What do you think is the biggest problem with our educational system and how would you fix it?

Answer 1

Society is the problem.
1. We think that both parents have to work so we can drive our SUVs with our cell-phones and IPods blaring. We have to wear up-to-the-minute clothing/shoes/etc. We have to own every piece of electronics and attend every entertainment venue all the while saving $2000 for vacation. Make do with less.
2. Kids don't have both parents. Divorce is the quick and easy method. Marriage requires work--years of work. Don't get divorced because it is simpler. Put the needs of the child first.
3. We are raising children who must be entertained 24/7. Whatever the kid is using--UNPLUG it for a month or two or better yet, unplug what YOU (as the parent) are doing and spend some time with your kid. Phones/internet/video games/entertainment are not vital to our lives.
4. We are a selfish society that puts the desires of the individual above the needs of the group. "But I don't want to.." Who gives a crap what you want?? Do what is necessary/required FIRST and then worry about what you want.
5. People keep blaming the teachers who are AT MOST 1/4 of the stakeholders. What about the students, parents, and community? You can lead a horse to water... All power has been taken from teachers/schools. What can schools do to enforce policy? Not a thing if there isn't support from the family.

When we fix society we will fix the schools.

Answer 2

MAJOR Problem with education is THE POLITICIANS... jmo along with many others i have spoken to. Put them into a rural school with a high poverty rate and 100% minority population (which is exactly what my school is) and see how well they can do.

One of the problems is NCLB. Another is the lack of support for disciplinary issues. Unfortunately, a lot of that is because of NCLB as well. At least that's the excuse that has been fed to us for the past "X" years as to why students who need to be suspended or expelled have not had those consequences.

Going back to the basics, the way things were before. As it is now, i would hate to be a child in school. Spending the whole day doing nothing but ELA and Math is insane. So many of the kids nowadays have no clues about the history of the world, or anything about Science yet they are made to take the Standardized Tests which include all of those subjects (ELA, Math, Social Studies, Science). And people wonder WHY schools find it so hard to meet API and AYP. Could it possibly be because they throw all students into one mold and expect them to fit?

Answer 3

I agree, there is a big problem with the lack of discipline in the classroom, especially on the high school level. Students seem to do what they want and home and have this same attitude at school. If teachers discipline them properly on their first offense, then maybe it will send a message to others instead of giving them the usual warning after warning.

Another concern of mine is that many schools are allowing students to get by with little or no work. Perfect example: when I was a junior in high school I took an ACT prep course. Two students from a another school in our county looked through my math notebook and told me that they had never seen or done any of the kind of math problems that we were working on in my school, and they didn't understand how to do them. They pretty much said they were only doing simple math problems. Then those same two students ended up being the valedictorian and salutorian of their schools the next year. So now there are many college courses numbered well below the starting point of where new college students should be starting b/c students haven't had enough preparation to start where they should. It's like this in other subjects as well. I know a college student who didn't know what a thesis statement for a paper was until he had to write a paper in college. This is very sad and very unacceptable. I think that if teachers aren't teaching students the necessary skills they'll need for college a few things should happen: first, they need to attend mandatory training, second they need to understand the necessary curriculum and apply it in their lessons, and if they refuse: they should be replaced. It's not fair that some of us had to work very hard in high school while others get to graduate with 3.8 and 4.0 GPAs for doing much of nothing. I graduated with a 3.8 and I worked VERY HARD for it, and I think others should too.

Answer 4

I would stress to all parents that educating children (beginning
the day they first step into the 1st classroom) takes much more than 1 teacher with 25 children in a classroom 7 hours a day. Teachers and parents need to work together as a team. Parents need to support the teachers in their community and volunteer time every month.

Answer 5

I think the biggest problem is start time. I know it sounds crazy, but I think the children get up too darn early to go and listen to a Calculus teacher at 7:25a.m., and be expected to retain that gobbledy **** through the whole day. 9a.m., or even 10a.m. is better. The child has time for breakfast, and getting their thoughts together. I think school starts at 9 in the morning in Japan.

Answer 6

A. Bring Back God and Prayer
B. Bring Back Spankings
C. Bring Back Pledge of Allegiance
D. Bring In The Uniform, To Remove Peer Pressure

Answer 7

Teachers don't have the support of the parents. Parent's are so stressed by both parents working, and the financial demands of housing, multiple cars, etc...... that they don't have the time or energy to read to their kids, or chase them away from the tv. There is a whole generation of kids who now know 100% of their life with computers instead of books, and books can't compete. Parents need to make the time to review homework, and instill in their kids the desire to learn, and not expect it all to be the teacher's job. Learning begins at home.

Answer 8

My daughter is a teacher in Mass and the schools are filled with different nationalities. She finds it hard to communicate with the children in her grade 3 class and even worst when she sends homework home and the parents can't help because of there lack of English. On teacher parent day in comes a uncle who speaks broken English and hollers at my daughter because of the children's low marks.She asked him if since he spoke English would he help his nephews and nieces and he said he din,t have time ? They leave it all up to the teachers -- the kids need help at home and maybe some teachers who speak their language could also help !!

Answer 9

A system that keeps trying to find the one perfect teaching method. Humans are not robots and each person has a different style of learning. Roughly categorized, those methods of learning are visual ( by seeing or reading), auditory ( by hearing) and tactile (by doing, hands on experience). The most effective teachers incorporate each of these methods into their teaching to reach the entire classroom. Most teachers seem to develop one style of teaching, probably based on their own learning style, and stick with it throughout the years. I would place more emphasis on teaching teachers how to identify individual learning styles amongst their students and methods of adapting their lessons to reach each of those styles.

Answer 10

I believe that where there is no learning, there is no teaching.
I would test each class of children when the school year began. I would test this same class of children at the end of the school year. If, upon all this testing, I saw teachers who did not have classes learning what they should be learning, I would put the teacher of Probation. After 3 consecutive years of testing and not producing smarter 'end of year' students, I would fire the teacher.
I would get rid of TENURE! If there was no tenure, teachers would have to show that they produce 'teaching'. As it is, teachers have the strongest Union ever, and are allowed to continue to teach, regardless of their interest in children (or not), regardless of their ability to actually 'teach' children (or not).
Tenure has totally destroyed the paths to getting good teachers in schools.
I speak as a teacher.