Education in Usa Today

Education Today in USA With so many sides to the story, it’s difficult to truly know the status of education today. The truth is, there is no right answer. The status of education in America varies from state to state, sometimes even in a micro scale. Status of education can vary from school to school or from one county to another. Some schools in rural populations may be doing not so good, but in other places of the country education could be improving. The indicators highlight the fact that rural public schools K-12 depend more on state funding than city and suburban schools (which tend to receive a greater proportion of their funding from local sources) and that rural public schools spend more per student than public schools in cities, suburbs, and towns when adjusted for geographic cost differences. Rural public schools also have lower pupil-to-teacher ratios than schools in other locales. Compared to city public schools, rural public schools have lower average numbers of students per school counselor, social worker, school psychologist, and special education instructional aides (Imazeki). As of highschool students that go to college, generally, a smaller percentage of high school graduates in rural areas enroll in college than graduates in any other locale, and a smaller percentage of rural adults have a bachelor 's degree than their peers in cities and suburbs. Statistics show that approximately 34 percent of all 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in colleges or universities. The college enrollment rate in rural areas (27 percent) was lower than the rate in cities (37 percent), suburban areas (37 percent), or towns (32 percent)(Census). Not only is education different geographically, but also depending on wether you are a man or a woman. According to the American Community Survey (ACS), of all eight-teen to twenty-four-year-olds enrolled in colleges and universities, thirty-eight percent were females, compared to thirty-one percent of males. There are some shocking statistics that suggest education is in bad shape. Scores from the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment showed that among thirty-four developed countries, the U.S. is ranked twenty-five in math and seventeen in science. "This is an absolute wake-up call for America," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The results are extraordinarily challenging to us and we have to deal with the brutal truth. We have to get much more serious about investing in education." As said by Arne Duncan, the key is that everyone has to invest more in education, from the government, to school educators, to parents and students. In the state of California, proposition 30 promised to add funds towards education. Proposition 30 will raise income taxes on the wealthiest citizens in the state and temporarily increase the state sales tax by a quarter of a cent to fund K-12 schools, community colleges and state universities. It is facinating that people voted to raise taxes, something most voters usually run away from, but as governor Jerry Brown said, “Here we are, we have a vote of the people, I think the only state in the country that says let 's raise our taxes, for our kids for our schools, and for our California dream.” Prop 30 is expected to raise more than six billion in revenue. If it had not passed, schools and colleges would have suffered significant trigger cuts in state appropriations. You can already see the effects of proposition 30, in community colleges and other state universities, classes were added and programs were saved. The additional six billion that schools will have will go towards things like smaller class sizes, updated textbooks and rehiring teachers. Even though there have been actions towards better education, such as proposition 30, there are still more things that could be done. There should be some kind of check towards teachers and professors, there are some teachers that just don’t belong in the school system. In an article by Askiville, Tuppence said, Erase automatic tenure, many teachers lose the spark or never were good in the first place. They need to be replaced by teachers who can teach. Teaching is actually a talent you can 't give someone through college courses. Teaching is actually a form of interpreting. A good teacher takes the material he/she wants the students to learn and explains it, makes it interesting, and is enthusiastic about the job (askville).
Students that have to take classes with teachers that are not enthusiastic about what they do, don’t seem to learn much from their classes. You always hear about that professor in which all their students regret taking and feel fustrated they did not learn anything and failed the course. Sometimes it might not be the teachers fault though, because of budget cuts classes have had up to forty students in a high school class room. Class size should not exceed twenty students, this will allow teachers to spend adequate time with all of their students. As we’ve seen, United States score pretty low on the International Student Assessment compared to other developed countries. One solution to this problem could be to lengthen the school year. American students spend only 180 days in school compared to 243 for Japanese students, 216 for Israelis and 200 for the Dutch and Australians (Colburn). All these other countries rank well above us in mathematics and reading levels. It seems that during long summer vacations and spring, winter and holiday breaks students forget a lot of what they have learned. Teachers have to spend about half of their year reviewing the material from past years before they can start teaching new information. (1058) (130)

Works Cited
Armario, Christine. "Wake-up Call ': U.S. Students Trail Global Leaders." Msnbc.com. NBCNews, 7 Dec. 2010. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.
Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, American Community Survey, 2004 American Community Survey (ACS) U.S. Department of Commercences.ed.gov, Institute of Education Sciences
Colburn, David. "5 Things We Can Do to Improve Public Education." CSZO. Scripps TV Station, 12 Sept. 2010. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.
Kingkade, Tyler. "Prop 30 Passes In California: Voters Support Gov. Jerry Brown 's Tax Measure For Education Funding." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Nov. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.
Imazeki, J., and Reschovsky, A. (2003). Financing Adequate Education in Rural Settings. Journal of Education Finance, 29(2): 137-156.
NA, Unknown. "Yes on 30." California Labor Federation. California Labor Federation, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013.
Summers, Lawrence H. "The 21st Century Education." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Jan. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

Cited: Armario, Christine. "Wake-up Call ': U.S. Students Trail Global Leaders." Msnbc.com. NBCNews, 7 Dec. 2010. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, American Community Survey, 2004 American Community Survey (ACS) U.S. Department of Commercences.ed.gov, Institute of Education Sciences Colburn, David. "5 Things We Can Do to Improve Public Education." CSZO. Scripps TV Station, 12 Sept. 2010. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Kingkade, Tyler. "Prop 30 Passes In California: Voters Support Gov. Jerry Brown 's Tax Measure For Education Funding." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Nov. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Imazeki, J., and Reschovsky, A. (2003). Financing Adequate Education in Rural Settings. Journal of Education Finance, 29(2): 137-156. NA, Unknown. "Yes on 30." California Labor Federation. California Labor Federation, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013. Summers, Lawrence H. "The 21st Century Education." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Jan. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.