The video clip I posted is from Feb. 22nd 2010. Obama is changing how we 'do' education in America. I like a few things about his proposal and some other things I am unsure of. I like the fact that he realizes something is very wrong with our education system and he wants to find what actually works. I also like that he wants teachers to learn how to teach to a higher standard. Expectations of students are not only relevant in primary and secondary school but also in post-secondary education. Professors of Education need to hold their pre-service teachers to a high standard of what qualifies as quality teaching. The thing that I really didn't like about this new plan is the money issue. Obama wants competition to still be the way schools, districts, and states get money for education. This has not proven to work in the past because some schools just end up so far in the deep that they can't get out. Why does it have to be based on competition? Why can't there be an average amount of money that each school gets in each state. If someone could figure out the average cost to send a student to school in each state, then the government could give a predetermined amount to all of the schools in the state. I know we probably don't have enough money in our government to support this but I just feel like test scores and recognizing 'quality' teaching are not the fairest way to decide who gets money and who doesn't. It brings up the whole issue of equality in schools and what is equality and how can we guarantee equality across all schools in the U.S. I almost think that complete equality across all of the schools in the country will never happen. Someone will always complain about something because as a society we are never happy with what we have.
This clip is only a short description of Obama's plan for improving education so I look forward to hearing more about it in the future since it will affect me as a teacher.
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This is such a difficult issue. Do we continue to throw money into schools/teachers that don't work, or do we short change schools that might not be completely in control of their own success? Neither of those sound like a good option, but at this point everyone feels like the government will do one or the other. Either way, the kids are the ones who lose out in the end.
ReplyDeleteEnsuring equality sounds like justice and fairness to some people, but it sounds like communism to others. It is tough in the US to tell people that the money they have earned from their hard work (disregarding their social standing to begin with) is going to be redistributed to other schools of other children, that doesn't seem fair and is a de-motivator to work and be a good producer, yet are we upholding our Nation's declaration that all men are created equal if we do otherwise?
I agree that it is difficult to get people to give up the money that they worked so hard for and give it to people they don't know but then should they be complaining that our country isn't educated enough? If they want something to change in the education system then they have to realize that money might be distributed differently so that the students can have a better future and lead our country better. But again, how do you change people's minds since our country is not socialist at all.
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