why is there a need to transform educational institutions? Why theres a need to have school democracy?

Answer 1

I'm not sure what you mean by school democracy, but the need to transform our schools is huge.

First of all we are way down the list on school performance when compared against the rest of the developed nations. With the amount of money we spend on education there is no reason for it to be that way. The biggest cause of this is we have not required a level a accountability in our schools. Instead of blaming the school's poor performance on where it belongs(teachers, administration, parents) we make excuses for the kids and keep on allowing them to fail. Excuses like-

*There isn't enough money(the US ranks second in per student spending in the world and yet is 19th in student performance)
*The teachers are overworked and underpaid(the teachers here have a total compensation package of around $45000(salary and benefits) and have 3 months off in the summer and 1-2 weeks of paid vactions and sick time plus a bunch of paid holidays. Their compensation package would work out to around $65000 if they worked a full year like the rest of us - about equivilant other professions that require a four year degree)
*The tests are racially biased(Funny, the minorities that excel in school don't think so. If I was a minority I would find this insulting)
*The classes are overcrowded(See spending. The equivilant of Middle Schools and above in Japan can have up to 50 students in them yet they seem to do ok)

There is plenty more excuses, but it would take all day to list. Our school system needs reformed in the worst way. Reward districts that do well and fix the ones that underperform. Its our future we are talking about.