11 Facts About Education In America
Thirty years ago, America was still considered to be a "land of opportunity" and the economy was flourishing. There was less crime, lower divorce rates, and the American people had much less to worry about, like debt, and the world seemed less irrational. Beforehand, gum chewing and talking in class were, for the most part, the major disciplinary problems in our schools; today, many public schools have been equipped with metal detectors because violence has become such a threat to everyday safety. Over thirty years ago, America was the leader in magnitude and superiority of high school diplomas. Today, our nation is ranked 18th out of 23 industrialized countries ("11 Facts About Education in America"). Classrooms are getting more crowded
…show more content…
and disorganized due to an influx of new students cannot be met with the necessary educational tools and supervisors. This lack of educators and essential utensils is caused by the reduction of government spending on education. Furthermore, in some European schools, less than 10% of students get A’s while the number of students receiving A’s in the United States keeps increasing ("Are High School Grades Inflated?"). The U.S. educational system is only mediocre compared to the rest of the world, so why would there be a higher percentage of good grades here versus other countries with higher academic standards? There are problems within the United States educational system. These problems may be occurring due to multiple reasons, such as low pay for educators and equally low pay for educators and equally low funding, the lack of discipline in the students themselves, and grade inflation.
There are numerous problems that the American educational system faces these days, one of the most obvious ones are overcrowded classrooms and lack of educational funding. When there is a situation of an overcrowded classroom present, there are usually too many students for the educator to cater to directly. Therefore, many do not receive the in-depth education they deserve. One example would be that during a lesson, numerous students will have questions about the material but the teacher has to ask them to keep their questions until the end of the lesson because there would be too many students asking all types of questions while the teacher 's only goal is to get through the lesson material. By the time the actual lesson is over, half of the class is confused on the new material and the other half wasn’t even paying attention in the first place. As Matilda Willows from EducationSpace360 explains in her article "Effects of Overcrowded Classrooms", some prominent effects of overcrowded classrooms are that students may be disturbed by other student 's talking or harassing and are embarrassed to ask questions in front of so many people. There are a lot of shy but brilliant students out there. Many may be introverted but they have the biggest potential because they try their best to pay attention in class which, however, is hard with other students being a distraction. Also, since they are so shy, they might try to only talk to the teacher one-on-one between classes or after school which does not work out either because the teacher has so many other responsibilities due to taking care of so many students at once. Moreover, this situation could lead to a stressed educator, lack of discipline within the students, an increase in cheating, and a decrease in participation in class. There have been cases where teachers have taken a "Sick Day" because they were too overwhelmed with the amount of grading and teaching they have to accomplish in one day, nevertheless, their student’s attitudes do not make any of that easier. Many kids these days have this urge to talk back to the teachers, procrastinate on their work and play games on their phones in class instead of paying attention to the work that they should be completing. Due to all of these reasons, some people may ask, why don’t we just hire more teachers and have more classrooms with less students per classroom? The reason for this is simple, there is not sufficient educational funding to make this a reality.
Rob Greenwald, Larry Hedges, and Richard Laine wrote that "[Our analysis shows] that school resources are systematically related to student achievement and that those relations are large [and] educationally important". (Bruce and Berliner) They discovered the amount of funding towards education correlates with better education. Public school funding in the United States comes from federal, state, and local sources; however, the amount of money that a school district receives is being cut year by year. Phil Oliff, policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, states that “We know that states have made very deep cuts to education funding since the start of the recession.” ("Education Budget Cuts"). According to his analysis, at least 19 states cut education funding by more than 5% between 2010–2011 and 2011–2012. Four states—Illinois, Kansas, Texas and Wisconsin— even cut their spending by 10% or more. This not only means that the school will have less money to spend on extracurricular activities such as sports and art programs, they will even have to cut down on the essentials. Schools are struggling to provide quality school lunches, superior education and excellent educational materials such as books, technology and teaching supplies without proper funding. Grade inflation is a problem not many are familiar with. It is hard to notice Grade inflation because the change is dawdling enough for neither teachers nor school administrations to feel the effects of it. Students are not miraculously becoming smarter as the curriculum changes to a national standard while budget cuts affect the way kids are able to learn. If anything, the average GPA of students should be decreasing with all of these harsh factors that make it difficult to learn. However, to reverse that effect on GPA grade inflation that has taken place schools need to be proactive about keeping with standards. This chart shows that the average GPA of schools has generally increased over the years (GradeInflation). Grade inflation is a serious issue. Grades are supposed to reflect a student’s knowledge and input on their education. If that input is being pushed up higher than it really is, it gives the students and colleges a false impression of what a student is capable or willing of achieving.
