Education Reform
Describes several educational reforms within the US and examines one alternative reform.
By the time students reached their junior year they will have completed 48 credit hours of school. The junior would continue his or her collage level courses but would also work an internship in their chosen area of expertise. They would work for 15hrs. a week and school 20hrs. a week. At the end of 4 years of high school students will have accrued 98 credit hours , worked 1280hrs, and would have written 48 collage level papers in three languages.
Each of these suggested reforms has merits. In choosing the best reform one must consider many factors; cost, feasibility, effectiveness, and means of testing. By excepting international standards we could get instant results and save the money of creating new curriculum but we would be limited to the results of the other nations. Paying teachers better may or may not improve the level of education our children receive, but it is likely to call more qualified people to teach. Requiring our schools to have our students ready for collage by the 10th grade would benefit our young but would do little to improve our benchmark scores for 8th graders. The other option explored would allow high school students the ability to accrue 98 credit hours of collage while increasing the level of education at every level above 2nd grade. It would be expensive to implement, requiring a complete restructuring of curriculum and is totally untested. The advantage of the system is that it raises the bar so far above international standards that even a substandard American student would score above average on an international benchmark test. By increasing what is required of our students we would increase the quality of education received by a failing student making them more likely to succeed in the real world.
Since the information taught under the other proposed system would be structured in the order and context in which it was learned historically, students should be able to learn and retain more than they would if taught in a typical, disjointed method. Students should also gain a more in depth understanding of history, geography, and human nature since all curriculum is covered within the culture and understanding in which the item or concept was discovered. Though reform my be imminent, the methods of reform are unlimited. The proposals covered in this essay are not all inclusive. As the subject of reform takes more notice in the national arena, you will now be more informed about the issue. According to caliteracy.org “Greenland has fallen in the number one spot for literacy rates which is defined as anyone over the age of fifteen years old that can read and write. Both males and females have are at 100% literacy. In the US, adults with a high level of literacy are at 19%, a low level of literacy are at 49.6% and a moderate level of literacy at 31.4%. That difference in literacy rates are outstanding.” In 2003 I took an entrance exam to Enter Augusta State University. I had been out of school for 4 years, and the person testing me was surprised that I aced every exam. She informed me that they were used to most students strait out of high school required remedial classes in at least one subject. In 2007 I lost my job and in 2008 I was attempting to find a position using Vocational Rehabilitation and once again I learned to my horror that most employers want certification beyond a high school diploma that a perspective employee can read, write, and has basic mathematics skills. There seems to be little evidence that the revenue we spend on education has lasting results.
Bibliography
The Progress of Education Reform; April,2009 vol. 10 no.2:
Alliance for Educational Excellence; March 2008 fact sheet; IntlComp_FactSheet.pdf
caliteracy.org, Literacy Rates- How Many are Literate?, 2008
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