The current state of America�s educational system is extremely substandard and in dire need of reform. As future educators, we feel we have the responsibility to produce new methods of ensuring quality education for all our children. To this end, we have devised four new ideas to be implemented in public school systems. They are; 1) Introducing Technology in Elementary Schools; 2) Reform of Standardized Testing like the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT); 3) Greater teacher Accountability and; 4) Improved Methods of Sex Education and Safer Sexual Activity. These four topics are not the only methods of educational reform but they are some of the necessary methods to begin the huge task of reorganizing the educational system in this country. Teacher Accountability It is our opinion that teachers must be held accountable for the success or failure of their students. However, there must be methods in place to account for special circumstances in a student�s personal life. Many respondents feel that teachers should be held accountable for students success or failure. On the other hand, there was one respondent who disagreed, stating that �It is not the responsibility of the teacher if the student doesn�t work. If he fails, he fails.� One must remember, however, that the teacher should be responsible for helping the child in any necessary ways. Everyone agreed that the level of accountability should be moderate but the responses were divided as to whether or not teachers� pay and promotions should be linked to student success. One woman said teachers� pay should reflect �student achievement across the classroom, not individually unless there is a measurable instrument linking ability, aptitude, goals set and goals met.� We agree with this respondent. If student achievement dictated teacher pay then the salaries for teachers would change on the half-hour. The deviation from a poor school district to a more moderate-income district would also be too drastically different. To link teachers� pay and promotions to classroom achievement would be a better method of promoting teacher accountability because there would be a measure of group success instead of individual success. This method would also promote group working which is essential for people entering the 21st century. To promote teacher accountability, one respondent said school systems �should find ways of stimulating teacher/parental cooperation. Weed out bad teachers no matter how many years [of experience they have]. Identify those students who need extra guidance and give it to them.� This method not only promotes teacher accountability but student accountability as well. As this respondent stated, many respondents, and many ordinary people, agreed that parents need to be more accountable. Our poll participants believe that if parents are not accountable to their children in terms of school success then we cannot expect those children to succeed. The question of having allowances, in terms of accountability, for a student�s home life prompted many responses. �YES! Parents need to be required to meet with counselors who can evaluate home situations.� �Not all children live in the same conditions. Some children live with single parents, etc.� �Tough to do but possible . . . � It is important, when expecting accountability from teachers, to take into account the �other� life of each student. This small premediating step will help educators better deal with the diversity of their students. Our last question for teacher accountability dealt with whether or not teachers would feel more accountable if they were paid more. Answers ranged from �doubtful� to �accountable of what?� The best response was from the respondent who said, �No. Teachers need to be paid a fair salary but a good teacher will teach because they want their students to learn.� This goes to show that with all the hubbub over teacher salaries, some people maintain the idealistic view hat teachers teach because they want to, not because they want to make money. This is unfortunate. We do not necessarily think that teachers need to make $100,000 per year however, with more pay a teacher may feel more accountable for his or her work which, in the profession, means student achievement. To sum up this section, one of our respondents said, �We live in a society where parents are both working, are busy, or just don�t care about many aspects of their child�s education. The school is the only other chance in reaching, helping, and educating these children and it just needs to be dealt with. The church has failed miserably in its role so it�s opinion should not be held in any high regards. Education is the best chance we have to improve these children�s future.� Technology in Elementary Schools Technology in elementary schools has recently become a big factor in dealing with the way the curriculum is presented. There does not seem to be any disagreement on the question of whether or not technology is useful in the classroom. All of the people interviewed said that computers in the classroom at an elementary level are very acceptable and children that age are not too young to be taught about technology. We agree on this subject and feel that children of all ages should be introduced to computers and how they work. Teachers should be required to take extra college courses to guide them in their teaching of technology to these young students. These days, teachers seem to be scared of new technology. How are students supposed to learn about technology when teachers themselves do not have the education they need to adequately utilize modern technology? This is why colleges need to require prospective teachers to take technology courses, instructing them how to teach computers, before they leave and go out into the world of teaching. In this same manner, schools need to require currently practicing teachers to go back and take extra technology courses to update what they did not learn when they were in college. What teachers instill in these children�s minds, at such an early age, will stay with them for a lifetime. The last topic on which we will touch is the addition of technology in the elementary curriculum. We feel, as well as those interviewed, that the subject of computers and how to use them should be added to that curriculum. The world today depends on computers and technology so much and requiring children at such a young age to learn about this topic is vital to their success in life. Also, it makes a lot of sense to us that teachers use computers as a source of teaching their students. The use of computer programs to teach certain aspects of math, science, history, and other subject areas seems to be a splendid idea. Using computers in many different ways will familiarize