Sources:
https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html
https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/accountable/accountable.pdf
These two articles, “A Nation at Risk” (published in 1983)
and its follow-up article, “A National Accountable” (published in 2008) both
act as “calls to action” for improving the American education system as it has
drastically fallen behind those of competing countries in the past few
decades. America was once a leader
in world markets but is now performing well behind global counterparts, and
these articles identify our faltering education system as the root cause of
this predicament. Personally, I
agree that a quality education is the cornerstone to an individual’s success
and therefore the success of communities and a country as a whole, and I do
feel that we need to re-evaluate the standards and expectations to which
American students are held, but I do not necessarily agree with all of the ways
in which these articles suggest we make these changes. “A Nation Accountable” provides a list
of five different areas in which changes need to be made in order to reboot the
national education system, many of which are necessary in general, but when it
comes down to the fine-print, I believe that the government is placing too much
accountability on students and teachers alike—so much to the point that it is
doing more harm than good. For
example, the article speaks highly of the No Child Left Behind Act, assuming
that it has done only good and no wrong.
While I believe that every student should be held to high standards and
that a standards-based education system can provide teachers with a tangible framework
to help them determine the areas in which their students should succeed, I do
not agree with the high-stakes associated with standardized testing. I also do not believe that these tests
are enough to determine whether or not a teacher is “superior, average, or poor”
and if they should be “terminated” or not. This is what I believe, however: I believe in positive
student/teacher relationships in which the teacher provides each of his/her
students with the confidence that they are able to be successful, even under
the most challenging circumstances, and that there are many more effective and
accurate ways for students to demonstrate academic prowess besides through
standardized tests. The government
needs to support teachers and their students, and the best way to do this is to
provide teachers with plenty of resources and the freedom to attend to the
differing needs and learning styles of their students, without the unnecessary stress
that high-stakes testing evokes.
After all, it is the teachers that know best, and they are the ultimate
key to their students’ success and the future of this country.
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