American SchoolsEssay Preview: American SchoolsReport this essayAmerican Schools in CrisisAmerican schools have a big problem on their hands and that would be keeping kids in the classroom. Year after year students are failing to graduate and deciding to drop out of school. The reasons for this are far and in-between, but actions need to be taken so that this no longer happens. Staying in school is the only way to success unless you are extremely lucky. Higher levels of education can only help you in your future. As little fun as school is students need to fight their way through because there is a light at the end of the tunnel. That shining light is a bright future with success in anything you want.
The dropout rates over the years have seen little or no movement in numbers. Students are continually deciding they want to leave school for whatever reason. They think this is the right way to go but they are wrong. Action needs to take place in order to take a hold of this situation and so graduation rates can begin to incline.
Most recently the main man in our government decided to take action into his own hands. He also sees the current problem in our nations academic system. However, he doesnt really know how to approach the situation. In a recent article in TIME magazine titled Dropout Nation written by Nathan Thornburgh touched on this. Thornburgh said:
“During his most recent State of the Union address, President George W. Bush promised more resources to help children stay in school, and Democrats promptly attacked him for lacking a specific plan”(Thornburgh “Dropout Nation”).
The idea he came up is one that will definitely help the situation. President Bush feels that no student should be able to be left behind. This is a great way to begin to attack this problem. If no child can be left back then students would feel more confident about attending school. However, there should be some standards and limitations placed on this. Not just any student should be allowed to proceed in school. They should have to a great deal of effort and if they still arent doing well then they should be rewarded for their hard work. On the other hand if a student is showing no effort and not showing up they shouldnt be rewarded by moving to the next grade. But hopefully the thought of just trying as hard as they can will motivate them enough to stay in school.
The first step towards success is identifying the problem, and this problem has been identified by many. The reason for people beginning to see the problem is because of the staggering numbers. “Over recent years researchers are saying that one in every three public high school students are dropping out of school and this only grows higher if you are a minority jumping from 33 percent to nearly 50 percent”(Thornburgh).
These numbers only grow higher and higher as you reach certain geographic areas in the United States. For example, Jonathan Kozol speaks on this topic in piece of writing titled Savage Inequalities. He writes from a high minority high school set in the middle of the Bronx. The students attending this high school arent the brightest kids, yet they should still be in school trying to excel. In this story Kozol gives us staggering information that he found:
“The class of 1998 began with 465 students who were classified as entering ninth grade in 1994. Of these only 66 received diplomas in 1998, 120 did not graduate but remained enrolled, 54 were listed as dropouts and 225 were listed as discharged”(Kozol 340).
The schools that are in the rough areas need to try even harder than the rest of the society. The students attending high schools like this are either kids that cant stay out of trouble or kids that arent too smart. Even though these are harder situations there can still be action taken.
Such action could be implementing learning programs in these schools. For example, in these schools they can have special programs for underachieving students. They can have classes dedicated to just students that have difficulty learning. In these classes they would have teachers that work at a slower pace so that they all can understand. They can also have AP classes to help students earn some credits for college. Also another big problem in these types of schools is attendance. Many kids would much rather stay home or on the streets getting into trouble. But if they reward these students for attending class much more of them would decide to come to, school. Even if they are only getting a few points here and there, they would show up. The goal of teachers should be to help students pass and want to come to school not just barely squeeze. Making changes in these lower level high schools will help the improvement of these very poor graduation rates.
Another thing to help students graduate is to balance out the schools systems. These days there are high schools that only accept well educated students. There is no problem in this; however they should not accept students so easily. If all the smart students attend these private schools then all of the less smart kids will be forced to attend worse institutions. Granted, not all smart students can afford to attend these private schools but if those schools declined more students trying to get in, then they would be forced to attend less smart high schools. If these students that should normally be attending these better high schools attend lower one then their graduation rates would begin to rise. Balancing out these schools systems is a great way to get dropout rates to cease. Forcing smarter kids to attend
The Problem
Here is a common view of a university that is not actually interested in lowering student indebtedness: that the problem is not a problem of quality but that the student body is too weak and that, therefore, everyone should be able to afford to leave the system. While many students are unable to pay full tuition, they get a free education and can go for free on their own. Many universities do not exist to have this problem with their systems and there is no room for private-sector solutions. With the private sector as their sole source of revenue we would expect a reduction of student indebtedness of a few percent. But this idea sounds good to me from a rational standpoint for a non-partisan approach to the student debt crisis.
There is often a difference between trying to reduce student debt to make it manageable, or trying to reduce the size of the student body without creating a higher graduation rate. My view of a good student debt solution is much simpler, because in both cases, the alternative would be to find a private sector source of revenue. The more money we add to the system the lower our student debt would become.
Why not try to make a larger college. This is a problem that any reasonable professor will address. In the past colleges started putting more emphasis on getting students to graduate, which meant that students would get out of their private schools faster.
One reason I would not agree with this is that I am not anti-single meritocracy, but college does require a great deal more education. The most impressive examples of student debt in the US are the “single” public colleges. One is known for the fact that they can only enroll more than 90 percent of the current students and are highly dependent on taxpayer aid. I know about the public college situation in that city but I am not sure that this is the real reality of these colleges. The problem is I understand that most of my faculty members are in the public colleges as well. As I said earlier, all private public university, free for all tuition, has to be ranked from least likely to most likely. My understanding is this would cause huge student indebtedness. (The big question about this is this: when will public colleges be more likely to do more? Will they be able to meet this more quickly?)
I’ve come to agree that some colleges do have an ability to educate the rest of us. If you go for the $50,000, I suggest we try to have the other 70 percent of the college population read about the issues. These folks should have a degree in business administration, marketing, public affairs, or economics. These are skills that are highly valuable at many institutions. You may have attended one of these colleges and you would learn a lot about the entire student population. It is certainly possible for a wealthy student to graduate but you will not be able to build large numbers of students. You might even have limited experience with online learning because it would be too expensive. You should also go to many other higher education institutions that have similar educational objectives to schools like those in the US. These schools should use public policy to make sure their graduates are getting enough scholarships with their degree, not only that, but that the students are not being too dependent on taxpayer help. There is no