Grade inflation is “an increase in students’ grades without an accompanying increase in their academic achievement,” as stated by the ACT in their article Issues in College Readiness. An imperative difference between grade inflation and other issues manipulating the trustworthiness of grades is that grade inflation is an increase in grades over time for students who are at the same level of achievement, while other influences affecting inconsistency in grades result in assignment of different grades to students at the same level of achievement during the same time period. Furthermore, teachers are starting to “go easy” on their students. Students are not being taught the same principles of scheduling and being on time. If a project was due and one were to come up with a good enough excuse they could be let off-the-hook for that day just to go home and barely work through the long term project in one night. It sounds like teachers are starting to care less, and maybe they are. Many have more important things to do than sit around at school grading papers or scheduling next week’s class agenda. If you barely got paid to spend most of your time teaching other people’s children, you would probably care a little less too. Teachers are one of the most important workers in a society. They not only take care, and further students, they are the ones who encourage and inspire the future leaders of the world. They should be given more than just $57,770 dollars annually, which is around the same pay a street car or subway operator receives ("11 Jobs That Pay $55,000 a Year"). While many teachers in the U.S. work a second job to support their families, teachers in Germany earn more than them and have a better educational system. According to a comparative study conducted in 2011 by the EU Commission, salaries at the high-school level for teachers in Germany range from EUR 45,400 to EUR 64,000 which would be from $62,216.16 to $87,705.60. Salaries are even higher in Luxembourg where teachers can earn up to EUR 101,500 a year which would be around $139,100. (Starvation Wage or Living Wage? A Look at Teachers ' Salaries in Germany and the World). This is a chart from Business Insider that shows the relation of pay and country when it comes to paying educators. The United States is one of the worst off countries when it comes to paying teachers. This situation is not alleviated due to the amount of budget cuts that are not only hindering teachers from receiving the pay they deserve but is also causing students to have to try to get the best out of their education with the least amount of supplies available for their use. This not only affects students today, it will affect these kids for the rest of their lives. Without a worthy education, it is harder to find a decent job, therefore, these people will be burdened with their lack of funding when they were still in school when they are adults. Because of all this, we must stop budget cuts, supply our students more efficiently and pay teachers their worth. Even though the U.S. does not pay its teachers enough to sustain a moderately nice living, it does spend a lot of money per student. Surprisingly, the U.S. ranks fifth in spending per student. With all of that money being spent on students, should the student not be receiving top quality education? Only Austria, Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland spend more money per student. In perspective, the Slovak Republic, which scores similarly to the U.S. in standardized testing, spends $53,000 per student while the U.S. spends $115,000 per student. (Alumniportal) Higher expenditure on education does not ensure better academic scores. There are many countries and even individual schools which produce a higher quality education with less funding, because they know how to budget their money into the most important areas of schooling. However, in most public schools in the United States, that is sadly not the case. So, where does all of that extra money go? Schools spend their scarce dollars on the most bizarre things. Instead of creating more educational related gears, such as beneficial clubs or activities at school, they buy new exit signs for a door that is clearly the way to get outside or they spend their money buying new school sports uniforms each and every year. If schools were to preserve their sports uniforms, they could be used again the following year. However, if that seems to be too much of a hassle, they should at least only use donated money or have the students pay for most their own uniforms. Schools also buy the newest equipment that no one gets to use or is not even needed. At my school, there is a cart full of Mac Laptops in the yearbook committee’s room, no one gets to use them and the yearbook kids themselves do not use them either. Furthermore, almost all of the classes are equipped with either a SmartBoard or BeamEducation. These two pieces of technology act like a huge tablet that teachers can utilize to instruct their class, however, some classes do not have the need for such tools. Why would an Art teacher have to use a tablet instead of just creating a hands on product of creativity? Why would a