Post #7-Common Core a Federal Solution

This blog mostly pertains to analyzing solutions for educational problems.  One of the greatest reforms ever taken place in education on the federal level is the implementation of the Common Core standards.  This is seen as an attempt to federally standardize education and provide a focus on critical thinking.  According to the opponents like Pamel Engel who claim that Common Core does provide a greater focus on critical thinking rather than memorization it reduces creativity among the teachers.  She claims that the rigorous test can take “up to eight to ten hours to complete” providing a work load on the student that diminishes their enjoyment of education. 

 Common Core also hinders conventional knowledge by focusing on the obscure facts, but ignoring the reasons behind the subject or understanding of that fact. This is due to the increased focus on the testing rather than the subject. Common Core has problems that are basically from it being too radical too fast.  It is a great idea and provides a good focus on critical thinking which is needed, but it takes away from personalization and creativity that sometimes only classrooms can bring out.  The goal of education should be to increase diversity among students so that each student can personally achieve their true learning potential.  The idea of standardization for education is a very powerful tool, but shouldn’t be used for implementation but evaluation.  A school should test using standardized models to find out the weak points in the education.  Common Core is honest effort to better education, but it is too dramatic of a shift that has too many unintended consequences.

Works Cited:

Engel, Pamela. "This May Be The Biggest Problem With America's 'Common Core' Education Standards." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 04 July 2014. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

Common Core New Test Question. Digital image. NYSUT.org. NYSUT, n.d. Web.

Post #6-Current State Solutions

Current measures to solve problems in education are used in the political messages of every politician.   Most though do not gain enough ground to be fully implemented in the education system to actually help.  However some massive bills do get passed that ultimately redefine the education system.  One of these major budget boosts is the bill that recently passed in California.  This bill increases spending on education to over $6.6 billion.  Its goal is to double the amount of teachers and provide increased funding in more programs.  Opponents of the bill claim that it still doesn’t address issues like pay increases for teachers or “doesn’t go far enough to reduce class size.”  The current spending bill is a major step in the right direction though.  It implies that our government is proactively finding solutions to help education.  The bigger issue though is not that more increased spending is the only thing needed, but better funding management too.  Teachers should receive a pay increases to create a better work environment to better appreciate their job especially since teachers haven’t “received a raise in 7 years.”  Funding should be directed to focus on smaller classroom sizes and providing students with tutoring help after school. Many problems can be solved by creating more programs that stimulate learning.  In California, it is hard to achieve any substantial budget increases as this requires voter approval, but we can diver funds from other programs like prison and law enforcement efforts that require a substantial amount of money for minor crimes and misdemeanors.  There are other programs, but however we get the money, education is key to the future of the state and the country. 

Works Cited:

Hayden, Sara. "LAUSD OKs Budget; Spending on Teachers, Needy Students to Grow." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 24 June 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

Post #5-AP Programs

Another possible solution to the growing concern of eduction is to create more academically interested students.  There are different way of stimulating the interest in the student, but none more so than advanced placement programs.  According to the Washington Post, opponents claim that these programs provide a burden and don’t prepare students for education.  In the article, the research of the University of Texas is used to show the collegiate benefits of a more prepared students.  Even scores of two on the AP exams provided students with an edge over the average student.  While another smaller study of 63 schools nation wide claimed no real difference among AP students, providing evidence that the difficulty in AP programs is not enough.  Others also argue that AP programs are too selective, which is key to the success of AP programs.  While the studies that address college preparedness, an important component of AP programs, sparking interest in subjects for the student should be the primary objective of the programs.  To actively involve students in academia, AP programs should be expanded to cover a wider set of subjects that provide early subject exploration.  By providing more classes, students become more involved and are willing to focus more on subjects in college pertaining to their first experience in an AP class.  It can be debated whether or not AP programs are effective, but logically a more rigorous course that requires more study should benefit  the student greater in college.  This also brings up the issue of exclusiveness among the AP programs.  A student should have as much education as they want and when schools shutout students from education opportunities such as AP programs, it gives students less incentive to invest in their future.  Denying education is wrong especially with education classes that provide a more in depth learning experience.  AP programs are key in many issues, but to stimulate interest into the student they are absolutely crucial.

Works Cited:

Mathews, Jay. "Studies Find Benefits to Advanced Placement Courses." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 29 Jan. 2007. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

Post #4-Early Education

Creating effective work environments starts with early education programs. The benefits of early education investment are much greater than the cost associated with pre-K funding and daycare funding. In the article “How to Cut Crime, Alcoholism and Addiction? It’s Not Elementary, But Preschool” Maia Szalvitz, neuroscience journalist, discusses the benefits associate with creating  successful early education programs.  She begins by explaining the long term study that has taken place with a Chicago, state funded, pre-school and kindergarten program.  At the age of 28 the participants were less likely to develop an addiction by 28%, were less likely to participate in criminal activity by 22%, and were 24% more likely to attend four year universities.  With findings like these its easy to think that states should poor money into such beneficial early learning programs, but what is forgotten about is the quality.  Szalvitz also claims that quality is a key factor to a successful program and without qualified teachers to create a structure in education, early education is unlikely to be as successful.  So quality education may need more funding than most other programs, but the benefits are too great. Within these Benefits, lies a hidden gym, economic benefits.  Even though early education would be more costly, it would provide for an investment in the future that almost certainly has a successful return.  Students are more successful in the future and in turn benefit society greater.  With an increase in education and decrease in crime, future workers will be able to earn more money and pay more taxes along with a less likelihood of being incarcerated declining jail costs. Lastly I want to address that Szalvitz also skips a very important part of the study and that was that almost every parent was actively involved in the early education program in the study.  This may seem minimal, but it represent the involvement parents have to make.  To have a quality early education program, parents that are actively engaged in teaching their children and talking to their children are a necessity.  It begins early with the parents to create a successful student for the future.

