Argumentative Essay On Public Education

“California has cut $18 billion, one-third of state school funding, from money for kindergarten through high school over the past three years.” USA Today (Welch, 2011). Budget cuts to the California Public School System, which is the underlying factor in the deterioration of the quality of education, has had a negative impact on every facet of society. From students to teachers to employers, all have felt the effects of decreased funding of schools. The state of California is headed in the wrong direction by reducing school funding and unless a solution is found to minimize or put a halt to these reductions, our children will bear the

Oklahoma as of today is ranked 49th nationally in per-pupil expenditures and ranked 48th in teacher pay (Klein 2). Putting Oklahoma as one of the worst states to be educated in the United States. “Oklahoma is consistently ranked near the bottom for education funding and teacher pay” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth And Job Creation” 3). When there are state cuts that need to be made, the departments of education are one of the first that usually tend to suffer. Since the 2008 economic crisis, Oklahoma has continued to cut the budget for education; even though the economy has since then gotten better (Perry). Budget cuts in education affect all parts of the education process for the students. “Some school districts have ordered teacher layoffs and shorter sessions” (“Oklahoma Makes the Poor Poorer” par 4).Schools are now struggling to keep their heads above water. Each year from the budget cutting, schools have had to lay off teachers, cut entire programs, and have limited resources used to educate the students. Even the teachers’ retirement system is suffering, being one of the top poorly funded pension programs nationally (Ash par 3). Seeing as that the schools have to cut down classes and programs, administration has had no other choice than to increase class size, overwhelming teachers tremendously. “Oklahoma has 1,500 fewer classroom teachers and 40,000 more students since 2008-2009” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth

The No Child Left Behind Act. At first glance, this act sounds like all it can do for the educational system is improve it. If no student is left behind then everyone can have equal opportunities right? But if teachers are constantly testing in order to measure progress, then students can be held back. No Child Left Behind Act(NCLB) requires testing in schools in order to help regulate education and to measure how qualified teachers are. Some argue that the NCLB act adds many positive aspects to the educational system. However, the negatives outweigh the positives. The act enforces testing thus limiting the teacher's freedom causing him or her to teach to the test. This form of teaching, in turn, inhibits the student’s creativity.

California has had a long and controversial history in education. Some would argue that the State’s educational system is doing more harm than good. However, the problems that the State faces are in the underlining of past and current issues. The major issues faced by the public education system include the common core standards, poverty, and the decrease of funding.

School districts experience changes in educations on a regular basis. Some of these changes occur as a result of local, state, and/or federal issues. One way to prepare for local changes that are related to revenue and expenditures is to stay informed. Attending school board, PTA, and city council meetings is a good way to stay informed on what is occurring in your local area. The problem of financing education once, considered the responsibility of only a few specialist with vested interests in the schools—boards of education, school administrators, state departments of education, and state legislatures—developed into a priority item for virtually all citizens. (Brimley 2008) All

In Hawaii, the state oversees all schools, and separates them by complex area. Data is usually specified by specific school, complex, island, or the overall state. On the island of Hawaii, complex areas differ, but between 52 percent and 88 percent of students are economically disadvantaged (State of Hawaii Department of Education, 2014). For example, in the Pahoa complex that I currently work in, 88 percent of students are economically disadvantaged (State of Hawaii Department of Education, 2014). Additionally, differing by complex, between 6 percent and 23 percent of the students are English language learner (ELL) students (State of Hawaii Department of Education, 2014). Also, according to the U.S. Department of Education (n.d.), in the 2012-2013 school year, there were 184,760 students in the state of Hawaii and of that 0.5 percent were American Indian and Alaskan Native, 33 percent were Asian, 2.2 percent were Black, 8.3 percent were Hispanic, and 13.9 percent were White. However, this data did not specify the Hawaiian or Pacific Island percentage of students or those choosing more than one race. Based on U.S. census data, which closely matches student ethnicity data, the Hawaiian and Pacific Islander alone population was 10 percent and the more than one race was 23.1 percent in 2013 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015).

So because of the lack of state and district support, leadership at the school level does not have the ability or the right setting to lead school improvement efficiently and effectively. This results in leadership trying to take an attitude of enforcing a top down approach with the policies and procedures placed in their hands and then defining them with a lack of focus. On the other hand, there is leadership with no clear direction or support from above, but expected to achieve the same unrealistic results.

