An Uncomfortable Reality: America’s Failing Education System
Abstract: America’s failing
education system has been occurring for decades, yet the crisis remains largely
unchanged. "In America right now, a
kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. These dropouts are 8 times more
likely to go to prison, 50% less likely to vote, more likely to need social
welfare assistance, not eligible for 90% of jobs, are being paid 40 cents to
the dollar of earned by a college graduate, and continuing the cycle of
poverty” (Guggenheim D et all., 2011). Not only is a failing education system
failing the generation of tomorrow, but it is also weakening America’s
viability as an economical and global competitor, and has the potential to
create a lasting Recession, similar to the one the economy is currently
experiencing. Issues such as teacher’s Unions,
tenure, poor allocation of funds, faulty teachers, insufficient management, bureaucracy
and low student accountability are all factors in the currently broken
education system. However, the American Education system is not lost and there
are many solutions and success stories in our country. Making change will not
only improve the future of America’s rising generation, but protect America’s
freedoms, reduce crime, boost the economy and continue to be play a role as a
global powerhouse and instrument for change.
However, despite America’s achievements there is an
epidemic spreading quietly amongst Americans right now. Almost
imperceptibly it has seeped into every city, town, neighborhood and even home.
A crisis that has been occurring for decades is now at its worst.
"In America right now, a kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. These drop-outs are 8 times more likely to go to prison, 50% less likely to vote, more likely to need social welfare assistance, not eligible for 90% of jobs, are being paid 40 cents to the dollar of earned by a college graduate, and continuing the cycle of poverty” (Guggenheim D et all, 2011).
These shocking statistics are only the tip of the educational iceberg in the American schooling crisis. In the era of Brown vs. Board, citizens were outraged at the state of equal rights and education. Fiery protests, demonstrations, and even violence occurred because of the outrage against the injustice, particularly in schools. However nowadays, despite the fact that our nation currently is working under a severely broken education system, there isn't nearly enough discussion or action. "Education is one of those issues that doesn’t receive the attention it deserves from the news media," said Lisa Gersh, president of strategic initiatives at NBC (Bauder, 2010). It can not be ignored that American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science compared to students in 30 industrialized countries(OECD, 2010), “or sixty eight percent of 8th graders can’t read at their grade level, and most will never catch up" (Schmidt 2003). A failing education system has a tremendous impact on not only the lives of the individual students but the future of America as a global competitor, the economic situation and the protection of our hard earned freedoms.
The well-known phrase "knowledge is power" has always rung true. In the 50s and 60s US dominated the world in regards to K-12 education and economically as the dominant powerhouse. In the 1970s and 80s, America had a slight lead in education although smaller than in previous decades, but still held the economic upper-hand with other countries. Today however, America has fallen in amount of high school graduates and their quality (Friedman 2011). Unfortunately part of the problem is the fact that many American schools are still being operated with the same model that was used in the 1950s. For example, Redwood City High which is nestled in the Silicon Valley, is not a poor inner-city low-performance school. In fact, it is ranked in the top 6% of United State high schools by Newsweek (Guggenheim D et all., 2011). However, it uses a track system that was employed in the 1950s. During that era, very few students were expected to go to college. 20% of students would become doctors, 20% would learn a trade, and 60% would be middle-class blue collar workers. In the 50s there were jobs for everyone and the “tracking system worked.” Different students were given different classes based on their future profession. Those geared towards college would take college prep classes, whereas students preparing for the workforce would take a different set of classes. However over fifty years later the tracking system is still being used in a world where this model is know longer viable. "Tracking" places students based on performance tests with certain classes to take not only places lower expectations on students and have a higher change of getting bad teachers, but the tracking is also oftentimes arbitrary placing students at random and detraining the educational options in their future. There are countless examples of Americas education system stuck in the past, and because of this, there are severe consequences ranging from increased poverty and crime and unemployment, to lost opportunity, lack of innovation, and America's decrease in global entrepreneurship and capability. Americans need 21st century schools that teach 21st century skills to the upcoming generation to compete in a globally competitive market.
"In America right now, a kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. These drop-outs are 8 times more likely to go to prison, 50% less likely to vote, more likely to need social welfare assistance, not eligible for 90% of jobs, are being paid 40 cents to the dollar of earned by a college graduate, and continuing the cycle of poverty” (Guggenheim D et all, 2011).