Works Cited:

Szalavitz, Maia, and Maia Szalavitz. "How to Cut Crime, Alcoholism and Addiction? It’s Not Elementary, But Preschool | TIME.com." Time. Time, 09 June 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

Post #3-Increasing Spending

California has made very little progress when it comes to per-pupil spending in recent years. When comparing California to the rest of the United States, California has dropped to 49th place currently.  The per-pupil spending for K-12^th grade is about $9,375 according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau, which is below the $10,615 national average.  This begins to raise the question of whether more per-pupil spending is really effective.  Currently, Governor Brown believes so and has worked to pass a bill through the California legislature that would increase the amount of spending per student by $2,700 for the 2016 school year.  The issues of increasing per-pupil spending is that it doesn’t proportion funding to necessary stages of education.  Much of our school funding is not needed and continually pouring more money into areas of education that don’t increase the benefits negates the purpose of the spending increase.  Furthermore if we do provide funding for more students then students in low income education districts should receive a majority of the increase.  The funding should not be spent haphazardly and instead be monitored and provided to schools that will create programs and incentivize teachers that make the school a more attractive education center of learning.  If we take the average money spent per pupil yearly, most students get more money spent on them then the the lower private school students who achieve higher test scores and are often times more successful academically.  So, if we look at it this way, it presents the option that the amount of money spent on per student can be put to better use through a something such as a voucher program.  If we gave 10,000 of financing to students to use at any private education institution then most students would be able to attend a better form of education.  There are many routes to solving spending issues, but considerate measures must be taken to ensure the money spent is placed in programs that truly provide for the academic well being of the student.

Works Cited:

Fenterswald, Johnathan. "California Drops to 49th in School Spending in Annual Ed Week Report." EdSource. ED Source, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

Post #2- Unique Solutions

The issues of education in the United States stem from a variety of issues, and contribute to hot debate on how to fix these problems.  There are stances for more funding, for incentivizing teachers, and some even promote the idea that schools require more discipline.  In the video below that discusses very briefly, but profoundly on the issues of the weak discipline structures of modern education, Niall Ferguson, a Scottish Professor of History at Harvard University, takes the stance of promoting stronger disciplinary fundamentals within the school system.  Of course the idea that schools should be built on “strong male teachers that served in the military” is an exaggerated solution with an astute observation on today’s system.  Ferguson who is obviously a very educated person makes a strong point that much of today’s issues about violence in schools deteriorates the supposed safe haven of the learning environment. As a nation it is extremely unlikely that we would garnish support for forcing disciplinary actions on parents.  We could, though, provide programs that require students with disciplinary issues in schools to attend a boarding school or a disciplinary program.  This would reduce hostile learning environments in schools that have students who regularly disrespect the authority in extreme measures.  By instilling such disciplinary consequences, we would better be able to control students into learning the value and importance of education.  Students could be taught that education is first needed to assert authority or that violence and in appropriate behavior creates more issues then it solves.  Overall there are many issues of education that require extensive debate on their possible solutions.  But by increasing disciplinary actions we can better instill values that education is meant to provide such as respect, appreciation, consideration, and many other values.  As a nation we must accept truths that are hard to face, but could provide possible solutions to many issues.

Work Cited: 

How to Fix the US Education System - Niall Ferguson, Harvard University. Dir. Siebel Scholars. Perf. Niall Ferguson. YouTube. YouTube, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

Post #1- Core Solutions

The overall problem of education is very difficult to assess, because it covers areas rom drop out rates to bullying.  In the following video Sir Ken Robinson lays out the issues and solutions to education in America today.  Robinson uses the analogy of Death Valley where the right conditions provide a plethora of life to compare the current students in education. He claims that the students are ready to grow and learn if the current system provides the right conditions in education. 

He provides an interesting argument that states that education has become too standard and has closed off the creativity and curiosity that students need to thrive.  The current implementation of the Common Core System can be a good example of such standardization efforts presently.  He provides evidence of Finland taking broad approaches in learning and achieving enormous results, and counters the argument that size makes personalization in the U.S. unrealistic.  Robinson implies that standard tests “shouldn’t keep you up at night” most likely referring to SATs or ACTs extreme pressure on students.  His interesting take on standardized tests not helping the students and rather evaluating them is a very persuasive argument.  As we look at the nation it is obvious that students are disinterested in schools that offer the same mundane courses year after year.  While Robinson does offer evidence that supports his claim that creativity, personalization, and curiosity all can make American education great, he fails to address a key issue which is how do we institute those features in a curriculum.      The greatest solution i think he touches is the reduction of standardization.  The SATs are a burden then more of a help or evaluation tool.  It only requires study and understanding of the test rather than real knowledge in the subjects it tests.  A test should point out the weaknesses in students and education should be focused on solving those issues.  Robinson I personally feel has the greatest vision to solving the entirety of educations problems.  The more solutions that provide support for these ideas the better education that will be available.

Works Cited:

TED Talks. "Ken Robinson: How to Escape Education's Death Valley." YouTube. TED Talks, 10 May 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.