French teacher need BeamEducation to teach students the techniques of speech and fluency that comes from one’s own mouth? Why would a Physical Education instructor need to show a video on their big SmartBoard on how to do the perfect crunch if they could show their students first hand? Additionally, schools blast the air conditioning systems to the max when it is only 70 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Hallways and classrooms feel like winter all year around. Not only is that a senseless waste of energy and money to cool down half empty hallways, it also causes students to be forced to bring jackets to school just so they do not freeze inside their classroom. Many students even get distracted with the coldness of a classroom. Personally, when it is freezing inside a classroom and I happen to leave my jacket at home for the day, because the weather forecast said it was going to be a beautiful day out, I focus more on the goose-bumps on my arms than finishing the packet full of work in front of me. One teacher even said herself on her blog that this is a problem because, “I see that my room is 73 degrees and girls wear jackets when it’s 90 degrees outside” (TeacherBlog). It is a bad idea over all to turn up the air conditioning systems while it is the perfect weather outside to open up a window and let the fresh breeze clear up students’ minds. Last but not least, students themselves play a huge role in their academics. Without a student’s willpower and extra time spent to try and achieve the best from their education that they could attain, the true value of their education is not being put into use. Even at my own school, there are the few that take the opportunity to achieve a “higher level” education by challenging themselves and taking Advanced Placement courses. Surely they may be harder throughout the year but they are most definitely worth it in the long run. The educational system, in this state in particular (Arizona) is not the best, taking those AP classes is the best shot students have to being in a great school. There are many who tell themselves that it may not even be worth it because they do not want to do all of the extra homework or that the classwork is too hard because it actually challenges one’s brain instead of asking student to create a picture book for a Junior Level English class. In this poem, “Delay” a student talks about how he feels about school, failing his test and how his friends viewed getting after school help:
As I walked through the door,
I got hit by the bore.
I sat at my desk, and we began another test.
As I looked at the page my mind went blank.
It felt as if I had just sank.
How come I didn’t know any of this?
Was there something I had missed?
I tried the best I could and handed it in.
After all what’s the worst that could happen?
The day I got my test back was the day I dread, because on the front page was an F marked in red.
This was my last chance I was supposed to pass.
If I showed this to my parents they would kick my a**.
I came back to reality and the teacher began to say,
“have this test signed and back by Monday.”
Sweat started to form on my brow.
How would I get this signed, how?
On Monday morning I decided it would be best, if I were the one to sign the test.
Satisfied, I turned around.
Only found my teacher wearing a frown.
He looked disappointed and started to say,
If I needed help I shouldn’t delay.
So I came in every Tuesday from six to eight.
By the end of the semester I was doing great.
I told my friends about the after school program
But, in front of each other, they didn’t give a damn
They thought school was all a big joke,
All they wanted to do was have a good smoke. There are times when students just decide not to get help because they do not want to seem “less cool”, but getting help is more worth it than popularity. Furthermore, AP courses help students prepare for college. Since most AP kids are college bound, the classes are there to help these students to survive in a college environment. Plus, if students do not score well enough on their AP exam, or decide not to take it, they at least already have the knowledge it takes to be able to pass their first college classes. More so on a social aspect of AP courses, students get to communicate with people who may have similar viewpoints, goals in life, and/or cultivated conversations. Everyone in that Advanced Placement classroom has the goal of passing that class with a good grade, therefore such students will try their best to achieve that goal.
Students themselves not only lack their ambition to reach full potential, but also see that other students distract them from what really needs to be accomplished at school. This chart (Lyons) shows that students who have been surveyed, say that violence and school safety are the biggest problem to the students in high schools today. This harsh environment makes it difficult to learn. How hard would it be to learn when you feel unsafe? Besides the violence, the second most problem, even to students, is the issue of budget cuts. It affects students all over the place, at school, at home, in after school activities and around their peers (Lyons).
