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Health & Fitness

U.S. Education System in Need of Overhaul

Does privatizing education promote higher-quality teachers and higher quality schools?

It's no secret that the United States lags behind many other countries in the secondary education department. A recent Harvard study indicates that the U.S. class of 2011 ranked 32nd in mathematics and 17th in reading worldwide. Students in countries such as Shanghai, Finland, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia and France outperformed U.S. students by wide margins.

The problem is not for luck of funding. As a percent of its GDP, the U.S. spends just about the same on education as Finland and France and more than the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, and Australia. Taking population into account, the U.S. spends far more dollars on education than any of these countries. Sure, we have the best university system in the world that receives a portion of government funding, but many other high-performing countries provide cheaper (if not free) access to a college education.

And it’s also true that diversity in itself plays a role in our low scores. The above study shows how far African-Americans, Hispanics and Native American students are lagging behind their white and Asian counterparts. The U.S. should embrace social integration but needs to find ways to keep it from hurting its public education system. A focus on how to motivate students from less-privileged backgrounds needs to be addressed. An increased number of children raised in single parent homes is not helping. But still, low-income minority students aren’t solely responsible for low testing scores. In mathematics, white students in the U.S. are surpassed by students of all types in 16 other countries.

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No one doubts that the U.S. education system needs an overhaul, but where to make changes is the subject of great debate. In the end, a student’s will to learn comes from both his household and his teachers. If a student’s parents neglect the importance of education, their child has little hope. This attitude of neglect, therefore, needs to change. The only way that can happen is if there is a clear line standing between the path of education and the path of failure. Students with a good education and clear motivation to succeed should be rewarded in the job market while students who’ve failed to gain a proper education should struggle until they’ve proven ready for the next step in education. This undertone may be harsh, but major steps need to be taken in order to revamp U.S. education.

In addition, we need to do a better job of allocating our funds. I don’t want to spark a riot over teacher salaries, but for the most part, teachers in the U.S. are paid well. This 2010 UNESCO study (page 250) shows that teacher salaries in the U.S. are near the top in the world for primary and secondary education. In fact, teachers are paid better in the U.S. than in Finland, the top performer in student testing. Furthermore, the cost of living is cheaper in the U.S. than many other countries with comparable teacher salaries. To put it simply, good teachers should be paid well and bad teachers shouldn’t.

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I can attest to the fact that I’ve had good and bad teachers during my experience at . Some of them should earn more, yet some should earn less. Who are the teachers who rush out of the doors at 3:30 p.m. every day and who are the passionate teachers who give students every opportunity to receive extra help? Accountability is important in regards to producing quality teachers, and school districts should emphasize that by forming a panel of teacher evaluators.

Here’s my idea: school districts should seek teacher evaluators (two per department) who evaluate the teachers in a department they're qualified to judge. Their names would be anonymous and they would evaluate teachers based on class videotapes and an analysis of a teacher’s curriculum. Teachers who score high should earn more, teachers who score low should earn less. It would be a good investment of a school’s money in separating the intelligent, caring, and passionate teachers from their counterparts. The above system, for all its flaws, is better than the status quo.

Another point that has to be made is that the U.S. government has an obvious monopoly on our education system. In what cases is this good and in what cases is it bad? It helps give all students a more equal access to education but is it efficient in doing so? Does privatizing education promote higher-quality teachers and higher quality schools? Charter schools have flaws, but they may have tha ability to improve urban education environments while also spending money more efficiently and giving teachers, parents and students greater governance in education. There are very limited studies available comparing charter schools to public schools. Further research needs to be done to investigate.

The debate regarding the U.S. education system could proceed for endless hours, but I wanted to highlight what I thought were a few major points of concern. There is no right or wrong answer, but if we don’t search for innovative solutions we will never get reform. The U.S. didn’t achieve its unparalleled success by being followers. We’ve thrived off of being innovators. This innovation must expand into our public education system.

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