Raising Educational Standards
America's public schools are neglecting the basics. Consequently, many young people are handicapped by serious academic deficiencies.Higher academic standards and well-defined goals are essential. There must be an agreed-upon core of knowledge that students are expected to master. We need traditional, no-nonsense schools where students acquire a solid foundation of basic knowledge; and regular exams and report cards provide a clear indication of whether kids are making progress.In addition, the schools need to teach the values most Americans share, including honesty, fairness, punctuality, respect, and personal responsibility.
What Should be Done?
Specific academic expectations should be defined for each grade level. If students do not meet those standards, they should not be allowed to move up. A national or statewide curriculum should be defined along the lines of President Bush's Goals 2000 initiative, or President Clinton's America 2000 specifying lesson content in basic subjects, with each year building on the last. Teacher training would be refocused on teaching the standards. After being certified in teaching the standardized curriculum, teachers would be held accountable for students' progress.Schools would expand courses in core academic subjects and make corresponding reductions in electives and non-academic programs.Students should take regular exams that measure progress with letter grades.Schools should have tough, clearly defined standards for proper school behavior, including a zero-tolerance policy for violent students or those who come to school with drugs or weapons.
Arguments For This Approach
Students and teachers alike need to know what's expected of them. If you expect more, you get more. Defining high and consistent education standards is the only assurance that disadvantaged children will acquire the knowledge they need to succeed.Almost every other industrial nation has an agreed-upon core curriculum that specifies what students are expected to learn at each grade level. That system has produced higher and more equitable academic achievement than our own. In today's economy, workers need hard skills in areas such as math and science that are higher than most high school graduates now attain.Traditional grades based on regular tests are needed to give parents a clear indication of what their kids are learning.
Arguments Against This Approach
Learning is most likely to take place when students engage in meaningful problem-solving activities, where they're encouraged to think for themselves. Too often, a traditional approach leads to rote learning, and a curriculum crammed with meaningless facts that students will soon forget. A standardized curriculum often becomes an excuse for cultural imperialism, imposing a Eurocentric curriculum on an increasingly diverse student population.While it is important not to tolerate low academic expectations, excessively high expectations can also be a problem. Too much academic pressure turns kids off to learning. Some kids can't succeed in traditional academic subjects. In response to their needs, schools should scale down their expectations and find other way to help them succeed. National standards are likely to lead to even more standardized testing. Teachers won't be effective if they're bound by the straitjacket of a prefab curriculum. Too many standards will encourage them to teach the test rather than responding to students' individual needs and learning styles.
Tags: alternatives, basics, class size, education, exams, funding, parents, report cards, standards, students, teacher salaries 
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