Education is an essential part in society, however, as the years have changed, so have the priorities in today’s education. There are multiple existing problems within the U.S. educational structure. Not only are educators being critically underpaid for their important services, schools themselves do not acquire the suitable amount of funding for the right purposes. To change this, instead of cutting costs on education, the government should try to slowly regenerate the lack of pay teachers receive annually. Furthermore, schools should not only receive an increase in capital, but these schools should also change their policies to make sure that educational needs are fully met before spending their funds on extracurricular things such as sports, sports equipment, after school events or clubs.
Students themselves are lacking the ambition to receive the most out of their education these days. Besides that, their overall attitude may not only hinder themselves to achieve academic enrichment but may also impair other students to experience their shot at learning. Parents and schools combined need to teach children the importance of respect and education to solve this problem. Additionally, many students overestimate their actual grades due to grade inflation. This could cause false college admission, which would then lead to the student feeling overwhelmed and possibly even deciding on dropping out. This is not a good response. Students should be prepared for what life will throw at them and so they should know their true potential and grade point average to be able to plan accordingly to be the best they can be. Education is the key to wisdom, but wisdom is the key to life and happiness.
Works Cited
"11 Jobs That Pay $55,000 a Year." 11 Jobs That Pay $55,000 a Year. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
"Starvation Wage or Living Wage? A Look at Teachers ' Salaries in Germany and the World." Starvation Wage or Living Wage? Teachers ' Salaries Worldwide. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
"America 1950 vs. America 2012." The Economic Collapse. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Biddle, Bruce J., and David C.
Berliner. "Membership." Educational Leadership:Beyond Instructional Leadership:Unequal School Funding in the United States. EducationalLeadership, May 2002. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Willows, Matilda. "Effects of Overcrowded Classrooms." EducationSpace. EducationSpace360, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Ginn, Jennifer. "Education Budget Cuts." Education Budget Cuts. CapitolIdeas, Jan.-Feb. 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
"11 Facts About Education in America." DoSomething.org. DoSomething, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
"Are High School Grades Inflated?" ACT.org. N.p., 2005. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Amland, Brendan. "California Budget Cuts: Grand Theft Education?" ForceChange. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Lyons, Lynda. "Teens Say Safety Issues Top Problem at School." Teens Say Safety Issues Top Problem at School. N.p., 25 Nov. 2005. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Ro, Sam. "What Teacher Pay Looks Like In The Rest Of The World." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 18 July 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Rojstaczer, Stuart. "National Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities." National Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: MLA Formatting and Style Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May
2014.
and disorganized due to an influx of new students cannot be met with the necessary educational tools and supervisors. This lack of educators and essential utensils is caused by the reduction of government spending on education. Furthermore, in some European schools, less than 10% of students get A’s while the number of students receiving A’s in the United States keeps increasing ("Are High School Grades Inflated?"). The U.S. educational system is only mediocre compared to the rest of the world, so why would there be a higher percentage of good grades here versus other countries with higher academic standards? There are problems within the United States educational system. These problems may be occurring due to multiple reasons, such as low pay for educators and equally low pay for educators and equally low funding, the lack of discipline in the students themselves, and grade inflation.
There are numerous problems that the American educational system faces these days, one of the most obvious ones are overcrowded classrooms and lack of educational funding. When there is a situation of an overcrowded classroom present, there are usually too many students for the educator to cater to directly. Therefore, many do not receive the in-depth education they deserve. One example would be that during a lesson, numerous students will have questions about the material but the teacher has to ask them to keep their questions until the end of the lesson because there would be too many students asking all types of questions while the teacher 's only goal is to get through the lesson material. By the time the actual lesson is over, half of the class is confused on the new material and the other half wasn’t even paying attention in the first place. As Matilda Willows from EducationSpace360 explains in her article "Effects of Overcrowded Classrooms", some prominent effects of overcrowded classrooms are that students may be disturbed by other student 's talking or harassing and are embarrassed to ask questions in front of so many people. There are a lot of shy but brilliant students out there. Many may be introverted but they have the biggest potential because they try their best to pay attention in class which, however, is hard with other students being a distraction. Also, since they are so shy, they might try to only talk to the teacher one-on-one between classes or after school which does not work out either because the teacher has so many other responsibilities due to taking care of so many students at once. Moreover, this situation could lead to a stressed educator, lack of discipline within the students, an increase in cheating, and a decrease in participation in class. There have been cases where teachers have taken a "Sick Day" because they were too overwhelmed with the amount of grading and teaching they have to accomplish in one day, nevertheless, their student’s attitudes do not make any of that easier. Many kids these days have this urge to talk back to the teachers, procrastinate on their work and play games on their phones in class instead of paying attention to the work that they should be completing. Due to all of these reasons, some people may ask, why don’t we just hire more teachers and have more classrooms with less students per classroom? The reason for this is simple, there is not sufficient educational funding to make this a reality.
