The National Debate about American Public Education for the 21st Century

The 3R's have been around for a long time. Without...

2009-09-17T12:58:44.283-04:00

The 3R's have been around for a long time. Without competence in all three, it is difficult to participate effectively as a citizen. Yet, we still find (after 100 years) that the percentage of children that have difficulty is still approximately 40%; just as it was the in the early 1900's. We need to fix this if we are to have good citizens AND a viable future.

Public education should be to create civic minded ...

2009-02-03T15:45:03.547-05:00

Public education should be to create civic minded students who are ready for the work force and/or higher education.

Testing a comment

2009-02-03T15:44:05.115-05:00

Testing a comment

Establishing national curriculum and standards- ba...

2009-01-21T12:58:21.870-05:00

Establishing national curriculum and standards- based on PISA benchmarks

Provide training that focuses on ensuring teachers develop global perspective. In order to teach kids more about our increasingly interconnected world our educators must be supported to expand their knowledge and apprciation for cultures and countries different from ours.

Implement national initiative to wire all schools and provide laps tops for all students- fasted way for teachers/students to begin connecting with the world beyond our local, state and national borders.

Future educational policy should focus on preparin...

2009-01-09T13:12:10.211-05:00

Future educational policy should focus on preparing our students and teachers to compete in a global market. Teachers (in NJ) are frustrated over the lack of time and resources to properly prepare themselves for 21st C technical expectations. Too much of our time is wasted by State Board policies.We would like to see national standardizaton for lesson planning.

A high quality education encourages effective comm...

2009-01-09T13:11:59.498-05:00

A high quality education encourages effective communication, equal opportunity and access to resources, meaningful critical thinking for analysis and evaluation, personal development of responsibility and ethics, emphasis on a rigorous curriculum, and nurturing of individual skills and interests. These standards must be measured by guiding students through the mastering of fundamentals so that they may ultimately perform authentically in school and in society. Our society must adapt, reform, and reinforce the educational system to keep it relevant and accessible through current technologies, ideas, and methods on a global level.

In order to have a high quality education, a stude...

2009-01-09T13:11:00.438-05:00

In order to have a high quality education, a student must be able to compete globally. This would include a basic national curriculum and/or standards. It would also include being technologically inclined. This would also include having teachers that are willing to learn, collaborate, implement, and engage strategies that allow students to compete globally.

High quality education is: adaptable, visionary, c...

2009-01-09T13:09:40.033-05:00

High quality education is: adaptable, visionary, collaborative, meets the needs of the changing global community, competitive, equitable. It would provide for the development of student communication, reasoning and problem-solving skills, creativity in team-work in all content areas. The measure of it needs to be transformative, authentic, and revelant - it must going beyond the current traditional assessment. This is ensured through standards, reform initiative and re-prioritizing.

What does a high quality education look like? It h...

2009-01-09T13:08:16.559-05:00

What does a high quality education look like? It has relevency, stresses critical thinking, basic skills, effective communication & collaboration skills. It is forward-thinking, involves more than just teachers and students, and focuses on local and global community awareness.

To measure it, we need to use Authentic Assessments, performance tasks, open-ended responses, cumulative assessments, demonstrations, portfolios and be creative to address how diverse learners can demonstrate knowledge.

The best ways to insure access, are provide access to technology, comprehensive teacher training & monitoring, and have home-school-government focus on education, with proper funding.

A high quality education provides adaptability to ...

2009-01-09T13:06:06.658-05:00

A high quality education provides adaptability to provide for differentiated student needs. There is connectivity to academic and global learning communities. High quality education provides pathways to problem solve independently and collaboratively, and think creatively.

Assessing the success of this model is ongoing, and not content based because it is not concrete.

I agree with Jedi Teacher. Accountability should ...

2009-01-02T20:52:00.000-05:00

I agree with Jedi Teacher. Accountability should be high for teachers and students, but it should not be in the form of state-mandated tests.

We have given way too much money to testing companies to get results that teachers who see the kids already know. It is time to put the responsibility for assessment back where it belongs--with the teachers. We know our students. We love our students. We are trying our hardest to get them where they need to be. Support us in that, instead of mandating tests which aren't targeting the skills our students really need and aren't measuring the progress they're making.

I disagree with Anonymous. Schools need to emphas...

2008-12-19T22:54:00.000-05:00

I disagree with Anonymous. Schools need to emphasize students not pupils. Our schools are mired too much in century-old factory model of schools. The purpose of schools should be to teach students how to think. The workforce is changing so rapidly that schools have to prepare students for jobs that don't even exist yet. Did You Know? http://youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
As for the "fringe employees" no being around 100 years ago, Administrators are needed to take care of a lot of the extra duties needed to run a school so teachers can teach in the classroom. Society and students' homes are much more complex and troubled than 100 years ago. Counselors and social workers help schools deal with many of the problems that used to be taken care of at home. Many times today's schools have teach the whole child: mentally, physically, socially, emotionally, culturally, etc.
We do need to overhaul education, not because schools have changed, but because of the opposite. Society has changed in the last 100 years. Have schools? Has the purpose of schools?

