The public high school system is a faulty system that alone is responsible for the failing students who attend, this accusation is flawed in several ways. High schools have to deal with substance abuse, depression, and fights among some of its students which sometimes leads to students’ scores dropping and the blame further being placed on the high school system alone. This blame is wrongly placed given that, a clear majority of the problems causing performance in high schools to drop can be found in the grades leading up to high school. These lower grades which are meant to build a foundation for everything the kids will come to learn as they progress, are also responsible for failing to offer a quality education. High schools already have …show more content…
She explains that there are many people who want to issue reforms for the American public high school system because these next generations are the ones who will one day run the country and they need to be well prepared to so that. She gives a variety of reasons as to why the incoming high school students are usually ill-prepared academically and lack the motivation to strive for success during their high school careers. Of course, though, Ravitch concedes her argument by acknowledging some of the faults that the high schools themselves have and then goes on to state some of the ways that high schools are very beneficial to their students. Overall, she wants people to realize that while the high school system is not perfect it is not the only reason that all these kids are preforming so …show more content…
This practice of just promoting kids to higher grades when they truly are not prepared to move on is despicable, because it only hurts the student. Diane Ravitch in her article defines it as “social promotion – the endemic practice of moving students up to the next grade whether they have earned it or not—” (Paragraph 7). The kids that have been treated this way reach high school extremely ill- prepared and disadvantaged academically to their peers. This leads to students struggling and is one of the main reasons kid’s dropout of high school. These poor kids treated like packages on a conveyer belt are so far behind their peers that they truly struggle to keep up, and the teachers can only do so much to help them. It only becomes harder for the teachers if these kids do go to them and ask for help or special tutoring. High schools cannot be expected to have low drop out percentages if this is how the system feels towards
Most high school students can 't wait for their school year to be over because they feel exhausted by the seven long periods of classes and not to mention boredom. John Taylor Gatto, a former New York State Teacher of the Year wrote an article called "Against School." Gatto criticizes the school system for their inability to meet the students’ expectations and for putting limits on their ability to learn. The children feel neglected, and the teachers feel helpless because they have to work with students who are not interested in the materials they are given. Gatto mentions how US high schools have become affected by adapting to the Prussian education system. According to Gatto, the purpose of high school is to manipulate the student 's mind
The purpose of Rebecca Solnit’s “Abolish High School” is to criticize the present high school system along with the emotional and academic strain it puts on developing minds. Solnit’s intended audience is any educated person with the opportunity to voice their opinions on the current approach to schooling.
Social promotion has become a controversial topic, however, what is the definition of social promotion? Les Potter (1996) defines social promotion as “the advancement of a student to a higher grade level before the student has mastered the skills of the current grade level” (p. 268). It is similar to giving one an award simply for just participating. It also can be viewed as one teacher handing off their problems to another teacher. In addition, Potter (1996) points out that “social promotion was a failure because students arrived in higher grades under prepared for the instructional level and educators that received them were under prepared to teach them” (p. 268). The issue with social promotion is that it is not helpful for teachers because they are handed students that they may not understand how they can help, which hurts the promoted student since they cannot understand the new
In the text, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, author Diane Ravitch explores her ideological shift on school reform and the empirical evidence that caused this shift. Once a proponent and contributor of testing, accountability, choice, and market reforms, Ravitch’s support began to diminish as she realized that these current reforms were not viable options. She came to realize that the new school reforms focused entirely on structural and managerial adjustments and that no focus was given to actual learning.
How could holding back a student in a grade longer than average help them? Would not it just make them feel as if they were slower than others? Which could make them develop into something they're not.Academic Achievement of kids who are retained for advancing to the next grades poorer that, that of peers who are promoted. ( http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/health/659-repeating-a-grade.gs?page=all ) Deciding to hold back a student for not successfully completing their grade could result in many problems, such as : low self - esteem, hinderance in the child's development, and the child could become an issue.
We live in a society where we are surrounded by people telling us that school/education and being educated is the only way to succeed. However, the school system is not up to the standards we want it to uphold. There are three issues we discuss the most which are the government, the student, and the teacher. In John Taylor Gatto 's essay “Against School”, we see the inside perspective of the educational system from the view of a teacher. In “I Just Wanna Be Average”, an essay written by Mike Rose, we hear a student 's experience of being in a vocational class in the lower level class in the educational system when he was supposed to be in the higher class. Both Gatto and Rose give their opinions on how the educational system is falling apart. Today the government is only trying to get students to pass, making it hard for teachers to teach what they want. Students are affected everyday by the school system. They sit there - bored - and do not think that the teachers care, making the
Currently, many public high schools allow students to select their own classes and in turn, some students enroll in classes far below their intellectual ability. Major problems are down the road should students decide to go on to post-secondary schools. Students should be assessed when entering the 9th grade. Standardized tests should be given to help determine what course of study would be best for a particular student to pursue during their four year high school career.
