The use of technology is affecting students especially in high school and college. According to Turkle, today’s college students have little experience with the right to privacy as they leave trails of everything they have done online, unlike previous generations who have worked hard to protect their privacy. In her article, Turkle also describes the use of online avatars as both a positive and negative image in children’s lives. Some children invest far too much time developing their online personality while role-playing offers a safe place in a world full of crime, terrorism, and drugs. As a consequence this retards their social growth
Parents are a positive influence for many children who otherwise may fall behind, failing, or even dropping out of school. The background of the child’s family combined with passed down values and experiences will determine the student’s education. The role of technology in early childhood education is an effective tool for students, so the lack of technology in a child’s upbringing can affect their educational career. For example, students who do not begin using various types of technology from kindergarten can fall behind. Studies found that students who are less likely to access technology at home are at an academic disadvantage.
Hence, schools should prevent assigning regular homework because students gain no benefit related to their academics from this widely used learning tool. Homework does not improve learning because there is no direct relationship between the amount of homework completed and test scores of the student. When the results of all major studies published in the last two decades are analyzed, any correlation between homework and student achievement is shown to be modest. These studies also note that such relations diminish when more complex controls such as student aptitude and home environment are applied to the research data (Public Schools NSW). Moreover, it has been observed that countries with highest scoring students on standardized tests come from Japan, Czech Republic and Denmark, where teachers assign little homework.
This is huge in contributing to students’ overall health and sleep intake. According to Greg Toppo, an educational writer says “What was once a bedrock principle of the school year is now under the microscope as research shows few benefits, and as families complain about evenings spent stressing over problem sets" (Toppo). Here is one source that clearly shows the negative effects of homework on students. However, Toppo is not the only educational writer that feels this way about homework. Another educational writer that writes about her thoughts about the negativity of homework is Nancy Kalish.
The difference between disequilibrium, and equilibrium and its impact in the classroom is as significant as Piaget suggests. If a student/person feels like they know how to solve a problem (or are at equilibrium), they will not want to learn about it. Although, if they are able to create a disequilibrium, or the inability to solve a problem by receiving constructive feedback and create competition, one will want to learn more about the subject/job and will hopefully retain a lot more information. An example of this can be seen in the classroom or workforce. There are many children in primary school who rely on their parents/peers to tie their shoes for them as they constantly have support in the area and have no motivation to learn themselves.
Abolishing public school attendances, as well as school curriculums are the solutions to children getting a better education, according to John Holt. In School Is Bad for Children, written by Holt, he emphasis’s his opinions that the public school system is failing the children of today. He describes a child that becomes limited in his curiosity and learning ability by the school system. “Your experience, your concerns, your curiosities, what you know, what you want, what you wonder about… all of this is not of the slightest importance, it counts for nothing” (Blair Reader 65). Holt states that learning from school teachers takes away one’s individuality and teaches children that if you don’t learn things their way, then you won’t learn it at all.
Serious Challenges Facing Public Education Today Not many would argue about the importance of excellence in education. Problems such as teacher attrition, lack of parent involvement, and teaching high-stakes testing may hinder progress in education. They are only a few of many major issues facing American education, and educators are challenged to do everything in their power to conquer them. An education is a indispensable and essential tool, and it’s important to get our students to value their education. An education can open doors to opportunities that would have never been possible were it not for the education and preparation that one received while in school.
Many early childhood education programs and elementary schools are moving towards a more rigid curriculum geared to new state standards and linked to standardized tests. These practices, which are not well grounded in research, violate long-established principles of child development and good teaching. It is increasingly clear that they are compromising both children’s health and their long-term prospects for success in school. Play in early childhood and elementary education must be restored so that children can reach their full potential. Healthy play does not mean anything goes, but children need a balance of child-centered play and focused experimental learning guided by teachers.
The government, parents, and teachers are trying all they can to come up with a successful solution. They all give our children the best education possible, but there are many different ideas as to how this should be accomplished. There have been many debates on this topic. Many claim “grades are statistically the most reliable predictor of future academic success” (Penn). The problem with standardized testing is that it does not agree well with education.
It is known that standardized tests are not perfect indicators of knowledge for all students and can have a measurement error. Teachers using grades as a criterion for identifying underachievers based on the first description also ignores many problems found in both school curriculums and classrooms. For example, there are many assignments given in a class that do not accurately judge whether a student has mastered the assigned curriculum. Another issue with using classrooms grades as a guide for determining underachievement is that many gifted students will never be discovered if the underachievement begins at an early age in school. The second description above mentioning predicted achievement and actual achievement is a difficult definition to use, though it may be very accurate given enough data.