These shocking statistics are only the tip of the educational iceberg in the American schooling crisis. In the era of Brown vs. Board, citizens were outraged at the state of equal rights and education. Fiery protests, demonstrations, and even violence occurred because of the outrage against the injustice, particularly in schools. However nowadays, despite the fact that our nation currently is working under a severely broken education system, there isn't nearly enough discussion or action. "Education is one of those issues that doesn’t receive the attention it deserves from the news media," said Lisa Gersh, president of strategic initiatives at NBC (Bauder, 2010). It can not be ignored that American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science compared to students in 30 industrialized countries(OECD, 2010), “or sixty eight percent of 8th graders can’t read at their grade level, and most will never catch up" (Schmidt 2003). A failing education system has a tremendous impact on not only the lives of the individual students but the future of America as a global competitor, the economic situation and the protection of our hard earned freedoms.
The well-known phrase "knowledge is power" has always rung true. In the 50s and 60s US dominated the world in regards to K-12 education and economically as the dominant powerhouse. In the 1970s and 80s, America had a slight lead in education although smaller than in previous decades, but still held the economic upper-hand with other countries. Today however, America has fallen in amount of high school graduates and their quality (Friedman 2011). Unfortunately part of the problem is the fact that many American schools are still being operated with the same model that was used in the 1950s. For example, Redwood City High which is nestled in the Silicon Valley, is not a poor inner-city low-performance school. In fact, it is ranked in the top 6% of United State high schools by Newsweek (Guggenheim D et all., 2011). However, it uses a track system that was employed in the 1950s. During that era, very few students were expected to go to college. 20% of students would become doctors, 20% would learn a trade, and 60% would be middle-class blue collar workers. In the 50s there were jobs for everyone and the “tracking system worked.” Different students were given different classes based on their future profession. Those geared towards college would take college prep classes, whereas students preparing for the workforce would take a different set of classes. However over fifty years later the tracking system is still being used in a world where this model is know longer viable. "Tracking" places students based on performance tests with certain classes to take not only places lower expectations on students and have a higher change of getting bad teachers, but the tracking is also oftentimes arbitrary placing students at random and detraining the educational options in their future. There are countless examples of Americas education system stuck in the past, and because of this, there are severe consequences ranging from increased poverty and crime and unemployment, to lost opportunity, lack of innovation, and America's decrease in global entrepreneurship and capability. Americans need 21st century schools that teach 21st century skills to the upcoming generation to compete in a globally competitive market.
If Americans are oblivious to the education crisis, or
doubt the research that currently suggests Americans have a failing education
system, the ramification of poor education can be seen and felt in our current
economy today. According to Martin, a former global executive of PepsiCo
and Kraft Europe, The loss of American competitiveness has "weakened the
American worker's production of wealth, precisely when technology brought
global competition much closer to home. So over a decade, American workers have
maintained their standard of living by borrowing and over consuming vis-a-vis
their real income. When the Great Recession wiped out al the credit and asset
bubbles that made that overconsumption possible, it left too many American
workers not only deeper in debt than ever, but out of a job and lacking the skills
to compete globally" (Freidman 2009). This startling fact is a
genuine wake-up call to the current state of our education. If Americans
believe that that jobs will eventually recover over time naturally or that
America is still on top, there needs to be a call to action specifically in the
realm of education. Lack of education does not only diminish the dreams
of young students who yearn to go to college to become doctors, scientists and
teachers, but hurts the nation as a whole and undermines democracy.
If it were a matter of merely money, the education crisis would have been solved long ago. Jay Greene, author of "Education Myths" points out that "if money was the solution, the problem would already be solved…We've doubled per purple spending, adjusting for inflation over the last 30 years and yet schools aren't better." National graduation rates and achievement scores continue to decrease, while spending on education has "increased more than 100% since 1971. "(Greene, 2005) Just because funds are given, does not necessarily mean they will be used effectively as seen in our current education today. Yes politicians and other officials will through out alarming figures such as “Each year, the U.S. spends $9,644 per student compared to $22,600 per prison inmate" (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2006). Although this may be true, it is not the "holy grail" answer to long term educational reform. The challenge is making a widespread difference in with the money we have to use now. Especially in a struggling economy, the challenge is great but not impossible.