An article from the Los Angeles Times showed that the majority of Californians give California schools “a grade of C or below” and half think that the quality of schools will continue to decline (Watanabe). While the economic downturn affected the public school system in a negative way, it was not the sole root of its problems. It just simply exacerbated existing issues. Because of widespread discontent with the public school system, many different solutions to reform the mainstream public school system have been brought up in public discourse.... ...
The Consequences of Grade Inflation When students arrive at university, professors expect them to understand the material to an exceptional standard. The problem is that grade inflation is occurring more regularly in secondary schools and universities across the country and when these students’ marks are sent to universities or colleges, the student may be given multiple scholarships for something that he/she should not have earned. Grade inflation is conceived between both students and teachers, meaning that the students are given higher grades when they have inadequate learning, reading, and verbal skills, while the teachers do not have to grade as many papers as they should in the real curriculum. There have been multiple examinations that have confirmed that grade inflation is very real and still occurs today. Students seem to think that they do not need to put forth much effort in school to do well, and grade inflation encourages this thought.
High school and college dropout rates are at an all time high. Secondary school students are told throughout high school that if they don’t go to college then they will never be successful. Going to college doesn’t always make a difference because many career choices such as teachers and lawyers are highly contested and result in either no job or low salary. Low pay deters teacher’s motivation and they tend to work part time jobs to supplement their income. Public schools standards are comparable to a kangaroo court’s procedure; private schools are known for better teachers, environment, and test grades. The major problems in the public school system include the lack of funding, lack of resources, and lack of standards.
Teachers will neglect students that need the most help to help those who need a slight shove. This is known as “educational triage” (Booher-Jennings 231). Those on the threshold of passing the state mandated tests are significantly more likely to receive help from instructors than those that are significantly lower than their peers (233). This is to make the district look better as these children are far more likely to pass the test with the extra assistance. This still leaves the ones who were left behind essentially out to dry. If anything, it should be the opposite. The ones who are at the lowest levels should be receiving the most assistance on standardized test preparation.
This means that even students who do not understand the material or gain any knowledge from their classes can be easily passed onto the next grade level. An interview with a teacher from this school district expresses the disappointment the teachers have in the new system. “The students that struggle the entire year, the ones that fail every test, are still forced to move to the next grade level. They aren’t gaining the knowledge they need to move on and grow” states the concerned fifth grade elementary teacher. She continues to explain the stress teachers feel when they are pushing students further than their potential. Students are becoming less aware of the world around them; they don’t develop the knowledge they need to succeed. With such absence of knowledge, naïve citizens are allowing government control over their thoughts. A clear example of this is when teachers are pushing these students from grade to grade, they are simply only learning what the government and school districts want them to learn. This, in turn, affects our future leaders due to our democratic republican way of electing officials. These students grow up into adults who vote for our government and leaders based off the little knowledge they are provided throughout
Giving students a grade that they have not earned hinders the youth’s future educational success. A number of schools are no longer giving a grade of zero on assignments, tests, and exams completed by students. While other school districts continue to give students the grade that is adequate for the work they have done or have not completed. Giving students the grade that equals their work is designed to show students where they need to improve. Many school boards want to stop giving out zeros for work that hasn’t been turned in and give a grade that rages around the “D” area keeping children from falling behind in their classes. By allowing student to pass through the school system the educational board is raising their graduation and success
Since it is not an easy decision to make the child’s parents, school instructors and counselors are all involved in the process. Conversely, there is also social promotion. Social promotion is the practice of moving a child ahead a grade even if they aren’t necessarily ready to be advanced to the next grade, the thought process their being that they will have time to catch up with the other students. Both of these practices are flawed in different ways, but what seems to be more detrimental to the student is grade retention. Jimerson (2001b) is quoted as saying that “grade retention suggests that it is not likely to be effective in remediating academic failure and/or behavioral
We are told the children of today are the future, and we should put more value on education, but some children are demotivated and some are motivated in our education system. Some popular assumptions on why some students succeed are they are intelligent hard-working students. The popular assumptions why some students do not succeed are they are at risk by a culture of inherent violent. All students should have the same resources, and the same treatments.