Analysis Post for Education in Public Schools

What is going on in our schools? “Until recently, the school he (Zebedee Williams) attends, Roosevelt High, has struggled with gangs, poor attendance, and lack of discipline. These problems that are not unique among St. Louis schools. Over the past several decades, St. Louis families have increasingly abandoned the public schools, moving their children to county schools, to parochial and private schools, and to charter schools that draw per-pupil dollars from the public school system.” says a PBS news report done on low income public schools. In recent years, these types of moves have become more common and it is becoming a major issue.  For this reason, researchers are examining and trying to determine how to solve the many issues going on in America’s public schools. While some try to ignore the problem or pretend there is nothing wrong with our schools, we continue to hear stories like the one above, making it apparent that we do have some serious problems.  Even though there are many dependable sources and reports that provide reliable data on what is going on, there are other reports that are not truthful.  From this post, I am going to go in depth on this issue using various opinions and thoughts about the issue.

                 From schools being unequally created due to politics  to the economy which has resulted in teachers being laid off and schools being closed, it is understandable why Americans think public schools are in a crisis.One reason many people believe that public schools don’t prepare students for the future is because American students are behind in comparison with the world. In 2007, a report released by the National Center for Educational Statistics, 4th grade American students performed above average in an assessment that included 35 different countries. Unfortunately though,looking at the data for 15- year old American high school students, it is a different story. The Program for International Assessment (PISA) is the exam that tests the knowledge of 15 year olds worldwide on subjects such as reading, math and science. According to the results, the American students didn’t do so well. Out of the 30 OECD countries that participated, Americans scored below average on 23 of the countries that were tested. Following this release, the Associated Press released a report about the same data. In December of 2007, this report was presented in the New York Times titled “Other countries’ Students Surpassed US’s On Test”. While it was true that American teens didn’t perform as high as others on the assessments, the article still had more of a negative undertone. The article also failed to mention the data of fourth grade students testing above average. While it is good that the fourth grade students perfomed well, the NY Times article was right with their viewpoint that US schools need to change the direction they are going. With that in mind, educators are trying to figure out what is going wrong in our public high schools as well as what is needed to change this trend. The following  talks about just SOME of the problems that are going on in our schools.

Are Public School Accurately Preparing Students for College or Not?

One question that many people ask about public schools is whether they are accurately preparing high school students for college or not. Due to the fact that nearly one-third of students entering a post-secondary institution needs to take remedial courses in order to do well,  many believe public schools aren’t doing their job in preparing students. In order to measure whether students are prepared for college, college admissions look at standardized test scores to determine whether they will be successful at their institutions or not. Organization such as the American College Testing organization believe that taking their exam and scoring high on it means that a student is prepared. With thousands of parents spending hundreds of dollars on prep classes, many buy into their story which is not always true. Recently published in a Boston newspaper, the article “ACT Scores Dip but More Students Are Prepared For College”, it discusses the recent dip in composite ACT scores, but the slight increase of students prepared to do college science and math courses. This brings out the point that schools that teach students more effectively in the classroom have a greater effect and prove success more than standardized tests.

Currently at The University of Nevada-Las Vegas, forty percent of incoming freshmen lack the ability to read on college level while almost seventy percent of students don’t have the sufficient skills to do college math. While the middle 50% scored around the average ACT score, they still weren’t prepared. Instead of thinking that standardized test prove whether students are ready for college, educators believe the curriculum and standards set in high schools prepare and prove that students are ready for a higher education. Educators believe that if high schools raise their standards and teach students what they need to know, preventing them from playing catch up later on, students will be much more prepared for the future. Coming from a non-biased source and backed by many, this point is very true.

The Game of Politics and The Economy

Another problem that is taking a toll on public schools is the economy and the game of politics. With the economy leaving less money for things to get done, many are debating where money and tax dollars should be spent in regards to education. With states such as California,  teachers are almost unable to meet the learning and social needs of their students due to budget cuts, right wingers such as Andrew J. Coulson believe no more tax dollars should be spent on public education and teachers. While reading Mr. Coulson’s biased article, I couldn’t help but notice that he is using research that is prepared by himself to make his point. Not only that, he fails to mention the other side of the argument as well as the graph he uses is formed incorrectly. (He puts the costs of sending children to school on the same line graph that tells reading and math scores. From observing his tone, you definitely know that his article is biased and reading it makes readers realize the different political views that people have about education. Additional ways which politics affect our schools is with the policy of neighborhood schools. With neighborhood schools on the rise, the relationship between economic status and the quality of education that a person receives continues to lower the reputation of public schools.  Recently in Wake County Schools, the school board decided to reverse its diversity policy and assign students to schools using this policy.  Most Parents obviously know the results of this situation and many are filing lawsuits against the county as well some are demonstrating protests causing people to get arrested. With forcing all students from a certain socio-economic status to go to one school, schools become less diverse and inequity becomes an issue.

Students that come from families that have low incomes are most likely to be put at a disadvantage. Back in 2004, six out of ten high school graduates coming from families making under $33,000 will attend college by the age of 24, which is less than students coming from families making more than $80,000.  While some people may say that low income students actually receive more help, realistically in the long run, they aren’t receiving the proper education to prepare them for the future. Even if admitted to a decent college, there aren’t likely to succeed with obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

In order to improve the conditions of our schools, the government is now working hard and coming up with programs to implement changes in public schools. Starting with George Bush’s No Child Left Behind, small improvements have been made. To further improve the success of public schools, Barack Obama is making changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. According to his website, those new guidelines are designed to prepare and measure students’ growth and create accountability standards to ensure success. In addition Obama is making changes to the No Child Left Behind act and he plans to make sure future students are prepared to enter kindergarten. As well, he will expand the federal Pell Grants so a broader range of students are able to enter and afford college. Even though his ideas sound promising, some are not happy about them. CNN presents  the article,” Obama’s Educational Plans Draw Fire” saying groups such as pro-profit universities as well organizations that prepare students for college are against his plan to increase funding to community colleges, encouraging students to go there. That is obviously not shocking, considering these companies will be affected by those policies. While all these plans sound good, it all goes back to one thing, adequately teaching students while they are in primary and secondary schools, prepares them for the basic fundamentals that they will need for life. When all public schools start doing this, our country will be singing a different tune when it comes to education.