A lack of knowledge, both civic and wide-ranging, is the most significant deficit in most American students’ education. For the most part our students and teachers are bright, committed, well-meaning and good-natured. Many students and teachers are working harder in school that their counterparts did a decade ago. Yet most students still lack basic information that high school and college teachers once took for granted. This lack of knowledge is even more important than most people realize.
There are a lot of different challenges which these families have to deal with, for example learning a new language or getting used to different food habits, and last but not least homesickness. Consequently, immigrants have to assimilate into the new nation and obviously, younger generations are more flexible to do so than older ones. An argument for this is illustrated by the varieties of speech; the first generation of immigrants learns the new language as a second one but keeps their mother tongue. The following generation is already bilingual and most of the times, the third generation has already forgotten its original mother
Some students who are labelled as not being intelligent will work really hard to ensure that they move up or achieve more than was expected of them. Labelling also creates competition, this works with setting and streaming as students constantly try to get into the next set up or maintain their place in their set as it is ‘not safe’. Finally, sociologists may disagree as they would say that there are many factors as to why a student may underachieve. They would say that there are other things that are more important including the home background of the child. If the child’s parents are not educated then it can be said that they may not understand the school system and may not support the school.
Also, some districts claim their primary concern is open enrollment programs lack ‘financial’ ability to offset costs associated with hiring additional teachers and staff members (Fowler, 1996). Clearly tax savings are not enough to justify continuance with open enrollment programs, which is evident by the six percent loss in the number of students grades 1–12 attending school in their own residential attendance from 1993 to 2003. Residential Zone Open Enrollment 80% 78% 76% grades 1-12 74% 72% 70% 1993
On top of all this, there are students placed into classes that they are not properly prepared. This takes away from the teachers ability to teach the core curriculum. Many of these students come from other countries with English being their second language. How can we expect those students to keep up with the pace if they don’t know English that well? In addition many students have disabilities.
There is usually bullying in schools, but something that not everyone knows is that there is also racism going on in schools everyday. There are students and teachers that are racist and that should not be acceptable. A very popular racist phrase is “go back where you came from” that phrase is disrespectful in so many ways. America is supposed to be the land of opportunities not the land to be bullied because of your race. Kids go to school to learn and be successful, but how can they achieve anything when they are constantly being bashed on.
Without an appropriate background, teachers can inadvertently isolate or alienate LEP students who need to feel like they are “part of the instructional setting” so a positive self-image is preserved (Carrasquillo & Rodriguez, 2001). Often, LEP students need special language programs which will supplement their learning needs fairly. Because of the rise of “immigrants and high fertility rates among linguistically and culturally diverse groups in the United States,” (Carrasquillo & Rodriguez, 2001) the number of students in need of special resources such as language development programs and better trained teachers is significant. Educators need to adapt teaching styles to fit the needs of these students because they are important of our country’s diverse
Culture that may affect development There are many reasons why different cultures development in children is not reached. Some cultures leave their home town and move to other countries due to been offered a brighter future or to escape persecution or war. To leave a home country and transaction to a new one can be stress full often due to the different language and set of customs can be stressful. They will be faced with a multitude of problems which can impact on the development of children : • Unemployment and underemployment • Poverty • Social exclusion, isolation • Racism, discrimination • Language and education challenges, such as waiting for English classes or the need to retain or recertify. • Challenges accessing services
In the U.S. today, retaining students in schools has been a big problem. Retention in school is defined as having the ability to prevent students from dropping out of school. According to Colin Powell in his article “Keeping America’s Promise,” “1.2 million students per year, nearly 7,000 students per school day, one student every 26 seconds drops out. These figures are disturbing because it seems young adults are unavailing about education, they rather enjoy their social life and have fun. For young people of color, the statistics are even more startling.” This problem is more prevalent and bleak among students of color.
The education system has become a monopolizing subject across the United States. So many questions have been raised about what is good to teach, and how those subjects should be taught. Many schools are the pressure of bettering their education system, but tend to find they are also dealing with the trials of having to drop certain subjects in order to focus more intently on the ones deemed most important. Unfortunately, in today's society, the fine arts programs of the school systems have been neglected and even underdeveloped. What many educator's may not realize is that a well-organized and well developed fine arts program can be the difference maker in a child’s learning ability and capability.