The American Education System

To understand how to solve a problem, we must first understand what we are trying to fix. For example, can a carpenter without any medical experience repair a heart valve? Of course not, he or she must first obtain the proper education necessary to perform such a complex operation. The same can be said about the American education system.
Throughout America’s history parents, educators, and government officials have been debating what changes must be implemented for American children to receive every opportunity possible to gain an education that will prepare them for the future.
However, these cries for reform are so demanding that many times the reforms created to please the people are pushed through so fast that consequences are never completely considered. These latest cries for reform came after the annual report by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was released in December 2010 stating that 15-year-old American students ranked average in mathematics, reading, writing, and science (Duncan, 2010). “Average” might not be much of an alarm to many; however, when companies, such as Microsoft, have to hire software engineers from other countries to fill positions because American’s are unqualified, it brings everything to another level (Guggenheim &ump; Chilcott, 2010).
The use of standardized, multi-choice, fill in the bubble tests to hold schools accountable for what is taught within their walls has become detrimental to the education system. Standardized testing is designed for a system of equality for which the school system is not. Teachers and schools cannot be held to the same accountability as other schools when there exists no equality in them in regards to budgets, resources, qualifications of teachers, and the capabilities of students. Until schools are able to stand on equal ground, the information provided by standardized tests is hurting our education system more than helping. As it is now, schools with low standardized test scores are “punished” by having their federal funding cut or decreased. The attitude is, if you drop below standards, fix it, or you are out. How is this going to help schools raise test scores? This has had a detrimental effect on the possibility of schools to improve. For standardized testing to be useful in the school system, to hold teachers and schools accountable for what is taught, there must be an equality established first in schools.

If standardized testing, with the cause and effect it creates, remains in place as our education systems measurement of accountability, then schools will continue to fail which will result in a loss of funds and they will eventually have to close.
Sixteenth century author and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon stated, “Knowledge is power” (Bacon). In other words, education gives the obtainer power to move beyond the normal realm and venture many times into unchartered waters. Thomas Jefferson believed that education should be available to everyone regardless of wealth or the lack thereof. By doing this, it would create equality among Americans and would give people the understanding to govern themselves and become a positive contributor to society (Mondale &ump; Patton, 2001). To accomplish this feat, the public school was created to give Americans the ability to attend an educational institution, free of charge, to further their understanding and comprehension. This sharing of knowledge and desire for a greater education has paved the way for modern miracles such as the automobile, space travel, and the technological world of computers. Without education people might very well still be traveling by horse and buggy and using parchment to communicate with others. However, by creating public schools, people opened the door to other forms of inequality in education.
The American public school was designed to teach basic education to most and provide higher education to those of a greater intelligence. In other words, if you were not smart enough nor have wealth, you could gain a basic education, and it was practically impossible to attend a university. Over time primary education became more readily available with schools opening all over the country, giving everyone an equal opportunity to expand their knowledge (Mondale &ump; Patton, 2001). Due to the high volume of students entering the school system in the early 1900s, schools adopted the intelligence quotient (I.Q.) test as a means of tracking students intellectually. This test was administered to students to determine what classes they were able to take. The I.Q. test created further inequalities among students because it restricted them on the ability to further their education. During this time students would be tested as early as kindergarten to determine their career path and were turned away from classes that were deemed intellectually difficult for them (Mondale &ump; Patton, 2001). It was not until the 1960s and the 1970s that the fight for equal education began to take root and the I.Q. test, in tracking students, was removed from schools giving an opportunity for everyone to further their education. This did not last long because the hole left by the removal of the I.Q. test was later filled with another form of testing; the standardized test which was designed to track all students on an equal level. It later became a method of holding educators accountable for what the students were being taught.
In 2001, due to the growing gap in the education system among children, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in an attempt to help every child receive a proper education. This act requires assessments to be administered to track the success of schools and what better way to assess a school than to hand out standardized tests? The standardized tests are designed to provide information on whether a school is providing the best education possible to students. If schools test scores are high, then it means that the requirement for student comprehension is met and the school is then rewarded financially through federal grants. However, if a school’s students score low, penalties are implemented and schools could eventually be shut down for not meeting the standards set forth in the NCLB Act.
In 2007 the New York Times reported that under the NCLB Act over one thousand schools in California and over four hundred schools in Florida were on the verge of closing for not meeting the new requirements (Schemo, 2007). The act that is supposed to save the student, is rather the devourer of the student, all because education is being measured according to a standardized test. Curriculums in many of the schools have been cut in order to simply teach what is on the test (Common Core, 2009, p. 49; Rotberg, 2006).
