Through rigorous instruction and positive character education, Aurum Preparatory Academy Charter School (“Aurum Prep”) educates all of its students, grades 6 – 8, to succeed in high school, college, and life and to serve as the next generation of moral leaders. All students deserve a quality education regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, and/or zip code. In 1903, W.E.B. Dubois supported the idea of the “Talented Tenth,” articulating that advancement for black people would ultimately be possible through the attainment of a rigorous education by a few. In a more fully democratic country, in which we push for the advancement of all people, and in an intellectually-based modern economy, in which advanced education provides the fullest…
America's standard of public education has fallen into a deep decline over the last decade. School should be better constructed to teach kids how to prepare for adult life and the real world. Many of the things taught today in school have little to no value to students after they graduate. Curriculum should involve very crucial life skills such as people skills, critical thinking, and financial management. Our Education System barely does anything to cater to those needs, which sets kids up for failure later in life.…
In the book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System”, Diane Ravitch, the former assistant secretary of education examines her career in education reform. Ravitch’s book will be used to answer the following questions. According to the author what can we do to improve schools and education? The author stresses that there is no silver bullet that will magically fix the United States schools and the education system.…
In her essay, “Finland’s School Success: What Americans Keep Ignoring,” Anu Partanen brings up the familiar topic of education reform (Partanen 976). Citing the PISA survey, put out by the OECD, Partanen makes the observation that the United States is not top on the list, but rather Finland (976). As a result, the United States invited the director of the Finnish Ministry of Education’s Center of International Mobility, Pasi Sahlberg to come and speak at Dwight School in New York City. Partanen uses the talk to draw comparisons and distinctions between Finn and American teaching philosophies. Partanen feels that most people missed many points in Sahlberg’s Dwight talk, one being the fact that Finland has no private schools (980).…
In the article “ Why the United States Is Destroying It’s Education System,” the American journalist Chris Hedges goes into a broad view of what’s taking place in American schools, how teachers are treated like second class citizens, in addition to large business 's and what it’s doing to our schools. Does Hedges provide well enough thought out information and points to make for an article disagreeing against big business and standardized testing? Hedges presents a strong argument by stating business and religion need to stay out of the school system when it comes to teaching our children; however, Hedges fails to understand the importance of big business to future generations, and he undervalues the importance of standardized test to make…
Prior to high school, my middle school recommended that I attend “Grant High School”, which was looked down upon by my parents due to its reputation. Grant High School only has a 78% graduation rate. My father had been planning on surprising me with an opportunity of a lifetime and began planning since I was in 7th grade. I left my friends and current life behind to move to a place called Oak Park to attend Oak Park High School, which is ranked in the top 100 public schools in the nation and a graduation rate of 99%. I truly believe this is the reason I am here at San Diego State University today, because I was given an opportunity I may not have received by attending Grant High School.…
A Critique of Diane Ravitch’s “Education in the Post Sputnik Era” On October 4th 1957 the Soviet’s launch the world’s first satellite called “Sputnik 1” ending the debate that the quality of education in America’s school system has been a concern. This event that the Russians beat the Americans sparked crisis in America’s education system. This crisis lead to restructuring the education system in English, History, Science, Mathematics, and foreign languages. While many programs were developed and government funding was allocated to enhance school systems and colleges, the racial revolution presented a forceful challenge to the political, social, and economic basis of American schools (Ravitch 324).…
After we touched the topics of Race and Ethnicity and Social Inequalities in the education system in the United States in ED-160, I was curious about how those inequalities affect the lives of students today. As I began my research about the inequalities that students face, I found an article that stated that “the ultimate test of an educational system is whether it makes sure that every student, whatever their background, is exposed to the content they need to compete in today's society.” It was disturbing to read that “U.S. schools are failing this most basic test.” I also found an article where Gaston Caperton said “Tests are not the problem, students are not the problem. The problem we have is an unfair education system in America-an unequal…
According to the U.S Census, there are around 655,000 current African American high school seniors. Yet, when reading the statistics of the Ron Brown scholarship applicant pool, there were only 4,000 students who applied. These 4,000 merely makeup .006 percent of the black seniors in this country, and they shine a light on an area that the Ron Brown Scholar program needs to address. Today, the modern education system is tainted with bureaucratic and oligarchical tendencies that prevents students of color, and low socioeconomic backgrounds from excelling in this highly competitive field.…
American Education Having great educational opportunities in America is not enough in today 's society. In America we face educational issues that students deal with every day. Struggling while getting an education is really complicated; students and professors are dealing with lots of setbacks along their journey to meet their goals. English professors at different universities like, Mark Edmundson, Gerald Graff, Jonathan Kozol, all believe that America needs a much more efficient educational system.…
Equal opportunity in education is as realistic in America as it is to lick your own elbow or fitting your whole fist in your mouth. Equal opportunity in education is the prevention of any discriminatory acts against students, staff and faculty; however, in Mike Rose’s, “I Just Wanna Be Average”, he argues that the educational system is completely unjust for those in a lower program and that those that are in those lower education programs are not being challenged to their full potential. Rose brings up many important points in his study about the educational system, but fails to mention other factors that could cause a student to not reach their true potential. These factors, such as race and social class, nowadays, contribute greatly in the…
Is America’s education system failing? Is America failing the education system? These are questions asked by all Americans whether they are parents, students, teachers, etc. Americans have been arguing over the education system since as far back as the 1900s, and are continuing to grow in controversial opinions. Many people believe that America’s education system is failing the children and not preparing these young citizens for the real world during, and after college.…
Education in the United States went through great reform in the late 1800s to 1900s. Change didn’t come about easy and educational equality is still a popular debate today. Although educational change was talked about and seemingly in progress, equality still had a long way to go. Differences in racial and social classes became prevalent especially through schooling. Black Americans were limited and restrained with obstacles such as what schools they were allowed to attend, what classes they were to take, and by what the teachers were taught to educate on.…
Summary Chapter 3 of the book A World-Class Education written by Vivien Stewart discusses the common elements of successful education systems. Stewart (2012) explained that countries like Finland, South Korea, Singapore and Canada are the top leaders in education because of eight elements of their education systems. The eight elements are: vision and leadership, ambitious standards, commitment to equity, high quality teachers and leaders, alignment and coherence management and accountability, student motivation and global and future orientation. Stewart (2012) also explained why the education system in the U.S are not doing as well based on the eight common elements.…
The Failure of the Education System Is education important in order to be successful in life? Is the “No Child Left Behind Act” the cause of the education system breakdown? Most students can agree that the education system is not what it used to be. I can still remember when my teacher was able to discuss multiple subjects at the same time. As of today, students that graduate high school find it very difficult to graduate College.…