Spring Break
The American educational system
Brandon Southward
Issue date: 1/12/09 Section: Forum
I don't think I am breaking any news when I say the educational system in America is garbage and needs to change. The United States spends more money on our educational system than all of the industrialized countries combined and yet we now consistently rank in the teens and sometimes the 20s in educational achievement. In math and science, American students now rank in the teens among countries and are steadily losing ground to China, Japan and South Korea in those key areas. We have not lost as much ground in other areas like reading and writing, but our scores on those are lower than decades earlier. The reasons for this dramatic slide run deep from teachers to students, parents and the government itself. All are at fault and need a wake-up call about the state of our schools.
Like I mentioned earlier, the problem with our schools runs deep, but one of the biggest problems is the teachers. I have had many teachers, and I would say about 10 percent of them actually had a vague idea of what they were talking about, and only half of that knew how to articulate it to their students. For the most part, teachers can be incompetent, barely literate or have no clue what they are doing and yet they have lifelong career security. Does anyone else think this is utterly ridiculous?
If doctors, dentists and even presidents can be fired for incompetence, then teachers should be held to the same standards. We need to rid our schools of incompetent teachers and put in qualified ones, and that starts by paying the good ones more money and firing the weaklings. We must break this moronic cycle of rewarding failure and start to rethink how we reward teachers. First, we should consider a system where we can a find way to pay more money to teachers who perform well, and ridding the school of the teachers who are not up to the task. This can include either firing or sending the under-performing teachers back to school to relearn and get them out of the classroom so they don't ruin any more kids' educations and futures.
Like I mentioned earlier, the problem with our schools runs deep, but one of the biggest problems is the teachers. I have had many teachers, and I would say about 10 percent of them actually had a vague idea of what they were talking about, and only half of that knew how to articulate it to their students. For the most part, teachers can be incompetent, barely literate or have no clue what they are doing and yet they have lifelong career security. Does anyone else think this is utterly ridiculous?
If doctors, dentists and even presidents can be fired for incompetence, then teachers should be held to the same standards. We need to rid our schools of incompetent teachers and put in qualified ones, and that starts by paying the good ones more money and firing the weaklings. We must break this moronic cycle of rewarding failure and start to rethink how we reward teachers. First, we should consider a system where we can a find way to pay more money to teachers who perform well, and ridding the school of the teachers who are not up to the task. This can include either firing or sending the under-performing teachers back to school to relearn and get them out of the classroom so they don't ruin any more kids' educations and futures.
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