Yes. I do believe there should be some national standards within our country. I mean this in regards to the basic core subjects such as english, math, reading, writing, science. It seems that there are different expectations for each state, and therefore states are giving A's to students who would receive C's in another state. How does this make sense? How can this even track the education of the children of our country? If anything, it makes it tough to move to another state and expect to have the same competence as your neighbor! People may disagree with me, but I sometimes think the schooling of europeans and any other country is superior to ours, only because they have a set standard and stick to it. I understand that America wants its people to be free and able to do as they please, but when it comes to learning the basic knowledge needed to make it in society, how can we have varying standards across the country?
A national standard would, quite possibly, bring us together. We are the United States, but, not when it comes to education. Even as teachers, we can't go to another state without having to go through more testing to get licensed. Does this make sense? Wouldn't you think that your training in one state should be sufficient enough for another state? I could go on with the questions, but I'll refrain from becoming obnoxious. The bottom line is that, perhaps a touch of autonomy in this country would go a long way. Maybe all of our kids would catch up to those in Asian countries, who have a vigorous and concrete standard to hold up to.
Then again, I could completely change my mind about this in the future, so don't hold me to these ramblings. I think they sound good now, but maybe as I travel through this program I'll change my mind once again.
If any of this made sense, great. If not, I apologize!
I do agree with you...this is a hard topic to talk about because I do not know what the answer is..I thought about this topic for a while and it is crazy that there is such a difference in academic standards accross the United States. I do think set standards need to be enforced although all children learn at different levels/speeds and I can see some students really falling behind the standards while others will fly above and beyond the standards. But with that being said some type of accross the board standard can at least be a starting point and if this were ever to happen then eventually most children should be on the same level. I have my kids in private school now, it is so expensive and I can not believe my children are in a private school! I went to public school and it was ok! But the things I hear about in schools now is awful and I want more for my children! I believe that I should be able to send them to public school and feel good about it...it is unfortunate that is not the case :( we should come up with the solution to this situation!!
ReplyDeleteyour comment made sense to me. I also believe there should be national standards when it comes to math, reading, writing,and science. The different standards in different states are confusing for both the educators and the students. In some ways these different standards can be a handicap. If I am learning about pre-algebra as a sophomore in high school, how does that help me if I go to a different state where the educators have higher standards? I believe we should have high national standards for our students. I really believe it's the only way to learn what is necessary to make more advancements in our society.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. One other area, which might be helpful, and it was referred to in the article, is standardized teacher training. All of these changes involve nationalizing the educational system, and it's going to be long hard fight to get this implemented. So many folks now have such a complete distrust of the federal government, hence the rise of the tea party movement in this country. It's going to take some type of financial incentive to get this program off the ground. Sad to say, but sometimes money and personal interest are the only things which motivate Americans. That, and physical threats from abroad (i.e 9-11).
ReplyDeletewell, this is a tough one for me. on one hand, i agree with the notion that a teacher should be able to be licensed to teach anywhere in this country. or, should they be licensed to teach anywhere in the world? one can say that either you know the information or you don't. it seems kind of silly to have to keep retaking licensure tests.
ReplyDeletemy family traveled alot in my lifetime, and therefore i attended many different schools all over the world. i went to high school in spain, and i think that my educational experience there was amazing. the teachers were very knowledgeable and fun at the same time. i don't know what qualifications they needed to teach there...but i'm going to check it out for myself...
federal government standardizing anything makes me nervous though! no child left behind is a chaotic fiasco that drains teacher's teaching time to spend many hours testing over and over...5 tests per student 3 times per year. in Kinder, you have to test individually...very time consuming, yeeah, you find out student's strengths and weaknesses, but no time to fix it! :)
if they mandate a national standardized educational system, then there had better be some serious checks and balances first...and who gets to decide what's best? food for thought...not an easy task...
I am having trouble posting my comments, I hope it goes through this time. I agree with national standards. I don't think that this should be a state's rights issue. I think that NCLB was inplemented to sabotoge the public school system by an administration who wants education to be privatized. I believe that our country is falling behind the world and that we need higher expectations for our children.
ReplyDeleteA thought on what Autonomy might become.
ReplyDeleteIsn't autonomy within education another form of creating segregation? The credo, “Separate, but Equal” sounds familiar. Hmmmmmmmmmm, isn't that in practice at the moment? Autonomy is chartered schools. Charter schools were created to bring an alternative to public schools. But, some of them are not even passing AYP.
According to the The Public Education Commission, the total number of charter schools in New Mexico is 83; 35 of those are state-chartered schools (http://www.ped.state.nm.us/press/2010/PEC%20Approves%202%20New%20Charter%20Schools%209-9-10.pdf).
Does autonomy signify the fracturing and factionism of education? Autonomy is ruling to one's own rules. The so-called Bantustans (place of the people) were also autonomous.
It is soo hard not to bash the educational system. I think we should keep comparing our system to other countries, Europe for example. You can get National and International teaching certification. I know someone who is teaching in Germany.
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