What is happening to public education in America?
By nmariean
@nmariean (19)
United States
February 14, 2013 5:50pm CST
It is a question I have been asking myself more and more lately. I have been a teacher for 13 years and although things do come and go, I am finding that recently, things have gone downhill. There is more pressure on teachers to teach their students without regard for student's backgrounds, home life, or prior educational experiences. With that added pressure, the teachers then have to put pressure on their students, which stresses out the students and hence, they do not well because of increased behavior issues and anxiety. I sometimes wish I could just teach my students without worrying that their scores on state tests will affect my rating and render me an ineffective teacher, no matter how much time and effort I have put into teaching everything they need to learn. There is constant talk in politics and law makers stating that the U.S. lags behind other countries in the world and that our students are not ready for college. I think they will never be ready if we keep treating students and teachers like they are machines and need to perform a certain way and burning out both the teachers and the students.
2 people like this
2 responses
@dandan07 (1906)
• China
15 Feb 13
Present time, young people have more choices and more pressure. Some of them can get power from the pressure and choose the suitable choice for them, while most of them will bring down by the pressure or mislead themselves in choosing things.
Here in China, even the pupil students have to study for more than 12 hours a day. I do not know how much they can get from such a hard work.
I now own a job as a college teacher, I think I have to let my students get the skills which they will use in the future, while the reality is I have to finish 2 books in 36 hours, which means I do not have time to talk with my students in class, just teaching books requires all of the class time.
@nmariean (19)
• United States
16 Feb 13
Yes, I am dealing with similar issues. Here in the US, in my state, We are teaching constantly. I suppose that is the purpose of education. But it is really sad when I am so busy teaching that I hardly get to know my students, about themselves, their home life, their interests. Perhaps if I actually got a chance to get to know them, I could better gear my instruction to catch their interests and make them more curious, interested and eager to learn.
