A Nation at Risk, Still SS270 Social Problems August 8, 2011 In 1983 a report came out by The National Commission on Excellence in Education, informing the American public that our educational system was not keeping up with other equally advanced nations and, in fact, was actually behind. This report was called A Nation at Risk: the Imperative for Educational Reform and discusses how the U.S.’s educational system lacks in structure, expectations, time in learning, and teaching (Gardner, 2011). Today we find that we are still behind other advanced nations due to globalization, and technological advances that require young people, of today, to have higher education levels than ever before. Some reasons for America’s dragging
Baseerah Watson 01/31/2012 Harrisburg Speech I have a question? Have you had enough with inequality? Crowd Responds* Have you had enough with inadequate funding? Crowd Responds* It is evident that the time has come in the era of public education for students from across this vast state, from all walks of life and respective backgrounds, to come together in solidarity against the budget cuts. These cuts have been detrimental to our futures and to our lives.
So pervasive does this ambivalence become that citizens turn away from the idea of classical education as a real means of upward mobility. Some, desperately clinging to the hope that their children would transcend their own station, have circumvented the system's geographical boundary table, opting to send their children (legally or otherwise) to better, out of zone, schools. The resistance these concerned parents face from faculty and fellow parents in better prepared zones highlights the divide in opportunity from one area to another. Some line-hopping parents have faced stiff fines, imprisonment, summary ejection and other censures aimed at deterring further territorial aggression by the less fortunate. Such battles confirm the feeling that the much vilified "they" would rather poor students stay in poor schools receiving a poor education; provoking the hopelessness which undermines a parent’s ability to perform a key function of their leadership role,
Will children be educated enough to understand when making self-serving, society-serving or morally-based decisions, or is today’s educational criteria a form of brainwashing to help our current government stay in power? “Conflict theorists argue that the real purpose of the public school system is to reproduce and maintain the existing class structure in our society.” (123) In several sections of the book, I disagreed with the notion that education best serves society; I believe it should be the other way
In the minds of many people the government’s attempts in recent years to reform education in the United States is viewed as a calculated move toward creation of easily influenced individuals that are useful to the government not necessarily encouraging independent and innovative thinkers. For this reason, some feel that a separation of state and school, much like church and state, would be appropriate. They feel government interference will do more harm than good for the students and families of the United
At a time when unemployment was rising and Britain's economy was declining, it was feared that education was failing to produce young people with the appropriate skills for the world of work. He said it was necessary for schools to improve vocational education and training in order to satisfy the needs of industry. Although it was a Labour prime minister who instigated the 'Great Debate', New Right and Conservative Governments from 1979 onwards reflected his viewpoint and it became one of the beliefs of the New Right. The New Right is a set of beliefs that was particularly associated with the policies adopted by Margaret Thatcher’s government, elected in 1979. Politicians and writers who support her viewpoints were known as the New Right.
If you lower tuition rates then that will make college more accessible for students who find it hard to pay for college. Students should not be turned away from an education simply because of the fact that they can’t afford it. There are kids out there with the talent, mindset, and knowledge to do goo but they can’t because of financial disabilities. The question arises: “How will you lower tuition?” Will the question is quite simple, the government will fund it. It will be a good investment for the government because we are breeding future, lawyers, doctors, firefighters, etc., people that are benefiting society.
Assess the extent to which material deprivation is the most important factor in affecting social class difference in educational achievement? Firstly I feel that material deprivation is the most important factor in terms of creating social class differences in educational achievement although there are other factors such as culture and school which also have an effect on this matter. Material deprivation is not having the ability to afford consumption goods and to participate in activities that are common in society at that given point in time. Evan though education and further education is free to the age of 19, material factors such as diet, health and housing all have direct effects on achievement in education, as for example if student is worrying about whether they are going to have a clean place to sleep, they are not going to be as concerned by whether they pass their science test the next day. Therefore Marxists will argue that the working classes are suppressed as they cannot afford such essentials that come so easily to the upper classes.
A problem with our education system today is it is impossible for many citizens to receive the benefits of higher learning for the simple fact that they cannot afford it. So in an effort to change this, President Obama made another proposal for Congress to change the Higher Education Act in hopes that the federal aid provided to schools is based on affordability and the value of the education received. In addition to that, his administration has made public a “College Scorecard” that which gives citizens the opportunity to compare colleges’ criteria. This will essentially allow parents and students to receive an education worthy of all the money that is being invested into the school. Last but not least, the President touched on the Newtown tragedy and the several other shootings that have occurred since then as he began to discuss policies on gun control.
I questioned if students have been taught that education is the key to success, why do they chose to drop out knowing that it is going to lead towards a very difficult to path to walk. I also questioned how could educators and parents been more aggressive in preventing these choices amongst our youth. In my paper I concluded that changing the legal age to 18 would be beneficial to society because it would force a student to be in high school until their senior year. At that point it would be pointless to dropout because they are so close to reaching their goal. And by graduating they would probably be more ambitious about education and be more likely to pursue a college education.