Monday, March 14, 2011

American Government 3/14/11

In Class - WHIPS (2nd period - we will do all of the WHIPS for the week on Thursday).  Begin watching documentary "Waiting for Superman."  Take some notes (if you want) about some observations from the documentary.

Homework - Update your blog.  Class discussion on Wednesday.  QOW due by Friday by 11:59 pm.

QOW - Click on the title of the post (American Government 3/14/11) to access the article "A Call to Action for Public Schools."  The article talks about the documentary "Waiting for Superman."  After reading this article and watching the documentary in class, answer the following questions:  Why, in your opinion, is reforming public education a difficult task in this country?  Secondly, explain the culture of education today.  In your opinion, how do you view our educational system (as a whole)?  What outside factors may influence for the better or worse student achievement in school?  Finally, what can you, as a high school senior do to influence change in our educational system? 

Give some thought to this and make sure you produce quality work.  You need to include an MLA citation with a minimum of three sources.  This is due by Friday, March 18 by 11:59 pm.

43 comments:

*Sparkles* said...

Reforming public education is so hard in this country because of the teachers’ unions. We need to change public education by removing the teachers who aren’t teaching well, but we can’t do that because unionized teachers are protected. It also takes 23 steps to fire a teacher and these steps need to be completed by January otherwise you have to start all over again. When teachers receive tenure they are basically protected from being fired their whole career. Our culture of education is far different then what it was in previous generations. We are now expected to know things in high school (especially in math), that our parents didn’t learn until college level. For example, I took Geometry in 8th grade and my mom didn’t take it until she was a senior in high school. This generation also seems to slack off more than their parents and other generations before that. We are not as motivated and don’t see education as important as they did. To them, education was a privilege, now it feels like a requirement, which makes it boring for students our age. I feel that our education system is horrible. We don’t have teachers who truly teach. I know that I haven’t had a good English teacher my whole high school career. I am a good student and I know that it is the teachers that make me not do as well on standardized test. In my 10th grade World History class, I learned NOTHING. When the big tests came around, I scored at a Basic level, but in my U.S. History class, my teacher was amazing. I have never learned so much about history in my life. When the test came around, I scored Above Average. I think schools need to not be unionized and let principals pick which teachers are allowed in their schools. Parents are a big influence to how students do in school. Sometimes if the parents don’t care about education, neither do the students. Television can also affect student’s achievement by making life far better than it really is. It doesn’t show the reality of what can happen if you don’t take education seriously. Money can also be a big factor in the way students do in school. In poor houses, the students might not care because they were never successful before, but on the other hand, they might try to do better in school so that they can get out of the poor living. As a high school senior, it is often times hard to influence the education system because we don’t have a voice. The unions take over all that power. If I could change the educational system, I would petition to fire some of the teachers who don’t do their job. I would also try to get students to become more involved in the schools and make school enjoyable. We can also have a student survey on each and every teacher. I would have the parents come into the school and see what it is like to be a high school senior.

Jamie Tyson
Period 1

*Sparkles* said...

Ripley, Amanda. “Waiting for ‘Superman:’ A Call to Action for Our Schools.” Time Inc. CNN. September 23, 2010. March 15, 2011.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019663_2020590_2020592-1,00.html

“Watering Down Teacher Evalutations.” Teacher Union Exposed. 2011. March 15, 2011.
http://teachersunionexposed.com/teacherevaluations.cfm

Elliott, Margaret. “Student Behavior and Expectations.” Foothill Middle School. Mt. Diablo Unified School District. 2011. March 15, 2011.
http://www.mdusd.k12.ca.us/foothill/yellowstuff/studnetexpectations.htm

“No Child Left Behind Act.” New York Times. March 10, 2011. March 15, 2011.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/no_child_left_behind_act/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier

MiinaRobledo said...

Reforming public education in this country is very hard. Our education system sucks. We need to get rid of all of those "bad" teachers. you know, the ones that gave up on trying to control the classroom, sit at their desk reading the newspaper, not noticing kids doing drugs in the back of the classroom. I know this because I've experienced it. My sophomore and junior year in high school in the city of Santa Ana. adolescents in my 7th period both years, would smoke weed INSIDE the classrooms, and teachers wouldn't do much about it. They wouldn't know where it came from. security guards accepting drugs from students for permission to ditch and go off campus. I've seen VERY BAD TEACHERS but I've also seem many good teachers. Kids these days don't take their education serious. They don't realize how important it really is until its too late. "not having enough credits to graduate". Education is a privilege and that privilege should not be abused. Teachers, well some, don't spend much time teaching. I believe teachers in poor neighborhoods should be the best performing ones that can change a student. to get them out of poverty and show them what they could have in life.

