Problems of Contemporary Education in Perspective

This chapter discusses the importance of the American educational value which is the role of the development of global economic market however the weakness of American educational system, the future of American nation is in danger because many competitors in the world overtake the variety fields of commerce, industry, science and technology. Therefore, federal government emphasizes the reform of educational system to improve the quality of education as well as the global economic market.

My interesting topic is applying religion in public schools with the purposes of teaching the moral and spiritual behavior for the students. But I disagree with this idea for the American education in public schools because U.S. is multicultural society so we should consider many different religions and for example, if the schools are applied the Christian religion; there are probably some conflicts between the parents and the children of Christian and other religions. The schools cannot force the students who are involved in other religions or non religious because the people have the right of religious freedom. I am a Christian and I attended third grade in a Private Catholic Junior high school in a country which is not U.S. because of the high prestige. But I did not see anything better than the public school in my country where I attended the first and second grades. Indeed, it was mandatory to take the bible class once a week but it did not help for all students to behave more with morality and discipline. So in my opinion, it does not really helpful the school systems to use the prayer and bible reading to manage the students’ attitude and behavior in the public school thus it is only acceptable the private school because it is optional but the purpose of the American public school is the equality for all students to give the education therefore, any religions should not involve in the public schools to respect other religions and to prevent the conflicts between each other. As historically we see that many wars of religion were occurred to take their power so religion in public school can create other problems instead of managing the students’ behavior. Are you agree that the students can change their behavior just being applied to use the prayer and bible reading in the public schools?

This chapter focuses on America competing in the global market by way of reforming the education system. In order to successful reform public schools: discipline will have to be considered. Discipline can be easily obtained through religion.

Religion in schools on many levels assist with structure and appreciation and this in return produces better performance in schools. Religion in general helps mold individuals to become good citizens by instilling good moral behaviors. In many education systems around the world religion is integrated into the learning process. Whether it is morning prayer or reading scripture or religion as a civics it’s a necessary discipline. In order to achieve pluralistic society other societies believe religion should be a part of public education.

In Germany it is believed that religion is a private matter like the U.S., but it is also thought to be a state’s responsibility to develop the whole child. The education system there allows for students to explore their own religion and become tolerant to others. The reasoning behind allowing religion in school is to encourage multiculturalism. Germany government has allowed for Christianity, Judaism and is moving towards Islam being taught in schools. The only religious boundary the government has enforced is found on the national and political arena. Germany doesn’t permit the display of symbols on political, government or national emblems. In the U.S. we do display religious symbols on the national level, yet we don’t allow for religious observations in schools.

In this chapter we are given the reasoning behind the U.S. shift from religion in schools to becoming religious on occasion. It’s understandable why the transition took place due to the earlier religious freedom struggles. Currently we are a diverse society and acknowledging religion in public education can only make for united society, in which we all need to live with one another. In my opinion religion taught for history purposes is not enough. If we want to build American patriotism we need to acknowledge the faith that makes up the population.

 How can parents stay committed to our public education system if religion in education is censored? People feel the need to be a part of some organized groups and at times it is through religious outlets. By leaving parents torn between enrolling their children into religious institutions are we really encouraging pluralism in our society?

During today’s economy where it is so hard to find a good job because not many companies are actually hiring, it is important to get the highest degree of education that we can get.  I understand that higher education can be really expensive if you are going to a private institution where you can spend potentially $50,000 a year on tuition and there are certainly not a lot of families that can afford that.  I believe that the state and federal governments should step up and help out students who are interested in receiving a higher education, because who is to say that a student from a poor family does not deserve the same opportunity to a higher education like a student from a wealthy family gets.  Thar poor student could work really hard in his higher education and be someone who makes a significant difference in the world one day and without the state paying contributing to that education, that student probably would not have been able to do much with his life.  We are not all fortunate enough to live in a big house or have wealthy parents, I know that I don’t but it does not mean that we should not have a chance to receive a higher education like all the other people do.

