What is Really Best for America's Students?

              As we discussed in class and read in our text books, the United States does not have the best education system in the world, we aren’t even close. I feel that this is because of many of the ridiculous laws and systems that government officials and board of education members have put into place. These men and women are not in these classrooms, working with the children and it is obvious because their ideas aren’t working for our nation’s children.

                Many high schools in the nation have taken to the tracking method, where students are evaluated and then placed at a level appropriate to them. Sounds like a great idea right? On paper, the idea of tracking students sounds good because students are learning at a level, according to their evaluation, is the right fit for them. In reality, tracking holds students back from reaching their full potential because where ever they are placed after their evaluation that is the level that this student is stuck at for the rest of their school career until college. Although, we did not discuss the topic in depth in class, we did brush on the fact that tracking is not the best solution for students today.

                Since 2001 when President Bush instituted the No Child Left Behind Act, students from grades 1-12 have had to undergo standardized testing every year to determine how much funding the students’ school receives. It is no secret that most educators strongly dislike the No Child Left Behind Act, and I have to agree with them. It is impossible to create a standardized test for the entire nation that is fair because culture differs so greatly in our nation it is not guaranteed that all students will understand every word on the test. Which brings me to my next point, any student that English is not their first language will struggle on standardized tests because the test becomes “how well can you read in English?” opposed to “can you give the correct answer to the question?” Again, we did not discuss this topic in depth in class but we did touch on the fact that standardized tests are not the answer to our nation’s education issues.

                The majority of our class discussion was on college, racial inequality and dropping out which were all topics that I found interesting but as a future teacher I wanted to discuss some of the issues that I have been learning more about in my education classes as well as our class. The topic that I enjoyed us talking about the most was how the United States is far from the number one education system in the world. This proves that we have a lot to work on and we can learn something from other countries who are excelling in education. I am excited to see where the education system goes from now until I am a teacher and even to when I retire. I hope that the government can take a step back and look at what is best for our students opposed to how they can save the most money.

More information on tracking in schools-http://sitemaker.umich.edu/labrie.356/the_disadvantages_of_ability_tracking

More information on standardized testing-http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/626-state-standardized-test-scores-issues-to-consider.gs