students and help them learn more effectively. Standardized Testing The SAT has been around for a long time and people have had many different views on it and how effective it is, since time began. Consistently, those interviewed agreed that the SAT is ridiculous and should be done away with. We feel, along with everyone we talked to, that the SAT is not a good test and does not accurately test a persons I.Q. The SAT should not be required before leaving high school and should not be looked at when colleges are deciding on a person�s acceptance or not. One reason for this view is that students come from many different high schools and the curricula are somewhat, if not abundantly, different. This concept proves the SAT to be an inaccurate way of testing what students learned throughout their years of school. Being that they are an incorrect way of testing, we feel that the SAT should be done away with all together and a new idea for testing should be formed. Sexual Education and Condom Distribution Do schools have a responsibility to protect students and educate them about safer sexual contact. According to recent government statistics, about 110 or 108 teen pregnancies occur per thousand teenagers, which is about an 11% rate of teen pregnancy. Some groups actually put the percentage higher at about 44%. This means that about 44% of American females could become pregnant before age 20. Also, the current rate of teen HIV/AIDS infection is between 2% and 5%. These numbers should be appalling to any person interested in the welfare of children and the future of our nation. What does this have to do with education? We believe that if current sex education programs were improved, the rates of teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS infection would subsequently drop. All respondents agreed that 1) schools have a responsibility to educate students about safer sexual conduct and; 2) schools should help protect students. Therefore, these are the things which need to be changed: � Condoms should be given away in schools as early as the eighth grade � Sex education classes should be mixed gender � Sex education classes should include information concerning hetero- and homosexual sexual activity so that all students can benefit from the course Nobody answered �no� to the question of whether teens had sexual intercourse. We believe, however, that we polled a select group and that there are individuals who believe otherwise. Because of this, educators should have courses in their training programs informing them that teenagers do in fact engage in sexual intercourse. They should also know what percentage of teen girls become pregnant and what percentage are disease carriers. Teachers should support the distribution of condoms in their schools. Doing so may, in the beginning, actually increase sexual activity, but the end result, we believe, will be a reduction in both teen pregnancies and HIV infection. Condom use will become second nature to the students who are exposed to condoms for the majority of their lives. In terms of sexual education, America�s public school system gets an �F.� It is unfortunate that political and religious leaders have been able to influence and terrorize people into reducing sex education to �plumbing only.� With a mixed gender, orientation inclusive sex education class, students will gain the widest range of knowledge about all forms of sexual intercourse, as they rightly should. This knowledge will allow students to make informed, positive choices about their activities and will, in the long run, be of benefit to all people. Considering the millions and billions of tax dollars required to support the babies of teen mothers and the thousands of people infected with HIV, we should be ready and willing to do anything possible to end this vicious cycle. It astounds us how most people can believe that these reforms in education need to be made yet are reluctant to implement them. There seems to be some hidden factor that could not be exposed even with the questionnaire. We are still trying to uncover this enigma. Maybe in doing so we will better understand why there is such a resistance to institute reform. Interview Questions Technology in Education: 1) Do you think the use of technology in Elementary schools is useful? 2) Do you think Elementary school teachers should have to take extra college courses top train them to teach children about computers and how to use them? 3) Do you think computers should be used as a source of teaching certain aspects of classes like history, math, science, etc? 4) Do you think elementary age children are too young to learn about and use computers? 5) Do you think that the subject of computers and how to use them should be added to the curriculum at the elementary level? SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) 1) Do you think SAT�s are good tests? 2) Do you think they accurately test a person�s IQ? 3) Do you think SAT scores should be looked at when colleges are deciding acceptance? 4) Do you think SAT�s should be required before leaving high school? 5) Considering what you remember from your own SAT test, did it seem relevant to what you learned throughout your years of school? Do you think they accurately tested what you had learned? 6) Do you think SAT�s should be done away with? Teacher Accountability: 1) Should teachers be held accountable for student's success or failure? 2) If yes, to what degree? Minimum, moderate, maximumly 3) Should teacher's pay and promotions be linked to student achievement? 4) How could a school system promote accountability? 5) Should parent's also be held accountable for students success? 6) Should allowances be made, in terms of accountability, for a student's home life or other factors? How? 7) How might one prevent a vengeful student(s) from purposefully doing poorly to punish a teacher? 8) Would teachers become more accountable if they were paid more? Sex Ed and Condom Sales: 1) Should condoms be sold or possibly given away in schools? 2) Does the school have a responsibility to educate students about safer sexual conduct? 3) Are current sex ed programs adequate? 4) Would a mix gender sex ed program be beneficial? 5) Do teenagers have sexual intercourse? 6) What percentage of teens have children? have AIDS? 7) Should sex ed programs include heterosexual AND homosexual sections to promote safer sexual conduct for all students? Explain. 8) What percentage of teens identify as being gay or lesbian? 9) Do schools have a responsibility to educate students about all forms of sexual conduct? 10) Do condoms prevent diseases? 11) Should schools help protect students? 12) Should schools provide birth control pills to young ladies? Extra comments, if you wish to do so, are welcomed. |