Rob Greenwald, Larry Hedges, and Richard Laine wrote that "[Our analysis shows] that school resources are systematically related to student achievement and that those relations are large [and] educationally important". (Bruce and Berliner) They discovered the amount of funding towards education correlates with better education. Public school funding in the United States comes from federal, state, and local sources; however, the amount of money that a school district receives is being cut year by year. Phil Oliff, policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, states that “We know that states have made very deep cuts to education funding since the start of the recession.” ("Education Budget Cuts"). According to his analysis, at least 19 states cut education funding by more than 5% between 2010–2011 and 2011–2012. Four states—Illinois, Kansas, Texas and Wisconsin— even cut their spending by 10% or more. This not only means that the school will have less money to spend on extracurricular activities such as sports and art programs, they will even have to cut down on the essentials. Schools are struggling to provide quality school lunches, superior education and excellent educational materials such as books, technology and teaching supplies without proper funding. Grade inflation is a problem not many are familiar with. It is hard to notice Grade inflation because the change is dawdling enough for neither teachers nor school administrations to feel the effects of it. Students are not miraculously becoming smarter as the curriculum changes to a national standard while budget cuts affect the way kids are able to learn. If anything, the average GPA of students should be decreasing with all of these harsh factors that make it difficult to learn. However, to reverse that effect on GPA grade inflation that has taken place schools need to be proactive about keeping with standards. This chart shows that the average GPA of schools has generally increased over the years (GradeInflation). Grade inflation is a serious issue. Grades are supposed to reflect a student’s knowledge and input on their education. If that input is being pushed up higher than it really is, it gives the students and colleges a false impression of what a student is capable or willing of achieving.
Grade inflation is “an increase in students’ grades without an accompanying increase in their academic achievement,” as stated by the ACT in their article Issues in College Readiness. An imperative difference between grade inflation and other issues manipulating the trustworthiness of grades is that grade inflation is an increase in grades over time for students who are at the same level of achievement, while other influences affecting inconsistency in grades result in assignment of different grades to students at the same level of achievement during the same time period. Furthermore, teachers are starting to “go easy” on their students. Students are not being taught the same principles of scheduling and being on time. If a project was due and one were to come up with a good enough excuse they could be let off-the-hook for that day just to go home and barely work through the long term project in one night. It sounds like teachers are starting to care less, and maybe they are. Many have more important things to do than sit around at school grading papers or scheduling next week’s class agenda. If you barely got paid to spend most of your time teaching other people’s children, you would probably care a little less too. Teachers are one of the most important workers in a society. They not only take care, and further students, they are the ones who encourage and inspire the future leaders of the world. They should be given more than just $57,770 dollars annually, which is around the same pay a street car or subway operator receives ("11 Jobs That Pay $55,000 a Year"). While many teachers in the U.S. work a second job to support their families, teachers in Germany earn more than them and have a better educational system. According to a comparative study conducted in 2011 by the EU Commission, salaries at the high-school level for teachers in Germany range from EUR 45,400 to EUR 64,000 which would be from $62,216.16 to $87,705.60. Salaries are even higher in Luxembourg where teachers can earn up to EUR 101,500 a year which would be around $139,100. (Starvation Wage or Living Wage? A Look at Teachers ' Salaries in Germany and the World). This is a chart from Business Insider that shows the relation of pay and country when it comes to paying educators. The United States is one of the worst off countries when it comes to paying teachers. This situation is not alleviated due to the amount of budget cuts that are not only hindering teachers from receiving the pay they deserve but is also causing students to have to try to get the best out of their education with the least amount of supplies available for their use. This not only affects students today, it will affect these kids for the rest of their lives. Without a worthy education, it is harder to find a decent job, therefore, these people will be burdened with their lack of funding when they were still in school when they are adults. Because of all this, we must stop budget