The notion that the NCLB Act has in requiring schools to meet certain criteria by using a standardized test has multiple false assumptions. First: that every school is equal, that every teacher teaches the same, and that every student is the same. Second: that the fault of every failing student is that of a teacher or school and it only takes a little extra work to bring that student back to the same level as his/her peers. Third: that by punishing schools for not bringing up test scores the school has the ability to improve. Fourth: testing students will magically improve a school, and good schools have the ability to remove poverty (Rotberg, 2006, p. 2). These assumptions have been catastrophic to the education system because they do not account for inequality of schools in the education system. For example, schools that have highly educated teachers, up-to-date material, and proper facilities are able to provide more for the student than those that do not. How then can schools be expected to be graded the same if they are not the same? By neglecting the education of American children, and not providing an equal comprehensive education to every student in every school, society is setting them up for failure. More students will drop out of school due to failing grades because schools are preparing them for standardized tests, and not providing a comprehensive education that teaches them how to use their education, other than on a bubble test. Once out of school, they will have trouble contributing to society, and in more instances than not, will become a burden to the public (William, 2010, p. 108).
The United States was formed to provide everyone equal opportunities to succeed in life. The laws that govern the people today are evident of this. People are protected by law against discrimination. Those that violate it are held accountable for such violations. People are complaining about educational discrimination but why is not anyone being held accountable? Parents want the best education possible for their child. Bureaucrats want the cheapest education possible and teachers are stuck in the middle. Wanting to give children the best possible education but lacking the resources to do so. However, it is impossible to please everyone. An example of what happens can be found in one of Aesop’s fables titled The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey.
A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"
So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."
So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."
Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said:
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?"
The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.
"That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them:
Please all and you will please none (Aesop).
That is exactly what is happening in the public education system. Government officials and schools are trying to find a system that will work for everyone. It is impossible. There are almost 100,000 schools across the United States, with 48.3 million students in attendance and 3.2 million teachers’ teaching (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008-2009). Each teacher has their own style, each school varies from one to the next with educational strengths and weaknesses, and each student enters their school with strengths and weaknesses different from any other student.
The standardized test is used to help balance the education system. Standards are set and schools are required to meet those standards or face being closed. Government officials believe that the public school’s purpose is to teach, and if they are not teaching, then why keep them open? If a school closes then students will be provided a different school that will teach them. Schools that are failing must be held accountable otherwise it will result in sending children to what is known as a dropout factories; which are schools that have more dropouts than graduates (Guggenheim &ump; Chilcott, 2010). Yes, teachers and schools must be held accountable for what is being taught. If they focus on the curriculum, and teach the students, then students will excel on the standardized tests. Furthermore, the use of standardized testing holding educators responsible has many positive results. For example, a group of teachers and principals, from various schools in Arkansas were placed in focus groups to discuss the effectiveness of standardized testing. The following is a collaboration of their beliefs.
“The consensus of [them]… was that the tests provided useful data, that the testing regime helps create a road map for the year’s instruction, that the standards and tests don’t sap creativity or hinder collaboration, and, perhaps most surprising, that the accountability imposed by the testing regime is useful” (Buck, Ritter, Jensen, &ump; Rose, 2010 p.51).
It is impossible to have every school and every teacher the same; however, we can hold them all accountable for the same things. Standardized tests are necessary to ensure that no matter which school a student attends in any city in the United States that he/she will be taught the same subjects. By teachers working hard, and schools doing everything that they can to support the teacher, the students knowledge and understand will rise to high standards and everyone will have equal opportunities to learn what they need to succeed in life.
Many American’s have forgotten the struggles that early American’s have had for the right to gain an education. In the early years of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was one of the first to advocate for a free public education to be provided to American citizens. He believed that by providing a way for people to learn to read and write to would, it give people the ability to think for themselves, be self-governed, and to be a positive contributor to society. Since then, many have fought for the right to be educated; some even feared for their lives as they stood up and demanded the opportunity to be taught (Mondale &ump; Patton, 2001). Today, we too must take a stand and demand that education be provided equally to all.
We do not send our children to school to fit within the cookie cutter mold a standardized test creates. School is for learning, to be educated by those of a greater understanding. If children are to have the ability to contribute to society, and be able to succeed in life, a proper education must be made available to them. Not an education of learning how to take tests, but one of knowledge - an education given to them that teaches them how to apply mathematics in their lives, to use the sciences to understand the world around them, and to be able to read and be enlightened by its message. The public school is a place that students should want to go, hunger to go. It should not be a place of stress or fear due to an upcoming test. It needs to be a place where all have the freedom and opportunity to learn. Standardized tests had their moment in time; now the focus needs to be turned to a more in-depth education of understanding how to apply their knowledge to their everyday lives.