What will it take to get Americans properly educated?

Question

A sixth grade education is not going to cut it. America is in a sad state when it comes to education. What steps need to be taken to improve the future of American citzens?

bwahahaha...I look like a lazy ho? hahaha...okay whatever you say.

Answer 1

Parents really need to be involved with their childrens education. They need to encourage not discourage! I can't tell you how many times I've sat in parent/student meetings and heard the parent(s) say "Well, I never liked math (or whatever)" or "I was never any good at that subject" Answers like this are heard by the student as mom/dad didn't do well in this subject so it's ok if I do poorly in the same subject. I have also found that if you have high expectations of your students and treat them well they will usually try harder. I know that many people are against grouping students because it can 'hurt their self esteem'. Phooey!! Those same people should try and teach a science or history class with everything from special needs students to academically gifted. Been there, done that and have the gray hairs and wrinkles to prove it. Life's not fair and not everybody can grow up to be a doctor or lawyer but that's the way it is. We need to have more parent involvement and a lot more parent accountability. We also need to pay our teachers more and give them the respect they deserve. Were it not for dedicated teachers we'd be in a worse situation. I could have gone to school for 4 years and become an accountant and be making twice the salary I am now. I'm a professional yet I get treated like somebody who couldn't get a "real" job. I could go on but I think you get my drift............sorry for the rant :-)

Answer 2

What will it take?

1) The federal government must stop all meddling with education.

2) Parents need to become actively involved with what and how their children are learning.

3) Children need to want an education.

Will any of this happen?

1) Will never happen, it's too politically charged.

2) Seems less and less likely with American's "active" lifestyles. People are more worried about getting Sally to soccer practice and Johnny to the t-ball game than what they scored in their last math test.

3) Seems even less likely with the myriad of distractions bombarding today's youth. With 6000 channels on TV, PSPs, iPods, cell phones, IMing, etc. the student of the 21st century is so spoiled, the achievers are anecdotal. While the baggy-pants, underwear-showing, shaggy-haired snow-boarder generation-of-recreation makes Jeff Spicoli look like Lee Iacoca.

I suppose if we tax ourselves at an 80% rate and dump it all into schools, that should solve it. Socialism solves everything.

Answer 3

Valuing education, culturally, would help. Currently, 'egg heads' are not much celebrated in society, while atheletes, business leaders, entertainers, and the like, are. Similarly, rewards don't flow to the brilliant, but to the charismatic and the ruthless.

Targetting higher education to those who show the inclination and ability to benefit from it might also help.

Our current public education system is prettymuch one-size-fits-all. As a result, K-12 is pretty dumbed down, it teaches to the lowest common denominator, and the mode average rate of development. It's not until college that you can start to progress at something like your own speed.

Answer 4

Taxes Levied,Lottery profits ect. earmarked for education should go for just that. Not have stringers attached where the money's funneled elsewhere for starters.
Give the Educator's incentives for a job well done, at the same token weed-out unqualified people in our educational system's......Higher Salaries, for Teachers, I would think would be a step toward our children receiving a better education. Higher salaries would translate directly into a better education

Answer 5

Parents need to motivate their children to want to learn. A teacher can't do it all by himself. A teacher may catch one or two (or even three) students, but that doesn't account for the rest of the school. It's up to us as parents to do what we can to make sure that our children go as far as they can. It makes all the difference in how much they make and how successful they become. It's also easier for the government to manipulate a stupid person than an educated one.

Answer 6

Our high schools are nothing but social clubs....proms,dances,ball games,"get togethers",etc.....go back to 2 dances a year,homecoming in October and a Prom in May,no after hours activties, and make the students pass real tests every friday and make a passing grade to advance the next year..simple really...no feelgood anything..you go to school to study and work for what you get

Answer 7

a great focus on education,for all people,of all walks of life,if the rich school get new books,so should the inner schools of a city hey why dont you hit me up

Answer 8

I mean... we as a nation... need to value education...

many simply don't care and only "don't want to pay for it"...

I mean teachers unions fight for higher wages... which aren't that high right now... why don't people want to become teachers? because the pay is horrible... they can make much more, doing less work somewhere else... so that's what the people who would be the best teachers do often times...

we pay CEOS, professional athletes and actors millions and billions.... and our teachers nothing...

our nation shows how much it cares about education when it "puts its money where it's mouth is"... or fails to do so...

and many want to do away with unions, which would only end up paying them less, so even fewer would want to bother teaching...

we need to value education as a whole...

Answer 9

Identify a child's strengths and weaknesses at a early age and design curriculum for individual children so to guarantee success. Basically come to understand that not all children learn in the same way..........Offer real incentives for learning and achievement

Answer 10

One thing they can do is give back to the teacher to punish children for misbehaving dressing like they are going to a strip club...and work.. Parents have taken all power away from the teachers and administration. The paddle needs to come back.