Here is what accountability should look like:Teach...

2008-12-02T16:36:00.000-05:00

Here is what accountability should look like:

Teachers:
- Should be pursuing constant professional development to better their skills and knowledge of the subject matter they teach.
- Should leave the profession if they find themselves cynical or no longer inspired to teach.
- Should be allowed to be excellent, not just mediocre and rewarded for excellent teaching and dedication.
- Should be held responsible for their teaching duties(including, but not limited to the teaching of subject matter) and doing all they could to help their students achieve success(Their duties do not include parenting; that's the parent's job.)
- Should respect all students and maintain an environment of cooperation, inspiration, and hope with students, colleagues, and parents.
- Should be responsible for creating meaningful assessments and assessing his/her students in an objective manner.(No more federally mandates state tests.)
- Should be advocates for their children's education.

Students:
- Should be responsible for coming to school prepared and ready to learn(Of course this depends greatly on the parents for younger children.)
- Should be respectful to teachers, school staff, parents, and other students.
- Should try hard to learn.

Parents:
- Should be held accountable for the parenting of their children, but also provided with classes and resources to help them with difficulties that arise doing the most difficult job on Earth.
- Should behave responsibly and make responsible choices, knowing that they are the major influence for their children. They should be held accountable to this standard and disciplined if they behave irresponsibly in a way that affects their children
- Should be encouraged to participate in school functions and activities inside and outside school hours.
- Should be advocates for their children's education.

Lawmakers and Public Officials(Including school board members):
- Should be held responsible for all financial, philosophical, or educational decision they make that affects the students, teachers, or schools.

President:

- Should be held accountable to put education first, all the time, realizing that our children are our most precious resource, and a strong education system, creates strong students, who become thoughtful, confident, and successful citizens, who work at higher paying jobs and thus can contribute more financially to the longevity of this country.
- Should be willing to constantly get the advise of teachers who want to bring positive change to America too.

No we are not currently funding schools fairly. M...

2008-12-02T16:09:00.000-05:00

No we are not currently funding schools fairly. Most school funding comes from property taxes and if a school is located in a more affluent neighborhood, where houses have a higher property value, then that school will receive significantly more funding than the school on the "other side of the tracks", where many of the residents live in apartments of duplexes. This enables those with money to receive more educational tools and thus a better education than those who are living with less means.
How can we make it fair? Well, this is a BIG question because the answer requires a rethinking of how we value our children. Currently a significant amount of funding is spent on jails, prisons, rehabilitation and reintroduction programs, drug counseling, etc. Imagine if we invested that money in the children in their early years so they wouldn't chose a life of crime or drugs. The money we currently spend on treating a problem could be spent on preventing a problem altogether. That means less police needed, very few jails or prisons, and more high quality schools with current learning tools and technologies, and maybe we could even pay our teachers more.

As far as who will pay for it, may I suggest that each working person pays an equal percentage of their annual income so that those who make very little only have to contribute a little(though they still have to contribute), and those that make a lot contribute a larger sum. The total monies would be put in a general pot that would then be evenly distributed throughout the states and country, so that every school at each level receives an fair(by fair, I mean that each school received what it needs to create students that can compete in the 21st century) amount of funding that would suit their needs, which would then need to be highly regulated to prevent corruption and make sure the students are benefiting directly from our tax dollars.

In the end , there will be far less people with little because they receives a good education that enabled them to pursue a higher paying job or career. There will also be far less people with a ridiculous amount of wealth(even if they did work for it), and more people with a comfortable income(i.e. middle class).

Accountability first has to be more specifically d...

2008-12-02T15:43:00.000-05:00

Accountability first has to be more specifically defined. Are we only holding teachers accountable, or are we also holding students, parents, and community leaders accountable too? I am all for holding teachers to a high standard, but we need to support them so they can achieve that standard, much in the way that teachers need to support all of their students so they can reach the standard set for the them(hopefully a high one). Parents also need to be held accountable for their practices. I mean they are the first influence on each child and should be held accountable to do a good job, whether that means attending a parenting class or anger management, or learning English, etc. so that they can better provide for their children's future, as well as their own.

Simple answer to this one: funding and accountabil...

