As I drive past the abandoned grade school I attended, I see no classes in session, no hopes, or dreams, no little heads buried in books. Instead, I see kids having to travel long ways to bus stops, and competing every year to get into schools that are adequate and may promise a good future.
What happened? Where is the education where every school was full, and there were no charter schools. Where are the old school teachers who taught at a school for five generations? These people formed bonds with the community, and they were trusted with children. Every school promised a chance to students. They worked all year long improving reading skills and learning new math skills for ONE EXAM.
We have created a society where it is easier to give all the students a C and move on. The scholarship and expectation of excellence have left the classroom and is slowly diminishing from the teachers. It's not too late to fix the problem with education; we still have a chance. I will share with you seven ways to repair the public education system.
1.Stop Viewing Our Kids As Numbers. Today in many school systems there has been the implementation of per pupil spending. This forces schools to run inadequately staffed due to the enrollment at the school.
2. Do Away with Common Core. Being introduced into the public education system and working for nine years, I have seen several different names and implementations of various curricula in an attempt to change old ways of teaching into new ways. This is all wrong. Real teaching does not require long written out standards which are nothing more than long frivolous lists of jargon the school system probably paid some multi-billion dollar company to create.
3. Give Homework. The education system is moving away from giving students homework. This is an outrage I know. How else can a student practice what they've learned for the day. If one does not complete homework how can one assure the concepts are grasped.
4. Get Rid of Teacher Evaluative Tools. There are several ways of evaluating teachers which are subjective. There are principals and assistant principals who use the evaluative tool as a means of hurting teachers and ruining their records. The evaluative system is supposed to be a nonbiased evaluative tool, on the contrary, it is entirely subjective. There are principals who have never been teachers and have no knowledge of how a classroom works or the dynamics of how the brain acquires information. Now, why is a person who does not possess this knowledge allowed to evaluate a teacher.
5. Stop Giving Express Teaching Degrees. With the flood of the education field with new teachers due to instability in the job market has led to people being in the field who don't have a real passion for the craft. These people pollute classrooms and have a high turnover rate due to their lack of love for the profession.
6. Less Meaningless Tests. In schools today teachers, administrators, students, and parents are all confused over what tests the students will be required to take during the school year. There used to be only one standardized test per year; now the school boards have several test issued to the students each year. These tests are meaningless and only serve to make testing companies richer.
7. Reintroduce Trade Schools During High School. After high school, there are a lot of people who don't attend college and need a way to provide for themselves. There was a time where students could take courses in high school that would lead to a career once they were done. They were offered courses in, auto mechanic and body work, nursing and medical areas, cosmetology, horticulture, various cooking classes and the list goes on. Why can't we restore these things and give the people who don't attend college a fair chance at life as well
We need politicians to get their hands out of education and actually give it back to the people who love it. Give education back to the teachers. No more politically appointed board members. Instead, give us teachers who have worked and understand what it's like to have a connection to individuals and care about their well-being later in life. Let's make public education good again.