The only requirement is that the money is spent as prescribed. What is needed instead is a system that is evaluated based on meaningful outputs - specifically the percentage of graduates who achieve required levels of personal qualities (e.g., responsibility, integrity, and work ethic), communication skills (written and oral), citizenship skills (an understanding and appreciation of our country’s history and founding principles), global skills (an understanding of language and culture), and reading comprehension, math, science, and technology skills.įurthermore, in the current system, the effectiveness of the money spent is not typically measured. Instead, it is merely based on attending classes for a school year and exiting with a passing grade. But that is not a measurement of learning. Today’s education system is evaluated based on inputs, not outputs - primarily the accumulation of credits based on course completion. Given instruction time tailored to each student’s needs in order to learn the required skills and knowledge and advance at the individual’s own pace, the results would be much improved. In a learning focused approach, as opposed to the current teaching focused approach, individual students could progress at a pace that matched their demonstrated learning. Individual learning must be the focus - the one-size-fits-all factory model approach needs to be scrapped. Yet students today are pushed through the system regardless of whether they are actually learning. And too often, they will learn not much of it at all.
Consequently, in any given classroom, students will learn the material in different ways and at different speeds. Even sleep patterns the night before class are different. In a classroom of 25 students, there will be 25 different personalities, interests, and levels of learning readiness for the various subjects. Twenty-five or more students are placed in the same classroom, taught the same curriculum in the same way for the same length of time, and the system expects the same outcome. The present education system does not take those differences into consideration. Individually Focused, Not Group FocusedĪny parent with two children knows how completely different children can be, even those sharing the same biological parents and being raised in the same environment. For change to occur, the power unions wield in our education system must be constrained, and a new system that focuses on the needs of students must be established. As a consequence, they focus solely on the needs of adults. Unfortunately, this mission statement has nothing to do with the education of children. Our teacher unions do a fantastic job of achieving this mission. A union’s mission is to improve member compensation, enhance member working conditions, and protect member employment. Unions may not be the sole cause of the obsolete system, but they are the major constraint to fixing it. Donald Nielsen Student Focused, Not Adult Focused If we want to effectively educate all of our children, a new education system is needed - not a tweak of the existing system and certainly not more money.Ī new education system is needed, based on students rather than adults, individuals rather than groups, learning rather than teaching, outputs rather than inputs, and achievement rather than time. Instead, they only drive-up costs to taxpayers. None of these initiatives has made any significant positive difference. For example, “Goals 2000,” “No Child Left Behind,” “Common Core,” etc. Yet, perhaps our most important public institution has not only been allowed to fail miserably but has consistently received increased funding to do so without any accountability.Įvery few years, a new program is introduced that will supposedly improve our schools. No entity - private or public - should survive with this lack of performance. The reality is that 77% of high school seniors are not proficient in the core subjects after 13 years of schooling. That fact is revealed by the recent National Assessment of Educational Progress exam scores. The American public education system is failing our children. Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flipboard Print arroba Email The Bottom LineĪ New K-12 System Donald Nielsen JanuEducation Reform Originally published at American Thinker
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