During today’s age where kids do not really want to go to school because they see it as a job and not as much fun because they have to learn things that they do think are important, I think it is really important for parents to be involved in their child’s education.  The emphasis that the parents can put on the education is very significant because the child looks up to them as being a role model and thus will listen to the parent’s advice.  Kids need to understand that there is a reason as to why they are going to school and it is not just a free babysitting service.  School at all levels helps prepare the children for their future and it must be taken seriously by the students.  It really is an important time for the parents to be involved in their child’s education because if they are not involved at a young age, then the children may fall off course and not live up his or her full potential.

Federal and state government should fund Higher Education especially in these economic times. Dollars should be spent more in this area because it will help with innovation, which in turn can help turn the economy around. Its a proven fact that when the economy is bad more entrepreneurs emerge. America is the land of innovation many contributors to our economy advancement were  products of CUNY. An example of how CUNY changed lives can be thought of when you think of the success of New York Jews it was a great education outlet for them and the same can apply for current immigrants.  People have obtained the American dream through CUNY with its flaws and all

Carolina, brought up an excellent point in class about taking away finanical aid from the students that abuse it. If the government is looking to cut education spending it should be for those individuals, but not for those who need it the most and keep their GPA intact.

As the old cliche goes experience is the best teacher and it can be applied parent involvement reading. Through my experience parents in minority schools enjoy complaining rather than channeling their energy towards bringing change through collectively working together. In fairness not all parents fall into the above assertion of complaining and doing nothing. Those parents that value education and have endured their own obstacles in pursuit of it are the exception. I find with these parents no matter how hectic their life are they will stop at nothing to be an intergal part of their child’s education.

One area in the reading that focus on the reasons why parents my feel comfortable being involved is the section titled Sense of Welcome.  I think there were some great points made on why parents may value their child education and how this may determine the level of their involvement. The section further discusses how sending correspondence in native languages may encourage those same parents. All true, but the adverse has to be spotlighted as well, which is some schools intentionally don’t want parents to can get involved.

Minority parents tend to be the victims of schools not welcoming them in fear they will see and know how these schools are actually being ruined. As parents their lays a right to end it corruption in these schools. Schools are continuing to enforce the unwritten rule: the less parents involved the better. Parents need to educate themselves on the policies that are in place so they can began to mobilize in schools. They don’t need their personal monies because its in the budget for them already to be involved outside of motivating their kids.

I know during our class discussion some of  us thought its was a good idea to send correspondences in some of the languages found in the school, but not others. If an exception is made for one group it should be made for all. This is another tool schools use to exclude parents and stop them from becoming involved. Parents need to really wake up.

Stan Karp did a good job on correlating external and internal factors that give off the disparities that have driven the inequalities within schools. Karp expanded in the areas of school vouchers, cutting off the arts, and money being spent wastefully on collecting data. There are core needs and priorities that are being ignored. We have children living in extreme poverty, but we are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on education research whiles we can be bring big social change in communities.

 Often you hear about prospective programs in education you know it wouldn’t work and you think who would think of initiating such an effort. To our dismay these programs are started and fail putting us further behind in reforming our schools.  No child left behind is actually doing the adverse and further crippling our school system as Kohn mentioned in chapter 5.

School curriculums are not meeting the demands of the standardized exams. Those students who do well are given a voucher to go to a private school.  By supporting private schools a message is being sent we don’t believe enough in public schools, how damaging. Where the focus and monies should be instead of paying private tuition is in bringing unemployment down in areas where it is highest. Giving children good health intervention, so they don’t have to miss school because of asthma.  Get rid of lead poison in building so the kids can actually focus in school. Stop mandating Adequate Yearly Progress because there is no real progress until we face these core problems.

 In beginning we learned the fundamentals of why public schools were started. It was geared towards patriotism and helping the poor rise up against poverty. Today that cause is lost according to Meier. Schools are busy, but not producing. The government needs to foster collectiveness and stop encouraging separation. Separation is being encourage through the many school alternatives presented to families when things do not work out in their schools.  In order to fix these problem we need to bring zone schools together by holding the whole district accountable for individual school failures.

Throughout the semester, we have discussed the different concerns in American school classrooms. Most importantly, student’s performance levels have been questioned. Due to different factors in any child’s life, he or she may develop, learned helplessness, which may affect their learning abilities.