2008-12-01T14:54:00.000-05:00

Simple answer to this one: funding and accountability. Fund schools adequately so that students can have access to current technologies. Eliminate mandates that only focus on Reading, Writing, and Math(i.e. standardized tests). Our children deserve an enriching and well-rounded education that includes art, music, p.e., science, history, community service projects, field trips, and yes, reading, writing, and math. If I can go back to funding, do you know that the average school district spends hundreds or thousands to millions of dollars on standardized tests(both paper and computerized versions). They also spend about tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars on paper and photocopying costs for teachers to make worksheets, and more worksheets, and more worksheets. Last, they spend around $150 per book, per subject, per student, every few years so that every student can have access to an outdated textbook in all subject areas.
Well, do you also know that assessment can be and should be created and administered by the experts: teachers. As far as worksheets and textbooks, these are tools of the past and should be left there. Today's world and the world of the future offers endless access to information via an invention called the computer and the internet. The cost of a laptop for a single student is $250 and as long as their are updates, the computer can give students access to up-to-date information in all subject areas for as many years as the internet is still accessible by the laptop computer(which with certain agreement with computer and internet companies could be a long, long time.) Now, think of all the wasted money school districts would save if they stopped purchasing textbooks, tests, and printing worksheets, and instead provided each student with a speedy, internet friendly computer, and each school with a fast broadband connection that had wireless capabilities. If teachers had to teach at the front of the room, they can ditch the chalkboard and even the stale whiteboards, and instead utilize interactive whiteboards that can be interacted with by touch or through teacher and student computers. Students should also have access to digital cameras, cellphones, pdas, etc. and taught how to use the technologies responsibly and effectively to conduct research, communicate with other students in their school, country, and around the world.

Our children's future and the future of this country depends on their ability to communicate in not just a United States, but also a United World. Chalkboards, worksheets, and textbooks can't do that. Access to the internet can.

As far as accountability, we need to hold teachers very accountable, but parents just as accountable. Teachers should make a fair salary and exceptional teachers should make more. However, bad teachers should not be allowed to be teaching anymore. If we pay them $60,000 if they have a master's degree, just like we do for engineers, journalists, weather"men"(who holds them accountable?), etc., and eliminate state retirement programs and have teachers be responsible for their own retirement, then most of the bad teachers will leave right away because they have no reason(no more vested retirement) to stay. This opens up many spots for great teachers with wonderful ideas, passion, and a drive for change, and eliminates a negative environment of sarcasm and regret that has remained stagnant in our schools for far too long.
Parents should not get off easy anymore. If their child is not prepared for school, does that mean that we as a community are o.k. with shelling out millions of dollars to help them catch up even though, without the support of their family, they won't. We need to change how school is run, but we also need to provide assistance and accountability for parents that could use a class in responsibility and parenting. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but when I have students whose dad's are in prison and mom's are on drugs, what chance do these kids really have, even with a great teacher? We need to be willing as a society to help those that need help, and hold them accountable to improve their lives and the lives of their children throughout the rehab or recovery process. Children learn all the time, but they only are interested in learning when they are fed, provided with adequate shelter, and know that someone close to them values, respects, and loves them. A teacher can give 150% every day to every student he/she has, but in the end, it will only have a 10% impact on the student. The choices a parent makes and the attention he/she gives to his/her children has a 90% impact on who that child becomes and what kind of future they are able to have. In short, teachers and parents need to work together, not against each other, and teachers and parents both need to be held to a high standard, for the children: our future, are too valuable for us to be lenient in the presence of poor teaching or parenting practices.

So, how do we ensure students are prepared for the 21st century? We give them the tools, the know-how, and the practice of engaging others in conversation, collaboration, and implementation to accomplish common goals, all while learning and applying basic skills, learning about different peoples and cultures, preparing students to achieve their own personal goals, and ultimately the goals our forefathers set for this nation: That we are all equal and deserving of equal opportunities in our lives, despite the cards we were dealt(if we are willing to work hard to achieve our goals and give back to our communities and fellow citizens who each had at least a small part in our own success.)

If America will truly live out it's creed and truly be a democracy where the people decide what happens, not wealthy or corrupt individuals, then our children must be informed, educated, and thoughtful citizens, and the only way they will become that way is if we teach them, if we love them, and if we value them as priceless and worthy of our time, our money, and our sacrifices.

The purpose of public education is to educate our ...

2008-12-01T13:56:56.375-05:00

The purpose of public education is to educate our children not for our present, but for their future. The question then should be: How well are we doing this? Perhaps we should take a look at not only what we teach our children, but also how we teach them. Are teaching methods that we all grew up with and thus associate as normal preparing our children for their future or our past? I'll let you decide.

The purpose of public education is to educate our ...

2008-12-01T13:54:00.000-05:00

To me the purpose of public education is for all c...

2008-11-23T10:48:00.000-05:00

To me the purpose of public education is for all children to receive the same basic skills (reading, writing and math) needed for them to learn. The difference between a student and a pupil - a student is someone who studies anytime and anywhere. A pupil is someone in a chair in a school. Our nation seems to emphasize pupils and not students.
As with most public service ideas, education has become mired with too many "fringe" employees, 100 years ago it was usually one teacher for all the town's children. Now there are counselors, consultants, adminstrators for every subject taught and every grade level piggy backing their career off the teachers' skills.
We need to truly overhaul the educating of our children from the townfolks not the state or the nation.