The role of education is mostly understood to be important in our society for the purpose of enhancement of individual life as well as advancement of the nation. With the current problem of the gross inequality in the public education system the power that emanates from learning is partially if not completely undermined. This power is purposed to help people have that ability to succeed intellectually, physically and emotionally and henceforth open an opportunity for them to contribute their resources to better their environment.
The issue of inequality in the public schools completely interferes with people's ability to work towards achievement of their goals despite of gender, race or social status. The hope that the United States had towards universal public education has already failed since not every child is given an equal chance of achieving his goal. Obviously, it will be difficult to find a solution to this problem if the gap between the rich and the poor continue to widen. Though it is true that there are varying levels of power and wealth in almost any society, the issue is so magnified in America. It seems that the promise given by the United State concerning provision of equal education to all is yet to be fulfilled.
Suggested solutions To provide equal education in America, fiscal resources should be made available in the poor neighborhoods as lack of them is the source of all problems experienced in the individual district schools. The government should ensure that there are efficient and well trained teachers, lab instruments, enough textbook and suitable building conditions. This is only possible if enough funds are released to such institutions. This fiscal inequality will change if at all there is positive change in the general attitude held by the society towards low-income class. To curb the overall ignorance posed to the problem at hnd, issues such as political power, racism and public indifference must first be addressed. If at all education in America serves the aim of instilling normative consensus, the public schools should be given the same set standards like other schools.
The testing programs imposed in the public schools only bring conflict between those who believe that the programs are the source of the problems and those who belief that the testing programs promote equal education. However, without the test programs it is almost impossible for a child to feel inspired and therefore this may cause the child to lead a less motivated life which would result to undermined self-worth. With this view, there should be no conflict towards the presence of testing programs in public schools. The government should do the American citizens a favor of taking responsibility and resolve the problem of inequality in education in the nation. Though it cannot be ignored that there are disparities among the people in every social system, it is the responsibility of each politician and each citizen to ensure that each single person is provided with a single chance that opens a means of success.Other school alternatives The charter school movement is gaining momentum and therefore would recommend them since they have improved schooling particularly for students in the low-income and low-performing school districts.
The advantage is that the schools provide quality education to the minority students who most of them are refugees and many are poor. Another advantage of the charter schools is that the parents who take their children there are so committed to their children's education and therefore this offer a big edge to the kids. It has been proven that most of the charter schools do excel and this is increasing the demand for the applicants who wants to join the schools. The main disadvanntage with the charter school is that they receive about 78% of the funding given to the traditional public schools. Since charter schools are privately owned, some have been closed down as a result of improprieties. Some have been found to have poor management of fees as well as high administration expenses.
The story of Steve Barr, who has opened 17 charter high schools that aim at parent involvement and high degree of teacher autonomy, really portrayed the significance of the charter schools. It is known that his charter school group is one of the largest in California in terms of enrolment and rated as the most successful (McGray 1). On these grounds, I can recommend a friend to a charter school as a viable alternative to traditional public schools As a matter of fact I would send my children to a charter school that only use video gaming as the foundation of its teaching and learning philosophy. This is because there is something in this games that transforms children into phenomenal learners. Besides, the idea has already been supported by such scholars as James Gee who strongly belief that video games form the basis of new kind of literacy.
Kids in such charter schools have been found to do well in arithmetic than those in other schools. When kids are exposed to complex dynamic systems, their opportunities to learn are increased. In such schools the kids learn how to communicate, how to apply data, how to solve problems along with prediction techniques (Chaplain 1). In addition the kids learn about system thinking which is believed to be the foundation of the 21st century literacy.The kind of charter school that would best fit my ideal model for equal and qualitative pre-K through 12th grade education is one that have well trained teachers, adequate resources, suitable building conditions and enough books.
This would mean that the focus would be in success.
