(Every year,
foundations, think tanks and various other organizations produce lengthy papers
detailing what‘s wrong with the state of education in our public schools and
colleges, and what can be done to improve it. Yet nothing happens. Billions of
dollars are spent on technology but the scores don't budge, and the same (if
not more) percentage of students continue to drop out of school or take forever
to graduate. The tomes that the educators and the educational-industrial
complex produce to rectify public education have one thing in common: they
never reflect what the students themselves think! It is as if they are
convinced that students aren’t capable of analyzing what’s wrong with education,
yet the pundits are full of suggestions as to how to foster critical thinking
among them. The paradox is obvious to all except to the tome producers!
This is the first of a
series on what students think is wrong with our educational system and the
meaningful and practical steps that can be taken to improve it.)
Kathy had been
falling behind in her classes since elementary school and enrolled in special
needs level for almost all subjects, after being
diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. These special programs
consisted of about ten to fifteen students and were very hands-on. Teachers could
give the needed attention and because of this, Kathy back to normal grade
level. But as a full-time community college student, she is frustrated because it
is so hard to enroll in core classes. They fill up quickly, yet halfway through
the semester, half the class drops out! These students take up spots that could
have gone to more serious students. As a result, these students are forced to
delay their academic schedule and transfer to 4-year colleges much later. “I
strongly believe there should be a policy to prevent this from happening, such
as putting a limit on how many times a person can drop a class or even putting
people on hold for a semester because they failed to pass classes, instead of
letting them take them over a thousand times and taking up a spot that a some
else desperately needs.”
For Kaz, the lack of qualified and
inspiring teachers is the greatest hindrance to a good education. “Sometime we come across a teacher
who influences us, pushes us, shows us how great we can be, and inspires us.
But in the public school system, the sad truth is that such teachers are hard
to find. For whatever reason, it may be money or housing or transportation, public
school systems do not attract outstanding teachers. And due to the judgmental,
critical outlook that students have for teachers, all it takes is the first day
for a student to dislike a teacher. Yet I believe that the student-teacher
relationship is one of the most important and overlooked factors in education.”
In Kaz’s experience, teachers make all the difference. “I am motivated to try
hard if he thinks assignments handed out by teachers deserve my time and
effort. If I see that the teacher is lazy about lectures, assignments, grading,
et cetera, then I see no reason not to be lazy myself when completing
assignments. On the other hand, on the rare occasions when I come across a
teacher who inspires me, I try harder not to disappoint someone who puts in so
much time, effort, and emotion into his or her students. My freshman English
teacher in high school was a man who greatly influenced me. Today I see him as
a mentor, someone who I can go to with my problems or talk on a personal level.
Good teachers are the key to a good education. Unfortunately, in a community
college with less funding and less motivated students, they are harder to come
by. The key is to encourage teachers to form a strong student-teacher
relationship from day one, starting with addressing students by first name and
speaking a little bit about his or her personal life, so that the students know
that their teacher is a human being. If teachers can do a better job and form
healthy mentoring relationships with their students, high schools and community
colleges would be much improved.”
Maddi
has gone to public schools her entire
life, from kindergarten to senior year of high school. The downside she found
in her high school was the unhealthy competition among students, with little or
no care for each other. Everyone seems determined to go to Harvard or Stanford
at any cost. While she found the teachers genuinely caring and passionate about
their subjects, the students acted as if the GPA was the only yardstick by
which to measure a life. They were ruthless about teachers they didn’t like. In
fact, in her school, a math teacher committed suicide because of the ridiculed
he faced from his students. For Maddi, what is lacking in public schools is
compassion among students. That is why she feels strongly that, along with
algebra and history and literature, a subject on ethics and compassion and
kindness, combined with community service, must become a part of the core curriculum.
“What is the point of being smart by the book if you fail as a human being?
Education is not just about GPA but also about learning how to lead meaningful
lives.”
For Christy, current
educational reforms focus on the wrong elements. Instead of investing in expensive,
state-of-the-art technology, which she thinks actually distances a teacher from
students, teachers should focus more on motivating their students through
challenges tempered by kindness. Teachers should design their curriculum so
that learning becomes a joyful experience, instead of being a chore or a
mechanical process. Trying to craft a perfect educational system is a waste of
time. If teachers use simple tools, such as using card games to master the
periodic table, for instance, education can improve by leaps and bounds.
Educational think tanks and
foundations may believe they are helping students but they are only hurting them
by making them angry and frustrated to the point that students don’t feel
education is important anymore. This is Roshmita’s strongly-felt opinion. She
feels that educational foundations are making a fool of themselves by offering
pie-in-the-sky suggestions for improving our educational standards, whether it
is more technology or investor-funded online classes. Educational software is
no solution. What Roshmita finds lacking from her own experience is that
students who need extra help must have someone to show them how to master
concepts and solve problems, instead of asking them to fend for themselves with
web-assigned homework.
Stephanie
is concerned about the poor pay of teachers in America. No matter what
high-sounding suggestions may come from educators, unless teachers are paid at
the same level as engineers and lawyers and doctors, as they are in Finland and
Singapore, educational progress will be hard to come by. Also, in America,
teachers are hardly respected. Additionally, tuition increase and shortening of
the school year in which students are expected to learn the same extensive
material in less time are two reasons why they are dropping out in large
numbers. Students cannot be at their best when the pressure on them keeps
increasing daily. Online classes take the pressure off a bit but their quality
must improve significantly for more students to sign up for online classes.
Finally, teachers must step up to the plate as well. If students are convinced
that a teacher is genuinely interested in their success, they will perform
better. Teachers should constantly seek feedback from students to adjust and
improve their method of teaching and make it more relevant and interesting.
As
Oscar sees it, times have changed but our educational system hasn’t, other than
some cosmetic changes here and there. We are still applying the same 19th-century
model in the 21st-century. “We not only seek different skill sets in
the professional world, our nation’s population has also changed drastically. Many
of the jobs that used to be well-paying and in abundance have now been made
obsolete by modern technologies. Our colleges still offer many courses that have
no benefit for career. We really need to change our whole system of education
because the current one was simply not designed for today's world. The
suggestions for change can come from teachers and educators but the most
important ones can come only from students themselves. That’s what we should
do: Create a national project lasting 6 months to a year and get opinions from
students all over the country to improve our educational system. Only real data
from the field, that is, from students, can show us the way.”
For
Brandon, as for Kaz, it’s not technology or different forms of classes that
makes the difference but the teacher. “Even the most boring material can be fun
and engaging with a good teacher. I pick
teachers, not classes, when I sign up for classes. What frustrates me most is that
there are a lot of bad teachers in our schools and colleges. That really has a
devastating effect on students. The damage can last for years, if not a
lifetime. So the first step to improving our educational system and student
success is for schools to find the best teachers possible.”
