Standards are Not the Answer to Improving Education
by Those who support standards as the absolute measurement of success feel that it logically makes sense to use one level of measurement. Of all the ingredients making up public education, the human element is most important; and just as there are an infinite number of personalities, learning abilities, disorders and diseases, there needs to be more than just one rule for all.
“Standards-based reform initiatives promote an ambitious agenda in the sense that they aim to reach into individual classrooms, changing the nature of instruction with the ultimate goal of improving student learning” (Swanson, 2002). Standards are not the answer. They serve those who seek answers easily made available. The United States of America is in desperate need for massive educational reform on a grand scale.
Standards, when done properly with the student in mind, are certainly part of the solution but they can not be relied upon as being the entire answer. The danger with nationalized standards is that the concept is dangerously close to governing education in an absolute manner. This is not what those who hold the country close to their hearts hope to achieve. Everyone needs to acknowledge that there is a problem, eliminate opportunities for embezzlement and profit and then begin searching for a solution from a blank foundation.
How about smaller class size?
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On May 18, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Educational reform, although needed, seems to be spurring a revolution of politicians advocating merit pay, voucher systems and for-profit charter schools.