More Subjects
[Name of the Writer]
[Name of Instructor]
[Subject]
[Date]
Education System of America
The education system in America suffers from problems of inequality, dearth of resources, lack of focus on innovation, narrow syllabus, incompetent administration as well as chronic absenteeism. The U.S Commission on Civil Rights reports that the highest poverty districts receive, on average, 1200 dollars less than the districts with least number of poor people. Education serves to bring people out of poverty but this statistic shows that poor children in America have a lower chance of availing the benefits of education because of the lower funding.
After the Great Recession, education budgets have been slashed, severely affecting the education system of America. The main cuts have been applied to ‘formula’ funding which is the principal source of funding for elementary and secondary schools, thereby hitting primary education the hardest. These cuts hit students as well as teachers who are deprived of salary hikes and other perks, leading to an inevitable decline in quality of education.
Another shocking issue is the de facto segregation of schools, not just in terms of student ratio but distribution of resources as well. The law states that no form of discrimination will be applied in access to education but the reality is different as schools in suburbs with African American students have a remarkably lesser amount of facilities available than their counterparts present in urban areas with a majority white population.
The syllabus is also a major issue as the focus is more on gaining skills in one particular area and finding employment in that field rather than focusing on acquiring knowledge and learning how to learn. The lack of a broad knowledge base leads to difficulties in people’s lives later on because they find it difficult to adapt to new situations.
Incompetent administration is perhaps the most shocking issue of all and it is also the one highlighted by Michelle Rhee as soon as she took over. She found that undistributed school material had been stacked up in a warehouse, when it is sorely needed elsewhere in schools. This leads teachers to either compromise on the learning experience or spend out of their own pockets to purchase such items.
Works Cited
"The Education Of Michelle Rhee." FRONTLINE. N. p., 2019. Web. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/education-of-michelle-rhee/
More Subjects
Join our mailing list
© All Rights Reserved 2024