Challenges Faced by the American Education System
In 2001, the Bush-administration came out with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), with the aim to lift the education standards in America based on the reports that Hispanics, African-Americans and Latin American students form of a major proportion of college drop-outs. This Act focused on continuous testing to increase accountability. However, results from the last ten years have shown that scores have considerably dropped in maths and science, leading to outcries of withdrawal of NCLB. Loopholes in education policy is not only impacting the future of millions of students, but it is also creating a dearth of individuals who can contribute in the development of nation.
Teachers are often made the scapegoats for the problems in American education. There have been calls to restructure the teachers’ union so that individuals who are unqualified for the job can be removed and replaced by more qualified ones. The reality on the ground is that the job of teachers is much more difficult than what it seems. Difficult work assignments, long working hours, work pressure and above all, reality shock are some of the challenges teachers face on an everyday basis. It is not surprising then this field has seen an attrition rate of around 50% in the past decade, causing losses worth $7 billion annually. A high attrition rate like this not only puts a burden on the already stretched education budget, but it also deprives students from gaining quality education.
Bureaucratic and political interference has also made matters worse for the American education system. Instead of striving to achieve a consensus, the bureaucratic attitude towards the reform in education is marked by indecision and complexity. One example of this is the way religion has been tabooed in schools. Instead of having a healthy and progressive debate on the way ‘religion’ as a subject should be put across, politicians of the day are busy in filing lawsuits against each other to determine its status in schools.
Parents have an important role to play in the development and education of a child. Students whose parents actively participate in their child’s education are more likely to complete their school education. Parents may cite reasons such as lack of communication and time, but they have to understand that it is a serious issue and needs their consideration. Without the support of parents, students are vulnerable and can be easily bogged down. It is important, therefore, that parents, apart from assuming a monitory role, also act as guide to their children.
Gun-culture, alcohol consumption and drug-abuse are some other challenges that the education system faces, but these essentially are societal issues and changes to education policy may or may not deter these. It, however, does not mean that these issues can be undermined; in fact efforts should be made by all of us to identify the situations that lead to all these problems. Instead of passing the buck, all of us can act more responsibly and strive to make amends to our education system. We hope that this brief information on problems in American education will help you in knowing the challenges that lay before all of us.