The word is in, and Obama isn’t looking too fondly on the educational system we have going on here in the US (sorry dedicated students and teachers, but this is just a speculation and not globalization/generalization of the whole community of students in this country). Mr. President has recently been quoted saying students today are at a, “competitive disadvantage,” in the worldwide atmosphere and environment especially in a world economic situation that we are currently in. “The challenges of the new century demand more time in the classroom,” Obama says. A controversial aspect to this statement and opinion is also the President going further to state, “better pay for better teachers.” I truly believe that teachers do, overall, get the mistreatment in pay compared to other people in this world. Unfortunately, an important thing such as education and our future generations is put to the sidelines in this country and we are starting to see negative outcomes do to this. Overall, I agree with Obama’s notion and statement, though it does put a damper on summer vacation, but we as students need to understand the value of keeping our minds stimulated with learning. I think that the pros outweigh the cons by a LANDSLIDE and we should definitely support this statement. But here’s the flaw in his statement, who can say who’s a fair and good teacher and not? That’s where I’d say this idea wouldn’t get implemented and passed since it is not clear and will cause many teachers, students and parents to riot and protest. I do love vacation and breaks and of course looking forward to a nice long 3-day weekend, but it’s putting a huge weight and pressure on us students to do well in the real world. We go to school and are performing much less than in previous generations and it’s time for us to do something about it, otherwise America will no longer be known for its influence on the world, as more academic and educated countries do better on the worldwide scale. Are we ready to pass the torch?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
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5 comments:
Once again, I agree with you Alex in that students need to get their act together and focus on their education because nowadays a high school diploma leads us to the real world. Furthermore, so does a college education because the job industry is way too competitive out there right now!!!
If we go to school, I think it's because we want to learn and study to be great citizens of this country and contribute something worthwile in society.
I really think that an education is the gate to a career and later a job in that career in the near future. Let's face it, nowadays, without an education, you can't really expand your opportunities to obtain a stable job one can love and get a good salary for.
This is one of the reasons why I want to graduate from high school, go to college, pursue a career, and get a degree in either hospitality or business because I know that having a career will increase my chances to live a better life than previous generations.
I undertand where you are coming from Alex; however, i feel students theses days have much more harder classes then students, say, 20 years ago. People may think we are not working our hardest and not focusing on our education, but from what i witness at school many students are taking AP classes trying to show that they are doing good in school. Really, 20 years ago i doubt students were as worried about taking as many AP's as possible as students are today. I can't say we work harder than students 20 years ago, but i can say that we are pushing ourselves to take much harder classes. If you think about it most seniors today are in Calculus or Pre-Calc, but 20 years ago most seniors might still be in geometry or algebra 3/4. I feel that we deserve our vacations because we need time off once in a while. People and the president need to see that we are working very hard and that we are doing fine, and just because there are students here and there who don't care about their education, Obama shouldn't take everyone down with those few students just so they can get better. Those students need to learn that they won't make it in life if they have the mindset of slacking.
I agree that we should switch to a year-round system. That would make us a little closer to pretty much all the other developed countries (and then some). It would greatly assist America's education. Additionally it would help reinforce various abilities. For example, my writing ability would probably increase as I would probably write more essays, rather than just two a year (how am I supposed to improve if there is a six month gap in between the essays?).
Next thing, eliminating the company know as College board from this planet.
By the way Christian, courses were probably harder in the past. There was no such thing as "powerpoint" and all calculations were done on paper and through reference books like logarithm books, not on the calculator. One also needed to know how to spell and needed to know grammar better as there was no auto-correct feature on your pen. Nor could one go to the internet for help.
It is really sad when people look down upon me because of America's lousy education system. I think we should switch.
Although, like Christian says, many students are preoccupied with taking APs, that's not enough. I agree with Alex in that our school system should be more rigorous. I enjoy a good vacation like anybody else but in the international world, we are falling behind academically. I recently traveled to China where I met students and learned the true meaning of hardwork. Our current workload is nothing compared to that of students in China. If we are to keep the United States as one of the most influential nations, we have to continue and "pass the torch". The future lies in our youths. For them to even stand a chance in our increasingly competitive world, we must up the anty and better our education system. There has to be sacrifices to benefit the greater good.
@ Shorhon
I would have to respectfully disagree with you. China's Education Index is still 81st in the world while the U.S in 20th. The Literacy rate of China is much lower then the U.S literacy rate. Also only 69.1 % of the children that are old enough to go to school actually go. I don't think a longer school year would do any good. If anything it will mostly come down to the parents; most parents in Asian countries push their children to do well in school as in their eyes it is a sign of superiority. But this "advance" form of schooling hurts students in social skills and building trust/ working environments between peers. I doubt most children would feel the need to do well in school without the values and work ethic installed in by their parents. Making the school year longer won't "magically" make students want to learn more or be motivated to work hard; it could be just thrown money away that could be used on people that WANT to go to school. And shouldn't children be aloud to be children for a small fraction of their life?
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