pass (and when that doesn’t happen, the test are re-normed). Then when a school is considered failing, it is closed down. Now all of the students from that school flood into other area schools with better test scores. The influx of students from the “failing” school (which is never a full 100%) pushes class size to its limits. These schools are now unable to provide more individualized instruction and test scores begin to plummet. Before you know it, this school is “failing.” Then it gets closed and the students are forced into other schools once again. Every time this occurs, some students (aka children) are left behind. Sounds a little strange, yes?
Here’s the explanation.
For years, the public education system has been attacked for not providing adequate education for America’s youth. In every decade since the late nineteenth century, there have been articles published bemoaning the lack of “basics” training in our schools and how current students are not graduating with the same skills as the previous generation.
George W. Bush and his pals in the government have the incredibly bright idea to privatize just about everything they can. Social Security is one of these institutions. Public education is another. School vouchers and the push towards sending children to private schools (whether parochial or not) are a reflection of this thinking. No Child Left Behind and the (unfounded) atmosphere of failure that surrounds public education are two ways Team Bush plans to push their ideas across. They are on the attack in regards to education. We must fend them off and work towards change in our educational system.
Reliance on biased and unreliable test scores = out the window
Teacher centered learning = thing of the past
Arts as a “special” = who thought this was ever a good idea?
I won’t go on anymore of a rant. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or spark up a conversation on AIM. I look forward to hearing from you.