The Education of Our Nation

Monica Santora
Meixner
English 1A
08 November 2012

The Education of Our Nation

“[R]aising math, science, reading, and creativity levels in Amerian schools is thed key determinant of economic growth, and economic is the key to national power and influence as well as individual well-being” (Friedman and Mandelbaum 100).When a problem arises, the first thing a person ought to do is educate themselves on the subject. While most every American agrees, America, as a nation, has put its’ education system on the back burner. In their book entitled That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum explain their take of this new globalized world in which we now live and how America has failed to keep up. The key to returning our nation to front of the pack is education. Our young people need to be introduced to purposeful learning at an early age, and those who already out of school and in the work force, should be pressed to update their education regularly. This is vital for all American people and their futures. The IT Revolution opened an unforeseen amount of opportunities for many people all around the world. With the emergence of the internet, people for anywhere in anywhere in the world could communicate at any time. The continuing drop in cost for such services had made it possible for just about anyone to become a player in the global economy. People have the power now to buy or sell from or to anyone. With so many potential competators, a person or company must work even harder to be both more cost efficient in order to offer better prices, and for new innovations in order to stand out from the crowd. Friendman and Mandelbuam summarized our current situation due to the IT revolution as: We can already see that this this hyper-connecting of the world is altering everyone’s business and forcing everyone who is in business to learn how to take advantage of these new tools to become more productive. . . when so many people have so many tools to compete, connect, and both pull and push new innovations and information, the speed with which companies need to update . . . gets faster . . . more individuals and small companies groups to start up their own companies and create new jobs with greater ease and for less money than ever before. And, finally, we can see that is it challenging every worker who wants to hold a job for any length of time at a company-large or small, new or old- to develop the skills needed to keep up. (Friedman, Mendalbuam 65) In today’s economy, business must do more with less in order to stay competative in the market. This means that they need fewer people, but all of those remaining, must be able to pick up any slack left from the loss of another. This level of drive has not been too common in modern day America. Americans are stereo-typed as stupid and lazy. Americans may have earned this label as a result of what we learn as children. Friedman and Mandelbaum pointed out that “American young people have got to understand from an early age that the world pays off on results, not on effort. Not everyone should win a prize no matter where he or she finishes” (125). Where do we stand in education in comparison to the rest of the world? You should be concerned to hear the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) found that America’s performance was merly average in reading and science but below average in math (Friedman and Mandelbaum 106). That “is not nearly good enough in a knowledge economy where scientific and technological literacy is so central to sustaining innovation and international competeativness” (qtd in Friedman and Mandelbaum 105).

Friedman, L. Thomas, and Michael Mandelbaum. That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back. New York: FSG, 2011. Print.
Dado, Natasha. "Dearborn School Board Candidates Discuss State School Rankings, Promise Improvements." The Arab American News: 14. 2012. Ethnic NewsWatch. Web. 11 Nov. 2012 .
Sohrabji, Sunita. "Economist Wins $500K MacArthur 'Genius' Grant." India - West: 2. Oct 05 2012. Ethnic NewsWatch. Web. 11 Nov. 2012 .
Cain, Carol. "Urban Agenda." Michigan Chronicle: 1. 2012. Ethnic NewsWatch. Web. 11 Nov. 2012 .
Edelin, Ramona. "Education Reform can Save our Children." Afro - American Red Star: 1. 2012. Ethnic NewsWatch. Web. 11 Nov. 2012 .
Biderman, Seth. "School Re-Formed." Santa Fe Reporter: 8. 2012. Alt-PressWatch. Web. 11 Nov. 2012 .

"You can't have one part of the equation, and not pay attention to the other," she said. Mary Lane qtd in Dearborn School District "There's a lot of focus especially in politics on the short-term economic situation, but I think as a nation, it's very important to think about longer-run economic growth," said Chetty, adding that investments in primary school education could have significant long-term impacts for the U.S. Obama said education is an economic imperative that serves as a gateway to good-paying jobs, a strong middle class, and a workforce that out-innovates the rest of the world. ThPlanning should encompass utilization of relevant research and best practices that are already tested and proven to raise academic performance. Collaboration around policy development, professional development and-most importantly-sharing public facilities must also be part of the mix. e costs of failing our children are high and borne by all of us, whether they are related to us or not. models of schooling in which teachers exercise real professional autonomy to decide how to best help their students learn. In the worldwide Reggio Emilia preschool model, teachers work in teams of two to document their students' interests and then build a new curriculum every year. In the international Big Picture Learning Schools, teachers draw on their creativity and knowledge to help advisees develop and work through personalized learning plans. In Finland, teachers spend less time with students so that they can design their own curricula and assessments, following national guidelines as they see fit.( AuthorAffiliation A graduate ofSFPS and a former Santa Fe educator, Seth Biderman is under contract with the Academy for the Love of Learning to research different learning models and farther public conversation about what "school" could someday be. He blogs at schoolreformed. wordpress.com)