Ripley, Amanda. “Waiting for ‘Superman:’ A Call to Action for Our Schools.” Time Inc. CNN. September 23, 2010. March 15, 2011.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019663_2020590_2020592-1,00.html


“No Child Left Behind Act.” New York Times. March 10, 2011. March 15, 2011.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/no_child_left_behind_act/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier


Education
02 February 2011
http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/education/Can-America-Win-the-Education-Race-115134669.html

Cecily said...

Reforming public education is hard for this country to do, because there are many things we would have to fix and multiple problems we would have to solve in order to make change. I think that the educational system is fine the way it is, becuase no matter what we change about the system there will always be problems. It is up to the individual person to decide if they make the educational system useful to them are not. It is also hard to make change, because there are too many people that the system has to satisfy and it is difficult to get that many people to agree on one thing. Also the culture of today has changed over the past years. Education is taken for granted and is no longer the first priority in a students life. The average young person values having fun more than anything else. Most spend more time relaxing and doing things they enjoy with friends rather than studying. This has influenced younger generations as a whole to become lazy and impatient. Parents have a big influence on their children, but friends also impact a young persons life just as much. The only thing I think I can do is to get the most out of the educational system that I can to show that if you wanted to you could accomplish whatever you want to do in life with the existing educational system even with all the flaws in the system. -Cecily Lorica

alexander123 said...

i truely belive that in order to chage the education system and the way it is ran. you need to first do what every body is afraid to do attack the teachers union there ways are wrong unfair and very unjust.we as a peaple need to make a stand once and for all and show the teachers union that there ways will no longer be tolerated any longer. all they care about is getting there ten year plan which they dont even diserve. if any thing they diserve to be fired for being such bad teachers. but i forgot in order to do that they need to go threw about fifty years worth of papper work just to do that even if the teacher malested a student and to me that is wrong. do we realy need to wait until some thing worse happens just to fire a teacher. my views are simple if you want your ten year earn it and the teachers union should be reformed or completil emobilized.

JeSsIcA* R said...

I don't think we know were to start to make our education bettter, and thats's why it's so difficult. The teachers, tenure, students, these are only a few problems that need solutions. I also think people have just stopped careing, eithier that or they're lazy and they don't feel they need to help reform education.Nowdays all kids seem to do is memorize their lessons unitl the test arrives,and after we take that test we forget and thats what we've learned to do. We don't really bother to actually LEARN; because we feel we won't need the lessons later in life. I see my education system as something that can be made better, if people would only care and pay attention. If we just fixed certain things, like the teachers who do a bad job, it would really make a difference. All we need is one good change to get the ball rolling.I believe if we start with trying to change the tenure system bad teachers wouldn't be teaching our schools and the kids could actually learn.Outside factors that can influence us is they type of people we associate with.Whether they are good or bad, they will shape us.As a senior I can start by influencing my little brother, it's not something huge, but it's a step. I can influeces him to do his best and take advantage of his education. If I set a good example he will follow, and it's kind of like a chain.

Cite:
-Jay Hancock. "Why Should Teachers get Tenure?". The Baltimore Sun. 22 Jan. 2010
Jay Hancocks Blog.Balitmoresun.com. 16 March 2010

-

TheStarBabyy said...

After geting more educated on education all i have to say is that it aint working. Yes We use to be one of the most educated Super Power but thoughs days are there and goone! But Teacher unions are in the way of that being changed. They dont wanna accept the fact that the methods that we use to use isnt working anymore. Teachers re just taking advantage of tenure and arent being the teachers that they owe to us students and to our country. This also comes from life expirence. "I get paid wether you learn or not" were the words i hear. We all need to just see outside out boarders and see how much the world has changed this aint a factory and simple job world this is the world where you need more thata high school diploma to atleast get a good paying job the bare minimum will not do anymore. Well for me as a student i believe that our officals and our teacher unions should hear our voice and hear what we have to say not what they think they know or how good they think they are we need to speak out and let everyone know we need change cause we are going no where and fast!

http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml

http://teachun.org/

Allan Baray
Period 1

Syqlizard said...