Public education in America needs reforms to adjust to today's fast paced, technology based society. "Changing Educational Paradigms Animation" by RSA Animate and "Reinventing Education for the 21st Century" by Tony Wanger, prompted me to wonder how does teaching problem solving and critical thinking skills in schools socially and economically benefit students? Both of these videos touched on critical thinking and problem-solving skills and their importance in educating today's work force, but Tony Wanger blew me away with High Tech High, a Sandiego high, middle, and elementary school dedicated to teaching problem solving skills to a wide range of students (Wanger). This school system was an excellent model of students working on their own to create, utilize problem solving skills, and display their hard work. This gave me the idea that we need to shift our education to focus on critical thinking and problem-solving skills to better benefit students entering the work force.

Since 1983 public education has been an issue in America. The system has been constantly changing every year with reforms. This constant change has been driven by the American people’s perception that education has declined and something should be done about it. First there was an increased emphasis on basic skills, making school years longer and more graduation requirements. Second, many began focusing on increasing teachers professionalism. Third, they began restructuring many things such as how the schools were organized and how the school day was structured etc. Now today the most of the American people believe that not enough money is given to public schooling. They associate academic improvement with the money the school is funded.

Business has played a part in American Education since long before the Civil War. Many businessmen lead the Common School movement- allowing every child a public, elementary education. During the American Industrial Revolution, businessmen again revamped the education system to prepare students for factory work. Today, another education reformation known as Common Core is sweeping America backed by businessmen such as Bill Gates. Its main goal focuses education on STEM fields to meet the high job demand.

system has become a serious concern. The crisis in K-12 education is one of the

Let 's get straight to the point, American public school 's are failing, and although the solutions to their many problems aren’t entirely implicit, remedial endeavors have been lackluster at best. In fact, According to PISA(Program for International Student Assessment), a recent international academic assessment, American students are significantly falling behind their international counterparts in math, reading, & science, and have sunk to the 36th spot in the international ranking (Coleman 2013). This problem, however, is one that has persisted for several decades, so it should be no surprise that American public schools are struggling. What is surprising, is that this is the case despite the fact that “primary and secondary education accounts for 20 percent of state general fund expenditures, making it the second largest component of state spending behind Medicaid” (SBS 2014). When discussing the causes for these disappointing statistics, some may be quick to blame the teachers or focus most of their attention on only one or two issues, when in reality there are several problems with U.S.A 's school system; All of which need to be addressed with individual solutions. From oversized classes, to low standards for student success, impersonal teaching methods/curriculum, and detrimental programs like No Child Left Behind, the problems with American public schools are quite extensive, so fixing them wont exactly be easy. Since many of the problems

Many Americans show patriotism and deem American as the greatest country, but are the facts in America’s favor? American has always been known worldwide as a superpower, however is American that glorious in every category? We are known for our many achievements throughout history, but through the 241 years we have been a country not once were we praised for our education system. America has struggled in the past because many students dropped out to work and help provide for their family, and the lack of urgency to learn. However, our education is still a major problem, and today we have no excuse. American students struggle and are average or below average in many tests compared to other countries. The education system in America is doing more harm than good and is putting America and our posterity at risk.

The year is 2012. In the movie Back to the Future II, two years from now, in 2016, Marty McFly travels from the past to save his family’s future. The future is almost upon us, and yet it would seem that our education system has changed little since Back to the Future hit theaters in 1985. “We still have same teachers, in the same parts, in the same schools, with the same level of knowledge, with the same equipment’s, and much the same standard of parental support” (David). Ironically, we have been steadily implementing policy after policy, increasing standards and accountability, promoting oversight and rule… the list goes on, and yet our progress seems minimal, our educators complain of underfunded classrooms, and our legislators complain of underperforming schools. The question of “how to improve our education system” is not getting satisfactorily answered because our system is not broken, merely underdeveloped. The truth is that America has made paces in improving its education technique or system; the problem that remains is for us to entrust our educators with the greater pliability and autonomy that they need to excel.

Local control of school districts has proven to have mixed results. Local control allows districts to experiment and keeps problems from one district affecting another. At the same time however, local control keeps good ideas from spreading quickly. Local districts have produced a diverse range of possible solutions to the problems that public schools face. Unfortunately, the huge amount of diversity that is present from district to district has also made progress harder to measure.