American schools need changes
By Doug Hutton
Student Columnist

Prior to the war on terrorism, education was President George W. Bush’s top priority entering the fall session of Congress. After the initial shock eventually subsides, it should return to the forefront of the domestic agenda. It is the only issue that has the possibility of drastically changing our future by shaping the minds of this nation’s children. Somehow, though, the education agenda must combat our status as the only industrialized country that falls far below Western norms in standardized testing.

Many have heard the outrageous anecdotes – many high school freshmen can’t read at grade level while inner-city schools have graduation rates lower than the Yankees’ batting average in the World Series. Every student here at this university, while being able to pick out many excellent educational experiences, could easily find an experience on the opposite end of the spectrum.

The education of a student is a collaboration of four factors: the student’s willingness to learn, the teacher’s ability to teach, the parents’ involvement in nurturing and the amount of bureaucracy impeding successful learning. Solutions to fixing the problem of low U.S. test scores must address each of these factors individually to provide the best education for children. Following are some problems and potential solutions to combat the mounting woes of American education.

Problem: Promoting self-esteem and the need to “feel good about yourself” impedes education by not allowing the school to accurately assess students, leading to rampant grade inflation.

Solution: Educators today are so concerned with being politically correct (see my column “Living in a culture of political correctness,” Nov. 1) that they continually exalt students when such merits are unjustifiable. Students don’t ever see failure, giving them a stilted view of the real world. Standards slowly fall at the expense of good feelings. A solution such as tracking is appropriate here. Instead of everyone trying to measure up to the best student, student divisions by ability level will make them feel more comfortable working with their peers.

Problem: The lack of discipline and respect in schools corrupts the student-teacher relationship and weakens the authority of the teacher.

Solution: This problem extends beyond the classroom and into the home, where values such as respect are taught. It is here that parents become instrumental in education. In teaching their child respect, they add a new dynamic to the education experience.
Teachers must not bend to the will of parents, especially when they come crying “Janie didn’t get an A!”

Problem: Classrooms move at the speed of the slowest student.

Solution: A college-level education must be implemented at the high school level. Many students can probably share my experience of being in an advanced placement class that didn’t finish the curriculum by test time in mid-May. Yet here, we can finish the same class in half the time.

Are high school teachers dumber than college professors or does that summer between senior year and freshman year make a difference? Neither is the case. In high school, however the class waits for John Doe to “catch up” with everybody. College professors have an agenda and syllabus that they must get through, regardless of who catches up and who falls behind.

Problem: Capable students are stuck in failing schools with no hope of success.

Solution: Vouchers. Yes, that’s right. Vouchers. Why? A family should not have to pay taxes to support a school system they don’t use and then pay tuition for their child to attend a better school. School districts complain that such a plan would funnel money away from the schools that need it. Financially, however, the school district comes out even. While it does lose the money to support the private education, it also loses a student on which that money would have been used.

Problem: Tenure.

Solution: Get rid of it. Enough said.