My preacher and I have had a running discussion the last few weeks about the state of the American education system. It is quite depressing when you see the numbers of where the USA is ranked in comparison to the rest of the world when it comes to science and math scores. It can be embarassing when you hear American students interviewed and asked simple geography and history questions and they cannot answer them and if they do it is so ridiculous that you cannot laugh. But is the entire system in trouble? Is it flawed?First we must understand the US education system. We are one of the only if not the only country in the world that allows every single person access to a public education. We cannot discriminate based on anything. So, we have students in public classrooms who have physical disabilities along with those who do not. We have students in public classrooms with IQ's of 150 sitting along side students with IQ's of 70, and we allow students with psychological disabilities to be allowed in the public classroom.
I am not saying whether it is good or bad, I am just explaining what we have. I guess I could be making excuses, but there is no way that our education system can be ranked high if we allow for these types of situations to occur. What it does is allow for everyone access to an education. Will it make for high rankings; probably not. But it is a less discriminatory society and a noble exercise.
Other issues with public education would be the fear of lawsuits. Not just in education, but in every aspect of our country does the idea of being sued manipulate the system. As a teacher, if I have too high expecations and the students fail it is probably because I am not teaching to each student's education plan and therefore, I could be sued. If I water down the information then I am neglecting my job and can be sued for neglect of education. If I fail a student and they cannot be passed on, I have to show through extensive paperwork that I did my job (which isn't a problem for me) or be sued. Yet, if I just pass them on and they haven't done the work or learned the info to warrant passing, then I am guilty of social promotion.
It seems that teachers more and more are blamed for the downfall of the American education system and I think in some situations that is true. However, I believe that there needs to be a new mindset especially when comparing us to the rest of the world. If we continue to allow for all Americans to have access to a public education, then we had better be ready to have our understanding of where we rank world wide to be different. We will not be at the top of the list, but we may be making for a better overall country; or not.
