A dragon- an animal thought to be legend, no evidence has ever been provided to prove otherwise. Does this mean that there are not some who still believe in its existence? Of course not. For some, dragons can be seen as scary mythological creatures who terrorize those who bother them; while others perceive dragons to be gentle and misunderstood. Perhaps it is because of these two differing ideals that no progress has been made to fix the problem, that is, the question of whether we, as a whole, want dragons to exist. On the other hand, Moles are very real. They are the odd little mammals with the star shaped noses that burrow underground and bathe in the dirt. Imagine them,as stuffed animals, of course, surrounding you, stuffed in the ceiling tiles and in various cups. Sadly, what you see is not your imagination, for all of you have seen this sight before. I can place exactly where, as can the rest of you. The question that arises here is not whether or not these moles should be here, it is why.
It seems very evident that the reason behind delay in fixing any problem, even one as naive and humorous as the former, is that there are differing ideals. This not only includes the answer to “is there a problem in the first place” but the answer to “how do we fix it?” For these reasons I will address the issue seen in the latter example, that of our public school system.
Tenure- a six letter word defined by Webster’s Dictionary as, “a status granted after a trial period to a teacher that gives protection from summary dismissal” A good idea when first created, tenure now means students getting teachers that really should not be teaching. Sometimes these reasons are a obvious as sleeping in class to as opaque as a teacher continuously using teaching time to grade work. Both are unfair to the students for both fail to give the students a proper education. Basically, tenure means it is hard to fire a teacher. One must have “just cause” to do so and each state makes up the reasons of “just cause.”
Thankfully the Kentucky rules on tenure are not as intense as those in New York or other areas. In cities like this, only one out of 1000 teachers is fired for being a poor instructor. The teachers who are not fired in New York city are instead replaced and put in “rubber rooms” where they do no teaching whatsoever and still get paid an annual working salary.
This may be the largest reason why students today are falling behind. No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002 under George Bush. George Bush, as well known, was a major republican. This shows that not only is this problem seen in the eyes of the liberals, but in the eyes of the conservatives as well. The plan for NCLB was to allow students to transfer from failing schools, or those who did not meet the standards set for them. The problem with this is that it allowed the school to actually fail. Students would not need to transfer if the school was not failing.
Again the question arises as to why the schools are falling. Is it solely because teachers are sleeping in school, because the students just don’t care, or is it both? When teachers do the opposite of not assigning work and assign to much, the students carry too heavy a work load and are almost bound to fail. For example, take a high school junior and add on all the classes which one thinks go along with the class profile: AP US, AP English, AP Foreign Language, AP Calculus, and perhaps an AP elective. What if all these classes had homework due every day and the student was also a musician or an athlete? There just is not enough time in the day for students to get all this done so a student may feel overburdened and start to slack, commonly known as ‘senioritis” when viewed in high school seniors.
However, this is not the majority of students in America. By this time in school, those that are falling behind are likely to have dropped out. According to the NAAL, total US literacy in prose has fallen over the past decade and stayed the same in documentary studies. However, it is also true that literacy rates for blacks and women have risen while white males have dropped. This should be happening for the women and blacks since they have grown as minorities in educations but for males it proves a shocking point. This may be because of all the new technology today: the TV, the iPhone, the laptop, etc. Students, and people in general, are just not as entertained by reading as they used to be.
But who wants to read the book that is falling apart and has missing pages? Who wants to attend the school that is no nicer than home when you’re parents seem to be just fine without a higher education? Our schools are not just failing in teacher, the buildings are failing our students as well. For a new high school to be built, over 30 acres of land must be used. This not only means that is is hard for a school to be put in an already prospering city, but that it is practically impossible. I’m sure you have thought, “if only there was another high school.” Henry Clay already has too many students, and it is smaller than any of the other schools in size, so small in fact, that for all Devils to be in the gym is a fire hazard. Resources are limited.
It is because of limited resources, poor teaching, and over work that our school system is failing our students. To fix this, we must not just send everyone to charter and private schools, we must fix the weak link and then, only then, will our school systems bring our students back on top.
Bibliography:
http://media.cefpi.org/issuetraks/issuetrak0903.pdf
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