On Education

It is known that the US has the highest amount of research in the Education field in the world. It is a fact that the US is one of the most powerful countries in the world. It is a fact that the US is one of the richest countries in the world. It is however a fact the US does not apply whatever is learned in the Educational research and it is also a fact that the US has one of the poorest education programs in the world.
This is of course is my humble opinion and while my opinion is shared by many people, it is sadly not shared by the US Department of Education or anyone who can actually change the sad case we are in. Of course, you may ask why I think that we have the poorest education programs in the world. The answer is in the following points:

1- I believe we concentrate so much on the social aspect of the school experience for the students that we fail to recognize the educational aspect. We are worried about building the social awareness of the students and how they feel while they are in school and all these things that I think we should not have so much concentration on. Students will always be students and will always face problems because that is part of growing up and we should not put so much effort in trying to understand these problems and solve and we should concentrate more on having students who can think for themselves reflect on their own think and mostly students who CAN READ. Of course, many will disagree and say that we need to have a healthy environment for the students to work and learn in. I definitely agree with that but we have been trying to do that for the last twenty years and what are the results? Students killing students and professors from Columbine to Virginia Tech to many other instances. Student violence is high in the midst of us trying to create a healthy environment. I would like to know when was the last time a student in Mexico, or Cuba or England or Spain or France or China brought a gun to the school and started to shoot people.

2- Extra-curricular activities are another issues. The main idea of having extra curricular activities is a grand idea however it just became too much. Students are now involved in just way too many extra-curricular activities that they barely have time to do their actual school work. Students can be engaged in two to three clubs and sports and also drama or band and they do not have time to study or review for exams. Not only that, but schools tend to regard students who compete for the school more honorably than the students who do not. Furthermore, students who compete for the school in sports are regarded more highly than people who are good performers academically. In one of the schools I attended, pictures of students who won in sporting events were put all around the school while students who performed well academically were not ever mentioned. This gives the impression to the students that it is better to play sports than to actually do good in school. Not only that, but sometimes when a student who plays a sport can not pass in school, coaches come to talk to teacher so they can pass to play a game. Students and even parents are now more concerned about their students performance in sports so they can get a scholarship to get into college and maybe to play for a national team after that while ignoring the sole purpose of the school which is EDUCATION.

3- Middle School in the US is like Kinder-garden. Students are not really concerned with academics and they are more concerned with American Idol. The students are passing based on their age and not based on their performance. Thus, students do not build a sense of responsibility and expect that school is just a place for them to hang out until they go back home. Furthermore, they get back on their reading skills and loose a lot of momentum because this is the time for them to be actually absorbing all sort of information but in reality they are absorbing all the wrong information. Therefore, by the time they get to High School they expect things to be easy, and they usually are, but they expect them to be a lot easier. They just expect to be spoon-fed the information with no homework and games.

4- No Child Left Behind is another issue because it is probably the dumbest program every produced. Which is not a surprise since it came from the Bush administration. This program is basically setting up schools and students for failure since it is based on a test that is purposely written to be difficult. Not only that but with this test there is a high pressure on teachers and students to perform well. Therefore, the need to perform takes over the need to teach and schools begin "teaching to the test." and this is a catastrophe because it goes against the basic principle of education. When you teach for the test then you are no longer teaching, you are simply giving students way to perform better and do rote memorization. Students are no longer learning concepts but learning processes that will solely aid them in passing a test instead of important issues that can help them understand life a little better.

5- The way we treat teachers is another reason education is bad. A teaching job is something that is not prestigious at all and if I said I am a teacher, everyone would know that I do not make a lot of money and they would assume that a) I am not that smart, b) I could not do what I actually wanted in life and therefore I became a teacher or C) A and B. Teachers are not paid well, not regarded with the professional respect they should be getting and therefore they are discouraged to teach even they begin teaching. How can we expect good results from someone who is underpaid and not respected? Not only that but we give them an impossible task to do and hold a gun to their head, either to do it or they get fired.

I do not think we will have any improvement in the school system until we fix these problems I mentioned above and our scores will keep getting lower and the students will keep getting dumber. But on top of that I suggest also the following:

1- Longer school days where students are required to stay longer in school to do their homework and review lessons. With that, teachers should be assigning way more homework than they do and also more exams.
2- The introduction of Foreign Languages at an early age. Students should be learning at least three language by third grade.
3- Reading, Reading and more Reading. Instead of HALO 3 club, there should be reading clubs with extravagant gifts given to winners of reading contests.