Reforming the public education in America will be a difficut task. The main obstactles are the teacher union and the tenure they can receive after three years of experience. The teachers that receieve tenure should be the ones who actually enjoy their job, the ones who care for the students and want to support and motivate them. Teachers that don't are just a waste of a child's education and make it seem like assembly line learning meaning the students only learn just enough of a subject to pass with a decent grade or so. If teachers were to be evaluated in the future, they ones who evaluate should be the students. If a teacher knows he or she is going to be evaluated, they will act different, trying to be normal for a change just to please the officials and the school. It would be best for the students to conduct it because it catches the teacher off-guard. It would be either that or set a camera in the room without the teacher's knowledge of its presence. Another thing is to have the parents of the students to be more involved in their child's education. The trend is that parents are gradually decreasing their involvement such as not attending parent-teacher conferences, voluntaree activities and the sorts. If a parent could be consistent with his or her interactions with their child's education then maybe the student could be better motivated. One factor is distractions from life interfering with a child's attention in class. I honestly feel more motivated around a structured environment like school yet the complete opposite at home. Video games is one of the main distractions to a child, even myself. I believe there should be a bit of intervention between a parent and child about how much time is spent being non-productive.

"House Takes Up Teacher Merit Pay Bill « CBS Miami." CBS Miami - News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and Miami's Best. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. .

"Kid Tips: Parental Involvement in a Child's Education - San Jose Mercury News." Home - San Jose Mercury News. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. .

"Teacher: Schools Are Not Businesses - Oak Ridge, TN - The Oak Ridger." Home - Oak Ridge, TN - The Oak Ridger. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. .

Erik Ramirez
Period 2

JuanMontes said...

The documentary “Waiting for superman” was a real eye opener from people having to rely on lotteries for their children’s future to having to pay more money for their kids to get a better education. In this country it is going to be harder to get our education system back in order because we are all use to doing what we want to do and not taking no for an answer. So people are naturally going to fight for what they believe will be better. For example the teacher union not firing a teacher that they know is a bad teacher or that has sexual touched a student. Those two things shouldn’t be put up with and should be taken care of as soon as possible. Also the culture now in days isn’t really helping out your education either. We as students tend to do our stuff like going out, hanging out with friends instead of school things first. Not like in the old days that kids couldn’t go out until they finished all their homework also I believe that most parents don’t care anymore about their children’s future or education. The parents that do care you can automatically see it that they do care within the student’s behavior and be the student’s grade. That he or she is pushing their children forward and them to do well in school. Finally the things us seniors can do to improve our education system is getting involved more by talking to freshman that are barely coming to high school to stay in school and to just do good not to just be one of those student that so the bare minimum to go pass the call of duty and shine out from the rest of their classmates.

Thursday, Amanda Ripley. "Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

Gill, Sam. "Charter Schools Are the Justin Bieber of Education Reform--A Fad..." Christian Science Monitor. 18 Feb 2011: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 18 Mar 2011.

Whitmire, Richard. "On Education Reform, 'Safe' Has Gotten Us Nowhere." USA TODAY. 26 Jan 2011: A.9. SIRS Researcher. Web. 18 Mar 2011.

Zee :] said...

It is really important to have public schools because people that are not wealthy or don't have the money will be able to go to school and will not have to pay for their education.Unlike college you have to be a citizen to get financial aid.The education culture today isn't that strict, now in days your opinion is up to you of going to school or not and some people don't take advantage of how other people would if they had the chance. I think its very poor, now in days the district think it's all about the money when it's really not. Teachers can teach thousands of students without all the money,yeah the money is important for books and papers. I think students will achieve more if the teachers are more interactive with their students, like some kids go to school because they have to but if the teachers make it fun they will want to go to school. Something i would do for the education system to do is to protest against teachers complaining about the money, back in the days it wasn't about money it was about students and teachers being interactive and using the material that they had in front of them. But again who would listen to a high school student.I personally think students cant't do anything, because it's the district's choice to do what they want or "what they think is better."
period 1

Vvsince93' said...

