Chapter 15

The final chapter of ” The American School” by Joel Spring gives an updated view on the struggles that the American educational system still faces. What is very prominent in today’s educational woes are the political wars regarding important policies. Spring describes that Democrats and Republican have very different views on important topics such as language instruction and ending poverty. The constant tug of war between Democrats and Republicans prevent any progress on improving our current educational system. Conservative and liberal ideas become so polarized that a consensus is never reached. Behind this tug of war between political parties is the private interests of each. As Spring notes, the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administration only created closer ties between the needs of business and the functioning of public schools. Policies were enacted without effective basis and erroneous logic, such as No Child Left Behind. Although the core ideology of having students within a state to have equal education might be effective the means to measure success are flawed. Excessive testing just created a system of “teaching to the test” and anxiety ridden students. Unfortunately, no proper policy will never be implemented if there continues to be disagreement between the parties. The effects of such back and forth is causing the country to be unbalanced and this unbalanced country cannot compete globally, as many politicians claim to want to do. As discussed in class and in previous chapters, there needs to be a new understanding and definition of education. Money, business, and politics are deeply involved in the educational system and it is greatly affecting students. They are no longer children or teenagers but numbers. Although many teachers may have passion for their admirable profession, the system which they succumb to limits their abilities and their performance. The current administration proposed in 2009 to begin a program of massive technology data collection to track students’ and teachers’ progress. However, where is the massive program to track the government’s effectiveness? Can you really only limit success or failure of a student to the teacher, when there is an enormous disjointed educational network of standards and broad curricula which they have to follow? Often times the government and its leaders fail to see their own flaws and failures, even when its right in front of them.