America has one of the best educational systems in the world. Public schools here have resources that compare to private schools in other parts of the world. Most elementary schools have a library well equipped with computers and books. American students in the eighth grade attend a graduation ceremony as if they should be congratulated for making it to the ninth grade. Most public high schools grant their students textbooks free of charge. Schools give free cafeteria food to those who qualify for low-income status. And, on top of all that, the education is free.
Yet, even with all this our children are nowhere near the top of the world’s top educational rankings in both math and reading.
President Barack Obama made it clear during his campaign, that educational reform was one of his highest priorities. Recently the president began attempts to honor his proposal of countrywide teacher evaluations and his support for a longer school year. Its good to know that education is still on the president’s agenda.
Last Wednesday, California jumped on the educational reform wagon with a controversial proposal of an online database dedicated to measure education effectiveness.
According to the LA Times, “The state board [of education] also asked the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Fresno school districts to propose specific ways the state can support local efforts to create more meaningful evaluation tools, including the value-added method which uses students’ test scores to rate teacher performance.”
Unfortunately, the California Teachers Assn. and the Los Angeles teachers union are in opposition of the value added method. They do not believe that teachers should be evaluated according to their students’ test scores. This method could prove to be revolutionary and it is unbelievable that teachers are opposed to it.
If any teacher is as great as they think they are, this greatness should be visible in their student’s grades. That way, parents see that their children aren’t merely sitting in class but, rather, that they are grasping the concept being taught to them.
Teaching is more than just reviewing a thousand slides a day and periodically testing student comprehension. And, there is no reason there should be classes so hard that no one passes.
If a student is not intelligent enough to pass that class, maybe it should not exist or maybe that teacher needs to rethink their teaching techniques. The value-added method of evaluation will make teachers think. It should be the future of learning and teaching.
On Sept. 27, President Obama insisted that teacher evaluation is not the only way he plans to bring about educational reform. The president is, as stated earlier, strongly supportive of a longer school year.
American children spend a month less in school compared to other children of the world. South Korea is a great example. According to Obama, “We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day.”
American children have the resources. American keeps spending more on its students, but their performance keeps declining.
It should be noted that resources like these are hard to come across in developing countries.
Since our country already has the resources, it is time for school districts, teachers and students to share in efforts to reform because money alone will not and has not solved the problem.
Uzo Umeh is a junior communications studies major and a contributing writer for the Daily 49er.
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