For the most part I agree with the overall statement of the
article: the US needs to change their education policies. Considering that we
are part of Students for Education Reform that shouldn't be surprising.
The gist of the article is that the US should mimic education policies seen in other countries. It acknowledges the achievements of countries such as Finland,
Singapore, South Korea, China, New Zealand and Japan. The main emphasis
is that US education stresses too much on just the student and doesn't
acknowledge external factors, such as the amount of time given to teachers
for planning lessons and the average amount of parent involvement in a
student's academic performance. One of the biggest points that they
stress is that students should have a positive outlook on school
derived from each other and their teachers. However, how do you make
students feel more involved in school?
I think that one of the best ways is that teachers
provide an encouraging environment for all students to participate and
provide their opinion. In elementary school I participated in the
Montessori program which allows for the teacher to cater a curriculum to
each student. Each day we were assigned specific tasks by the teacher
and then we got to choose what we wanted to do during free time. The
assigned tasks made sure that we were keeping up to date with the designated curriculum for that grade and the elective free time allowed the
student to pursue their academic interests. Montessori focused on hands
on learning which allowed the student to directly interact with the
material that they were learning. This inspired the kind of passion for
education in me that the article was talking about. Although I am not
suggesting that everyone shift to Montessori style teaching, the idea
of active interaction between the teacher and the student is a way to implement what the article is talking about.
Another interesting point stated in the article is
the number of hours students spend in class. Many people think that
increases the number of hours forced upon student's to work will help
improve test results but, as the article points out, this can wear a
student down. Focusing more on quality than quantity is important and
should take the spotlight of modern US education.
Overall, US education is lacking worldwide and
instead of trying to continue digging into the hole we are already in we
should look to other counties in what they are doing. We need to push
aside the idea that we are the superpower that we were in the 20th
century and accept that we need to look to others to help us in our
current academic crisis.
~Daniel Mulrow
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