cuts, supply our students more efficiently and pay teachers their worth. Even though the U.S. does not pay its teachers enough to sustain a moderately nice living, it does spend a lot of money per student. Surprisingly, the U.S. ranks fifth in spending per student. With all of that money being spent on students, should the student not be receiving top quality education? Only Austria, Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland spend more money per student. In perspective, the Slovak Republic, which scores similarly to the U.S. in standardized testing, spends $53,000 per student while the U.S. spends $115,000 per student. (Alumniportal) Higher expenditure on education does not ensure better academic scores. There are many countries and even individual schools which produce a higher quality education with less funding, because they know how to budget their money into the most important areas of schooling. However, in most public schools in the United States, that is sadly not the case. So, where does all of that extra money go? Schools spend their scarce dollars on the most bizarre things. Instead of creating more educational related gears, such as beneficial clubs or activities at school, they buy new exit signs for a door that is clearly the way to get outside or they spend their money buying new school sports uniforms each and every year. If schools were to preserve their sports uniforms, they could be used again the following year. However, if that seems to be too much of a hassle, they should at least only use donated money or have the students pay for most their own uniforms. Schools also buy the newest equipment that no one gets to use or is not even needed. At my school, there is a cart full of Mac Laptops in the yearbook committee’s room, no one gets to use them and the yearbook kids themselves do not use them either. Furthermore, almost all of the classes are equipped with either a SmartBoard or BeamEducation. These two pieces of technology act like a huge tablet that teachers can utilize to instruct their class, however, some classes do not have the need for such tools. Why would an Art teacher have to use a tablet instead of just creating a hands on product of creativity? Why would a French teacher need BeamEducation to teach students the techniques of speech and fluency that comes from one’s own mouth? Why would a Physical Education instructor need to show a video on their big SmartBoard on how to do the perfect crunch if they could show their students first hand? Additionally, schools blast the air conditioning systems to the max when it is only 70 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Hallways and classrooms feel like winter all year around. Not only is that a senseless waste of energy and money to cool down half empty hallways, it also causes students to be forced to bring jackets to school just so they do not freeze inside their classroom. Many students even get distracted with the coldness of a classroom. Personally, when it is freezing inside a classroom and I happen to leave my jacket at home for the day, because the weather forecast said it was going to be a beautiful day out, I focus more on the goose-bumps on my arms than finishing the packet full of work in front of me. One teacher even said herself on her blog that this is a problem because, “I see that my room is 73 degrees and girls wear jackets when it’s 90 degrees outside” (TeacherBlog). It is a bad idea over all to turn up the air conditioning systems while it is the perfect weather outside to open up a window and let the fresh breeze clear up students’ minds. Last but not least, students themselves play a huge role in their academics. Without a student’s willpower and extra time spent to try and achieve the best from their education that they could attain, the true value of their education is not being put into use. Even at my own school, there are the few that take the opportunity to achieve a “higher level” education by challenging themselves and taking Advanced Placement courses. Surely they may be harder throughout the year but they are most definitely worth it in the long run. The educational system, in this state in particular (Arizona) is not the best, taking those AP classes is the best shot students have to being in a great school. There are many who tell themselves that it may not even be worth it because they do not want to do all of the extra homework or that the classwork is too hard because it actually challenges one’s brain instead of asking student to create a picture book for a Junior Level English class. In this poem, “Delay” a student talks about how he feels about school, failing his test and how his friends viewed getting after school help:
As I walked through the door,
I got hit by the bore.
I sat at my desk, and we began another test.
As I looked at the page my mind went blank.
It felt as if I had just sank.
How come I didn’t know any of this?
Was there something I had missed?
I tried the best I could and handed it in.
After all what’s the worst that could happen?
The day I got my test back was the day I dread, because on the front page was an F marked in red.
This was my last chance I was supposed to pass.
If I showed this to my parents they would kick my a**.