Many critics argue that if it is not a matter of money, it must surely be the responsibility of the teachers for the failing education system. The theory that "bad teachers make bad students" is a prevalent belief than tossed around educational discussions quite frequently. “If we replaced the bottom 6% of teachers with average teachers, it would bring the US student performance level to the standard of Finland today” (Guggenheim D et all., 2011). Finland leads the world as the top ranking country in education, and is model of excellence to strive for. However, the dilemma of “poor teachers” is a difficult subject with no one right answer.
According to many there are many reasons why there are so many poor teachers, ranging from lack of pay incentive to a broken bureaucratic system. One argument is that the teacher Unions, which were designed to help teachers, are actually hindering progress and education. Quoted as a "menace and impediment to reform" in the documentary “Waiting for Superman" the dysfunctional system of firing teachers as well as tenure has created many problems in the school system. For example, a doctor, one in fifty seven lose there medical license. One in 97 lawyers lose their law licensee, but only one in 2,500 teachers lose their teaching license (Guggenheim D et all., 2011).
. Perhaps it has something to do with the rigorous system of firing a teacher. There is a lengthy process of 23 steps to replace a failing teacher. In Illinois alone a district of 876 schools, 61 districts tried to fire tenured teachers, but only 38 were successful. The Unions who are often thought of as "barriers to school reform efforts” (Stover D, 2011), are also responsible for tenure, which after two years and little review public schools teachers are able to have job security pay.
The idea of tenure (ten-year) originally began at Universities to protect professors from the opinions of students. It is a rigorous process of evaluation for those who have strong performance in teaching, and published research. It is not always granted and usually takes at least ten years before a teacher can reach this status. However, in the American public school system, teachers receive tenure after merely two years and the process of receiving tenure is not a lengthy process. "Only 25 of New York City’s 6,250 eligible teachers (0.4 percent) were denied tenure in 2006" (Winters, 2010). If a school board feels a tenured teacher is unqualified and wishes to fire, the Union still requires the teacher to receive full pay while the teacher cases are being decided. Instead of teaching the teachers at questioned stipend their days in a "rubber room" and costs the city of New York alone 30 million dollars a year. This "invisible ink" in teachers contracts is not only puts a burden on our economy and American values but our educational standards as well. If only "approximately 0.01 percent [of teachers] are fired for cause every year" (Thomas, E., & Wingert, P. 2010) there is room for improvement in weeding out the bad and replacing with the good.
If it were a matter of merely money, the education crisis would have been solved long ago. Jay Greene, author of "Education Myths" points out that "if money was the solution, the problem would already be solved…We've doubled per purple spending, adjusting for inflation over the last 30 years and yet schools aren't better." National graduation rates and achievement scores continue to decrease, while spending on education has "increased more than 100% since 1971. "(Greene, 2005) Just because funds are given, does not necessarily mean they will be used effectively as seen in our current education today. Yes politicians and other officials will through out alarming figures such as “Each year, the U.S. spends $9,644 per student compared to $22,600 per prison inmate" (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2006). Although this may be true, it is not the "holy grail" answer to long term educational reform. The challenge is making a widespread difference in with the money we have to use now. Especially in a struggling economy, the challenge is great but not impossible.
Many critics argue that if it is not a matter of money, it must surely be the responsibility of the teachers for the failing education system. The theory that "bad teachers make bad students" is a prevalent belief than tossed around educational discussions quite frequently. “If we replaced the bottom 6% of teachers with average teachers, it would bring the US student performance level to the standard of Finland today” (Guggenheim D et all., 2011). Finland leads the world as the top ranking country in education, and is model of excellence to strive for. However, the dilemma of “poor teachers” is a difficult subject with no one right answer.
According to many there are many reasons why there are so many poor teachers, ranging from lack of pay incentive to a broken bureaucratic system. One argument is that the teacher Unions, which were designed to help teachers, are actually hindering progress and education. Quoted as a "menace and impediment to reform" in the documentary “Waiting for Superman" the dysfunctional system of firing teachers as well as tenure has created many problems in the school system. For example, a doctor, one in fifty seven lose there medical license. One in 97 lawyers lose their law licensee, but only one in 2,500 teachers lose their teaching license (Guggenheim D et all., 2011).
. Perhaps it has something to do with the rigorous system of firing a teacher. There is a lengthy process of 23 steps to replace a failing teacher. In Illinois alone a district of 876 schools, 61 districts tried to fire tenured teachers, but only 38 were successful. The Unions who are often thought of as "barriers to school reform efforts” (Stover D, 2011), are also responsible for tenure, which after two years and little review public schools teachers are able to have job security pay.
