Education Reform Suggestions

The state and federal governments require that the teachers teach but they are too far removed from the classroom to understand that in some areas it is easier to teach the students than others.

The education process should be in the hands of the people that have to deal directly with the teachers, the students and their parents on a regular basis to be able to get a feel for what works in that school or community. Understandably there has to be some standardization to education at the same time there should not necessarily be a standardized way of teaching. This is due to the fact that not every student has the ability to be taught in one specific way of teaching. The education system is failing the students that lack the ability to learn in the accepted way of teaching. By no means am I saying that all failing students are children that have problems learning, you also have children that don't care to learn for one reason or another.

Suggestions:

· Fund the education system without just blindly throwing good money after bad. When funding the system place the funding where and when needed not blanket the system.

· Let the individual schools and the teachers in those schools help in the decision making process on what to teach and how to teach it. Some schools need to be more creative than others are when it comes to teaching.

· Get the parents involved in the curriculum so that they know what to expect from the schools so that they have an understanding of what their children are being taught. Getting them involved can be beneficial to the student and their parents especially if the parents are willing to and have the time to take an active role in their child's education.

· Assess the student body of each school by specifically looking at the types of requirements that each school has in teaching the students. Look at the students attendance, class work, discipline, teacher given tests, standardized state tests, their temperament, their willingness to take part in their education along with how fast they learn and under what circumstances do they learn easier an have problems learning. After looking into these, then change the things that are causing problems if possible.

· Stream line the education process by having only certified educators that are still actively teaching that haven't lost touch with the needs of the students, the teachers and the schools in charge of the education departments on the state and federal government level. Also untie the educators by taking away the bureaucratic red tape that slows down the process and that costs money due to slowing down the education process because of people dragging their feet.

· Get companies to take a pro-active roll in the education of the students financially and through workers contributing time and effort to the schools due to them having the most to gain and loose from the education process doing its job or lack there of. Companies still need a workforce and if the potential workers haven't received adequate education to qualify for the jobs then they have no one to produce the products or services offered by the companies.

For higher education, the people who wish to go to college should not be penalized for a lack of funds to attend college and should be able to qualify for financial aid even if it means basing it on these,

· Income level of the parents/guardians or the students

· Grades of the student

· College/University eligibility for schools based on grades and SATs

· Location and cost for the schools of choice based on eligibility

· Years needed for course completion

· Willingness of the student to help payback the financial aid in other ways i.e. working at the school or volunteering in the students' free time while enrolled in school.

You can find a fish for someone, then they eat for a day; teach them to fish and they eat for a lifetime.