I came back to reality and the teacher began to say,
“have this test signed and back by Monday.”
Sweat started to form on my brow.
How would I get this signed, how?
On Monday morning I decided it would be best, if I were the one to sign the test.
Satisfied, I turned around.
Only found my teacher wearing a frown.
He looked disappointed and started to say,
If I needed help I shouldn’t delay.
So I came in every Tuesday from six to eight.
By the end of the semester I was doing great.
I told my friends about the after school program
But, in front of each other, they didn’t give a damn
They thought school was all a big joke,
All they wanted to do was have a good smoke. There are times when students just decide not to get help because they do not want to seem “less cool”, but getting help is more worth it than popularity. Furthermore, AP courses help students prepare for college. Since most AP kids are college bound, the classes are there to help these students to survive in a college environment. Plus, if students do not score well enough on their AP exam, or decide not to take it, they at least already have the knowledge it takes to be able to pass their first college classes. More so on a social aspect of AP courses, students get to communicate with people who may have similar viewpoints, goals in life, and/or cultivated conversations. Everyone in that Advanced Placement classroom has the goal of passing that class with a good grade, therefore such students will try their best to achieve that goal.
Students themselves not only lack their ambition to reach full potential, but also see that other students distract them from what really needs to be accomplished at school. This chart (Lyons) shows that students who have been surveyed, say that violence and school safety are the biggest problem to the students in high schools today. This harsh environment makes it difficult to learn. How hard would it be to learn when you feel unsafe? Besides the violence, the second most problem, even to students, is the issue of budget cuts. It affects students all over the place, at school, at home, in after school activities and around their peers (Lyons).
Education is an essential part in society, however, as the years have changed, so have the priorities in today’s education. There are multiple existing problems within the U.S. educational structure. Not only are educators being critically underpaid for their important services, schools themselves do not acquire the suitable amount of funding for the right purposes. To change this, instead of cutting costs on education, the government should try to slowly regenerate the lack of pay teachers receive annually. Furthermore, schools should not only receive an increase in capital, but these schools should also change their policies to make sure that educational needs are fully met before spending their funds on extracurricular things such as sports, sports equipment, after school events or clubs.
Students themselves are lacking the ambition to receive the most out of their education these days. Besides that, their overall attitude may not only hinder themselves to achieve academic enrichment but may also impair other students to experience their shot at learning. Parents and schools combined need to teach children the importance of respect and education to solve this problem. Additionally, many students overestimate their actual grades due to grade inflation. This could cause false college admission, which would then lead to the student feeling overwhelmed and possibly even deciding on dropping out. This is not a good response. Students should be prepared for what life will throw at them and so they should know their true potential and grade point average to be able to plan accordingly to be the best they can be. Education is the key to wisdom, but wisdom is the key to life and happiness.
Works Cited
"11 Jobs That Pay $55,000 a Year." 11 Jobs That Pay $55,000 a Year. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
"Starvation Wage or Living Wage? A Look at Teachers ' Salaries in Germany and the World." Starvation Wage or Living Wage? Teachers ' Salaries Worldwide. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
"America 1950 vs. America 2012." The Economic Collapse. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Biddle, Bruce J., and David C.
Berliner. "Membership." Educational Leadership:Beyond Instructional Leadership:Unequal School Funding in the United States. EducationalLeadership, May 2002. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Willows, Matilda. "Effects of Overcrowded Classrooms." EducationSpace. EducationSpace360, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Ginn, Jennifer. "Education Budget Cuts." Education Budget Cuts. CapitolIdeas, Jan.-Feb. 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
"11 Facts About Education in America." DoSomething.org. DoSomething, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
"Are High School Grades Inflated?" ACT.org. N.p., 2005. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Amland, Brendan. "California Budget Cuts: Grand Theft Education?" ForceChange. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Lyons, Lynda. "Teens Say Safety Issues Top Problem at School." Teens Say Safety Issues Top Problem at School. N.p., 25 Nov. 2005. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Ro, Sam. "What Teacher Pay Looks Like In The Rest Of The World." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 18 July 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Rojstaczer, Stuart. "National Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities." National Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: MLA Formatting and Style Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May
2014.