The idea of tenure (ten-year) originally began at Universities to protect professors from the opinions of students. It is a rigorous process of evaluation for those who have strong performance in teaching, and published research. It is not always granted and usually takes at least ten years before a teacher can reach this status. However, in the American public school system, teachers receive tenure after merely two years and the process of receiving tenure is not a lengthy process. "Only 25 of New York City’s 6,250 eligible teachers (0.4 percent) were denied tenure in 2006" (Winters, 2010). If a school board feels a tenured teacher is unqualified and wishes to fire, the Union still requires the teacher to receive full pay while the teacher cases are being decided. Instead of teaching the teachers at questioned stipend their days in a "rubber room" and costs the city of New York alone 30 million dollars a year. This "invisible ink" in teachers contracts is not only puts a burden on our economy and American values but our educational standards as well. If only "approximately 0.01 percent [of teachers] are fired for cause every year" (Thomas, E., & Wingert, P. 2010) there is room for improvement in weeding out the bad and replacing with the good.
Although there is merit behind the philosophy that
teachers are responsible for student's learning and that there needs to be more
accountability, the fact is that many teachers are skilled at their profession
and are hard working individuals. They go to work with little reward because most
truly want to make a difference. In large part it is not the teachers
that need to change, but the bureaucracy and laws need to change. Gail
Collins, columnist of The New York Times said,
"The bureaucracy and stifling union rules are definitely part of the problem, which brings me to my one big thought. Who negotiated those contracts and created that bureaucracy? Management. Who fails to monitor new teachers and get rid of the unpromising ones before they have tenure? Principals, the front line of management. If the teachers unions’ offer to reform their contracts is going to work, it will take principals and district supervisors who are capable of setting up good systems for evaluating teachers, giving the poor performers training to help them succeed, and then tossing them out the door if they don’t improve (Brookes, & Collins, 2010 ).
Not only is management accountability important, but student accountability is important as well. If students are not expected to achieve, they will consistently perform below average. John Dewey "the father of modern education" found a way to engage students and hold them accountable by creating a student-centered philosophy in reaction to the teacher-centered, strict, essentialist approaches that were the main methods in the 1920s and 30s. If students are expected to be more accountable, curriculum needs to be altered that incorporates the essentials (state standards) as well as experiences, critical thinking and cooperation among students. John Dewey suggests, "math could be learnt via learning proportions in cooking…history could be learnt by experiencing how people lived, geography, what the climate was like, and how plants and animals grew.." This progressive approach is not a reality currently but could be an ideal that American schools reach for. Textbooks and syllabuses could be viewed as tools, rather that the absolute authority. State standards which are so often talked about, could be supplemented with discussion, student-selected topics, (when applicable) inquiry, and the encouragement of multiple perspectives. Teachers and management should not be the only one under-fire in the sake of education reform, but students as well. Student accountability shows that knowledge is not merely given to absorb, but acquired through personal exploration and studying.
Currently, the educational outlook seems bleak. High school dropouts are at their highest, and those that do graduate are not equipped to compete in the current job market. There are currently 125 million high paying skilled jobs in America available today, however only 50 million Americans were qualified to fill them. (Guggenheim D et all., 2011).
"The bureaucracy and stifling union rules are definitely part of the problem, which brings me to my one big thought. Who negotiated those contracts and created that bureaucracy? Management. Who fails to monitor new teachers and get rid of the unpromising ones before they have tenure? Principals, the front line of management. If the teachers unions’ offer to reform their contracts is going to work, it will take principals and district supervisors who are capable of setting up good systems for evaluating teachers, giving the poor performers training to help them succeed, and then tossing them out the door if they don’t improve (Brookes, & Collins, 2010 ).
