American 15-year-olds ranked 39th internationally in math. Our kids are scoring lower than peers in countries our students couldn’t find on a map. This score marks a drop from our 2012 performance, which in turn was a drop from the test in 2009. (The test is administered every three years.) U.S. performance in reading and science also declined since 2009. “We’re losing ground,” said Education Secretary John B. King Jr. “A troubling prospect when, in today’s knowledge-based economy, the best jobs can go anywhere in the world.” Clearly, a new approach is needed.
Teacher unions are the largest influence in the running of too many American schools. Predictably, those unions have tried to pass the buck by attributing poor grades to a lack of government funding. American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten and her team are ground zero for these failures and lame excuses. She claims the low scores “were predictable given the impact of the last 15 years of U.S. education policies combined with continuing state disinvestment .” Translation: We need more money.
But this whining from Ms. Weingarten doesn’t pass the smell test. According to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data, the United States spends roughly one-third more per student ($11,700) than the 35-nation OECD average.
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Money is certainly not as much of a factor regarding a quality education. Frankly. While the teacher's unions shoulder quite a bit of thee blame here, it is not totally their fault either. Rather, there is a very unproductive amalgamation of misguided policy, irrational politics and agendas, and the further breakdown of the nuclear family dynamic. We would all like to point the finger....teachers blame poor parenting and lack of resources; parents blame poor teachers and mandates (i.e. PARCC / Common Core); Administrators blame politicians, unions, and mandates; politicians blame the problem de jour along with everyone they feel is beneath them - I am looking forward to President Elect Trump and his new cabinet to make much overdue (and painful) common sense choices.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully,
Paladin
Seems since the implementation of 'Common Core', brought to us by the way of industry and not educators, our students are losing ground in everything except stupidity and how to cause unrest. Scores are dropping and yet the educators are letting students just walk out of class to protest! They can't give change for a dollar, have no idea of what a continent is and some believe we fought the Revolutionary war to gain independence from Canada! We know longer have institutions of higher learning but indoctrination centers with rooms for arts and crafts when their feelings are hurt due to spoken or written words. The real scary part of all this is that these are the future leaders, doctors, lawyers and scientist with which we are trusting our future with! Will there be 'safe rooms' for our future congressman and senators in the Capitol building ?
ReplyDeletestarts with the parents. and I couldn't tell you how man teachers I know who also do a very poor job of parenting!
ReplyDeleteParents have to take an active interest in their kids education or it won't get any better.
ReplyDeleteI know I sound like a broken record! School vouchers! School vouchers!School vouchers! School vouchers! get it on the ballot now!!!it's the only way to solve this problem unions are in the way of Education along with the bloated bureaucracy and the waste Fraud and Abuse of the current education system. vouchers would allow us to spend our money on schools that we feel provides a viable education. Private or public schools that DO NOT indoctrinate or confuse good little useful idiot snowflakes. Hilter said it best and i believe the current public school system follows this process.
ReplyDelete"When an opponent declares, 'I will not come over to your side,' I calmly say, 'Your child belongs to us already. . . . What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time, they will know nothing else but this new community.'"
--Adolf Hitler