Learned Helplessness can be defined as passively giving up on future accomplishments. Once a student begins to believe that their actions are futile, and they are incompetent. As I learned in both EDU 3001, and EDU 3002, learned helplessness may affect student’s capabilities in the classroom setting; whether it is physically, or mentally. I will further discuss why students may face learned helplessness, and different ways to resolve the issue.

One of the primary examples of learned helplessness is “If a student studies a lot but consistently makes poor grades he/she will start to feel depressed.”  The student may feel that success is far from his/her hand reach. With this in mind, the student may feel isolated from his/her peers and fall below curriculum standards.

Secondly, we have put great emphasis on the importance of parental guidance in a child’s educational experience. In Springs text, the factor of nature vs. nurture is a very important aspect in the upbringing of a child’s life. However, “If a mother tries to discipline her child in different ways, such as, timeout, spanking or words and the child still acts in ways she dislikes (misbehavior), she will start to feel there’s nothing she can do to help the child or herself.  She may be failing as a parent.”In addition to failing as a parent, the child may be affected by this form of discipline. They may begin to feel that is the only way the mother can communicate with them. Unfortunately, the student can become stressed from the issues in their households and perform in an unsatisfactory manner in the classroom.

With the assistance of their teachers, during afterschool programs, resolutions can be made. If students consistently ask instructors for constructive feedback, they may benefit from it. Secondly, through cooperative learning, students will be able to share new ideas with each other. This ensures a balance of immediate information for each student to generate new ideas, unseen by others. Overall, an intentional teacher, who is familiar with importance of a high quality education, can work with students to improve his/her students in the classroom.In addition, to parental involvement and the better understanding of self motivation, any student can succeed in their educational experience.

Higher Education is something that is very important in our society. With more people graduating high school a higher demand has been placed on higher education. Even though there has been a higher demand on education, it is very difficult for people to continue to pursue higher education because of the increasing costs. I do believe that government should do all that they can to help people financially in pursuing a higher education

Even though it is a choice, its very hard to get by in society without a degree. It’s not impossible but it does make it more difficult. I thought it was interesting that the number of people attending private colleges is starting to decrease and that more people are attending public or community colleges. I had some friends that I graduated high school with that had to transfer from their private schools to a community or cuny school. Today’s society doesn’t make higher education seem like a choice. They don;t have many options for people that don’t pursue a higher education.

Since it is essential, I think the government should do all that they can to help with funding for higher educations. I believe that the government tries to make this county seem like it holds a very high status when it comes to education or the economy. But their funding towards education is starting to decrease even though they want people to pursue it.I believe that there is a negative correlation when it comes to budget cuts, teacher layoffs, tuition increases and graduation rates. The government stresses how important higher education is, so they need to what they can to help funding of those that are trying to pursue it.

This is an article that examines the link between government funding and graduation rates.

“Does Public Funding For Higher Education Matter?” by Liang Zhang

http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=workingpapers&sei-redir=1#search=%22why+should+the+government+fund+higher+education%22

I think higher education is important but it’s hard to say who should really fund it, should it be the government, tax payers or the individual seeking higher education? I think the Government should seek to make public education affordable to all. Affordable education is just a stumbling block in making a person seek better things in life.  Government should seek and find more ways to fund higher education so that society on a whole will be better off for the future. By funding education government will help to decrease poverty in a given society the need of education is necessary or a help factor to help the growth of a neighborhood. We see that in many other countries the government takes full control of the educational system by funding school with the school and home life. Making sure parents get the knowledge they need to guarantee that their children get the best education. It is a shame that the government is taking away funding from schools and parents and students not put up a hard of enough fighter to guarantee a proper education, just move that the path that education is taking in not positive. Teachers and administration and school faculty also have to join together to make sure that children are not cheated out of the right to learn and to be educated.

President Obama is talking about education reform, but with education reform the government both federal and state has to be willing to spend the money in doing things the proper way. We cannot try to reform education without funding and spending a lot of money, but in the end if we start the process now we cannot expect to see a miracle happen today for tomorrow. It will take time but government must be willing to guarantee that funding will not be taken way from schools and that school will get more funding in order to make sure that each child gets the help that is need and that teachers are trained properly to assist in reformation of education.

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/38489417#38489417 On: what is the right way to reform education?