Not only is management accountability important, but student accountability is important as well. If students are not expected to achieve, they will consistently perform below average. John Dewey "the father of modern education" found a way to engage students and hold them accountable by creating a student-centered philosophy in reaction to the teacher-centered, strict, essentialist approaches that were the main methods in the 1920s and 30s. If students are expected to be more accountable, curriculum needs to be altered that incorporates the essentials (state standards) as well as experiences, critical thinking and cooperation among students. John Dewey suggests, "math could be learnt via learning proportions in cooking…history could be learnt by experiencing how people lived, geography, what the climate was like, and how plants and animals grew.." This progressive approach is not a reality currently but could be an ideal that American schools reach for. Textbooks and syllabuses could be viewed as tools, rather that the absolute authority. State standards which are so often talked about, could be supplemented with discussion, student-selected topics, (when applicable) inquiry, and the encouragement of multiple perspectives. Teachers and management should not be the only one under-fire in the sake of education reform, but students as well. Student accountability shows that knowledge is not merely given to absorb, but acquired through personal exploration and studying.
Currently, the educational outlook seems bleak. High school dropouts are at their highest, and those that do graduate are not equipped to compete in the current job market. There are currently 125 million high paying skilled jobs in America available today, however only 50 million Americans were qualified to fill them. (Guggenheim D et all., 2011).
Even Bill Gates testified before congress on the current state of the
American job market in relation to education. Currently, more lives are
being affected than ever by the existing state of education both individually
and nationally. However there are beams of light in the educational
crisis. Schools that implement a program that follows students through
each stage of development, where there are no excuses and students are expected
to perform in a loving caring environment, have been great success. This
model has not only worked in middle-class suburbia America, but in Inner-city neighborhoods
where there is a prevalent myth that those in poverty will never be able to
achieve lasting educational success. Extended
school days, merit pay, evaluation of teachers by other school district
teachers, and effective tenure are all small answers to a big problem. As
Daniel Pink, the author of “A Whole New Mind” said, “In a world in which more
and more average work can be done by a computer, robot or talented foreigner
faster, cheaper ‘and just as well,’ vanilla doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s all
about what chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherry you can put on top. So our
schools have a doubly hard task now — not just improving reading, writing and
arithmetic but entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity." This may seem impossible, but America who has
always made sacrifices in the name of freedom still has the opportunity to
pursue educational freedom for the current generation, and the future. We can
not only turn our failing education system around, but we can make it thrive to
promote and foster entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation; priceless commodities
that have made our nation wealthy in the past.
With open discussion in communities, and active participation,
transparency, sacrifice and willingness to change, the current education
situation can be changed from a tragedy, to a success story.
References
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2006, November). Healthier and Wealthier: Decreasing Health Care Costs by Increasing Educational Attainment. Washington, DC: Author.
Bauder, D. (2010, July 20). Nbc will convene education summit. The Associated Press,
Brookes, D, & Collins, G. (2010 , October 06). Waiting
for super principles. The New York Times,
Greene, J. (2005). Education myths: what special-interest groups want you to believe about our schools and why it isn't so. New York, New York : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Guggenheim, D., Kimball, B., Chilcott, L., Strickland, B., Canada, G., Rhee, M., Weingarten, R., ... Paramount Home Entertainment (Firm). (2011). "Waiting for "Superman". Hollywood, Calif: Paramount Home Entertainment.
Friedman, T. (2009, April 21). Swimming without a suit . The New York Times , A27, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/opinion/22friedman.html
Greene, J. (2005). Education myths: what special-interest groups want you to believe about our schools and why it isn't so. New York, New York : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Guggenheim, D., Kimball, B., Chilcott, L., Strickland, B., Canada, G., Rhee, M., Weingarten, R., ... Paramount Home Entertainment (Firm). (2011). "Waiting for "Superman". Hollywood, Calif: Paramount Home Entertainment.
Friedman, T. (2009, April 21). Swimming without a suit . The New York Times , A27, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/opinion/22friedman.html
Schmidt, W. (2003, February 4). “Presentation to Mathematics
and Science Initiative.”
Statistics on american k-12 public education. (n.d.).
Retrieved from http://broadeducation.org/about/crisis_stats.html
Stover, D. (2011). Under Fire. American School Board Journal, 198(4), 18. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Strong American Schools analysis of data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Volume 2, table 6.2a (p. 227).
Thomas, E., & Wingert, P. (2010). SCHOOLYARD BRAWL. Newsweek, 155(11), 30. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Winters, M. (2010 , Feburary 24). How tests can identify the inept. Retrieved from http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=19044
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This is Krysta Wendelboe's portfolio
I agree with the author, that America DOES have some crisis in the educational system! check out http://bigessaywriter.com/blog/crisis-in-educational-system-myth-or-reality for more facts!
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