What are the Strengths and Weaknesses of the American School System?
Although America has many reasons to be proud of its educational system, there are perhaps several things that can be improved and built upon. When viewed on its own, it would seem that America is doing just fine in educating its youth. However, when compared to the standardized test scores of other countries, it appears that the U.S. is behind. There is therefore a public perception that schools do not do enough to educate our children. However, these results should be taken with a grain of salt. One of the reasons the U.S. appears to fall behind in standardized test scores is because the we do not pick and choose who we have represent our country on these tests; we include every student from every walk of life in the country, which is the way it should be as this is the most accurate representation of the country's current academic state. Another strength is that all students have an opportunity to receive a publicly-funded education, although a weakness is that not all schools and students receive the same amount of funding, potentially resulting in different qualities of education.
One of the weaknesses of our current educational system is that there is a "one-size fits all" mentality when it comes to educating our children. It is sometimes expected that all students should be able to perform well on standardized testing, and if they do not, it must mean that either the students aren't smart enough to perform well, or the teachers aren't doing a good enough job in teaching and preparing them for these tests. There is also a great deal of pressure placed on students to do well on standardized testing, as well as on teachers who are often judged by how well their students do on these tests. In the article "A New Professional: The Aims of Education Revisited," Parker J. Palmer stresses that the emotions of our students should be taken as seriously as their intellects. He argues that students should be encouraged to express their feelings more, as they are an integral part of who they are, and coming to terms with how something makes them feel will help them to better tackle it and accomplish their goals. I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, as I feel that the emotions of students are often ignored in favor of an academics-only approach, which might increase the inhibitions of some students.
Some of the questions that come to mind after doing these readings:
1. Is there a better way to compare the educational status of the United States to other countries besides standardized testing?
2. At what point is too much of an emphasis placed on the emotions of our students and not enough on their intellects (is their a happy medium, and if so, where is it)?
3. How can teachers move away from a "one-size fits all" mentality when standardized testing is still in place?
One of the weaknesses of our current educational system is that there is a "one-size fits all" mentality when it comes to educating our children. It is sometimes expected that all students should be able to perform well on standardized testing, and if they do not, it must mean that either the students aren't smart enough to perform well, or the teachers aren't doing a good enough job in teaching and preparing them for these tests. There is also a great deal of pressure placed on students to do well on standardized testing, as well as on teachers who are often judged by how well their students do on these tests. In the article "A New Professional: The Aims of Education Revisited," Parker J. Palmer stresses that the emotions of our students should be taken as seriously as their intellects. He argues that students should be encouraged to express their feelings more, as they are an integral part of who they are, and coming to terms with how something makes them feel will help them to better tackle it and accomplish their goals. I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, as I feel that the emotions of students are often ignored in favor of an academics-only approach, which might increase the inhibitions of some students.
Some of the questions that come to mind after doing these readings:
1. Is there a better way to compare the educational status of the United States to other countries besides standardized testing?
2. At what point is too much of an emphasis placed on the emotions of our students and not enough on their intellects (is their a happy medium, and if so, where is it)?
3. How can teachers move away from a "one-size fits all" mentality when standardized testing is still in place?
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