What Students Are Saying About How to Improve American Education?
The United States of America is among the world’s most accomplished nations. It has the most innovative technologies and continues discovering new opportunities to improve human life. Yet, the country’s education system suffers inequality and poor student outcomes. As Americans celebrate their innovation, it’s also crucial to recognize causes of concern in learning institutions and find lasting solutions to emerging issues. So, let’s analyze how to improve American education based on the existing challenges.
Top 3 Challenges Facing the American Education System
1. A decline in school funding
State funds constitute almost 50% of school revenue, while local and federal governments contribute the remaining amount. Over the years, the quality of the education system has been declining due to a cut in state funding, leading to a deficit in financial resources to facilitate effective operations. In addition, most American schools are overcrowded due to rapid population growth. Besides an increase in the number of scholars enrolling in high schools and colleges, a decrease in funding and a shortage of teachers makes learning difficult as cash-strapped states and federal governments struggle to generate revenues.
2. Inequality
Although the United States faces a decline in funding to facilitate effective operations in education, there is no equitable distribution of the little capital allocated to schools. The local and national authorities disburse funds based on a school’s zone. As a result, learning institutions in poor neighborhoods are neglected and fail to get quality education standards like their counterparts in rich cities and neighborhoods. In addition, students receive support and access to learning opportunities based on their class or social status. Those with low status are marginalized concerning access to learning resources, education infrastructure, funds, and opportunities.
3. Lack of parental guidance and involvement
Lack of consistent guidance and parental involvement in education is a major problem facing the United States. Academic life requires help from teachers, caregivers, and any adult in a learner’s life. Responsible parents should track their children’s academic progress, ensure they complete homework on time, attend school events like academic days, and participate actively in Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meetings. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for most students.
Although learners in elementary school get the attention they deserve, that’s not the case at the middle, high school, and college levels. In most cases, parents contact teachers when their children are in trouble. When parents are actively involved in their children’s education, they are likely to motivate them, leading to higher grades and test scores in classroom assessments and a high graduation rate. However, most American parents concentrate on their careers at the expense of their children’s welfare.
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How Can American Education Be Improved?
So, in what ways can the American education system be improved?
1. The government should prioritize funding schools
Funding local school districts is one of the effective ways to improve the US education system. Underfunding is a major outcome of misplaced priorities since, despite states and federal governments collecting less than the expected revenues, they still fail to consider the education sector an important investment area. Due to income disparity and the possibility of unequal tax contributions, the government should adopt a progressive tax code system to ensure individuals and corporations are taxed according to their wealth. Consequently, it will be able to collect enough funds to support the education system.
Due to poor funding in local schools, especially those in poor neighborhoods, the quality of education in such areas declines since most instructors move to affluent areas with better salaries. Therefore, policymakers should collaborate with school administrators to provide favorable working conditions, payment, and support to attract teachers in regions where students have greater educational needs. In addition, American students acknowledge that inequitable funding adversely affects teachers. Therefore, besides improving school infrastructure, policymakers should recognize teachers’ roles in enhancing the quality of education and allocate their kitty enough funds, particularly in marginalized areas.
2. Introducing relevant technologies in schools
As technology advances, students should familiarize themselves with the latest innovations and how to apply them in learning and the future job market. Although most individuals believe that technology can cause poor performance, especially due to addiction, it can make learning more practical and meaningful. Students from remote areas can easily access learning materials from educational sites such as American essay writing services without entirely depending on government support.
3. Encouraging parents’ participation through community programs
Most American students’ academic outcomes are unsatisfactory due to a lack of parental guidance and help. Unlike in the past, today’s local boards are not effective and inclusive since most parents focus on their professional life and leave the education sector in the hands of teachers and the school administration. To solve this issue, policymakers should encourage schools to adopt community-based strategies such as involving a specific number of community representatives in school boards. The approach will allow parents to determine how their children are educated, thus improving learning outcomes. Furthermore, school boards should organize regular meetings to discuss children’s progress, challenges, and how to handle them.
4. Involving students in decision making
Since students are the key beneficiaries of education, they should have an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. Most trade shows and conferences planning how to improve America’s education system involve teachers and state and federal government representatives. Although most attendees can influence policies, brainstorm technologies that create effective learning platforms, and implement leadership techniques to guide schools toward a specific direction, they don’t identify problems affecting students at a personal level. As a result, it makes it difficult to find lasting solutions to their issues.
Conclusion
The United States education system has room for improvement, although it may not be easy to develop active and effective plans within a short duration. Besides, finding lasting solutions requires collaboration between parents, teachers, school administrators, students, and government representatives, which may not be easy, especially due to the lack of effective policies to encourage equal participation. Other challenges include difficulty in identifying problems affecting learners at a personal level. Nonetheless, implementing the solutions mentioned above will help in improving American education.