Reforming education in the U.S is indeed a difficult task to act upon. It is harsh because there are many circumstances that affect the reason our education system is doing so poorly. I think the first thing that would need to be changed in our education system’s would be the unionized school‘s and the laws that they portray: Tenure. Tenure is a strategy that analyzes teachers for about 3 years and if they show potential that they’re able to teach well, they successfully are ensured their career for life. And if anyone who tries to fire a “bad teacher” then they have to go through a long process. And I think teachers are just taking advantage of this tenure plan. With the experience that I’ve had, I would have to say that I’ve had some very beneficial teacher’s while others were just unbelievably bad. The good teachers that I had would explain things well and would answer all my questions and sometimes would tutor after school .However,the bad teachers that I had where just mindless, they had no control over their classrooms, they gave tips onto how to do drugs, let students do drugs in the classrooms, or would just unmotivate students and tell them they’re never going to serve a positive purpose in life. But the point that I’m trying to reveal is that the bad teachers that I had where never fired because they were under tenure , and they honestly took advantage of this plan. I do not know what purpose this law provides, it’s just enormously benefiting bad teachers instead of the good ones. Unions should just focus on doing what’s best for students, instead of worrying over teachers. Don’t get me wrong I do think teachers are important for education since they are the link to educating, but all I am saying is that elegant teachers should replace redundant and useless teachers. Another thing that should be eliminated is ” rubber rooms” which are now called "Temporary Reassignment Centers, where they receive a full salary but do not work while they wait for the Department of Education or a hearing officer to decide their fate.” I just think that education could’ve used the salary of those teachers who are in the rubber room, if anything, teachers who are sent their should lose the ability to get paid. And also , education shouldn’t be the first to perform budget cuts when it comes to an economic crises. I think money should remain mutual to try to get students the best education there is so they can build a better future . Not only do unions stand in the way to reform education, but also, students themselves. They live by a weak mentality and usually follow the social culture. Many students do not have their dreams and aspiration s set straight, therefore end up ruining good opportunities for other students. I think that’s why the No Child Left Behind, was created in the first place. And what I mean by this is that students who don’t want to learn fell behind, and I

Vvsince93' said...

guess maybe this is what caused a reform on student’s performances. And now since this bill exists, schools tend to lower their standards to try to get students to pass. Since schools are lowering their standards, students aren’t really setting their minds to unreachable limits and this is why we’re so far behind in education. In conclusion student’s should just motivate themselves to want to learn. But maybe what limits them to want to learn is the fact that they believe they’re taking classes that are unrelated to the route they want to take. If I were to change anything in schools, it would be to change how schools set their system. I would try to make highschool more like college, so students could actually perform good, in what they’re interested in. If some students don’t know what path they want to take they should just take the general education that high school provides. If I were a teacher I would promote the use of technology in classrooms and also real life learning, such as taking field trips to make teaching more intriguing. The only thing that I would do write now is try to tell bad teachers that they’re honestly bad at teaching, but I wouldn’t just critique them I would probably give them advice on what they could do to improve their teachings. In conclusion I believe that if education was to be reformed, we would have to take minor steps to reach for the “big picure”.

Last Day of ‘RubberRooms’ for Teachers. JENNIFER MEDINA
The New York Times.June 28, 2010

-Vivi Rivas period 4

“Waiting for ‘Superman:’ A Call to Action for Our Schools.” Time Inc. CNN. September 23, 2010.


Reactions to Gov's Tenure Plan: He's "No Friend of Public Education"Glenrockpatch.Joseph M. Gerace.February 17, 2011

Anonymous said...

Jacb Munoz P1

Ryan Starke said...

Here in America everyone is looking for a change in something. But in reality we are all to lazy to make this change or to even accept this change. On top of this we are all stubborn in our own way. We all want it our way no matter what. It is really hard to change someone's view on something due to their stubbornness if we as Americans cant agree on something how are we going to change it. Unions In the educational system have way to much power. Now I am not saying we should get rid of union, but that we should get rid of tenure. Tenure allows teachers to get to a certain point and then just not care at all any more. With tenure a teacher could just slack off and not teach, knowing that it is nearly impossible for them to get fired. In my opinion tenure has got to go. Education in America Is, well its sad really. Kids go to school everyday and more than half of the freshman you start with will dropout. There is almost no motivation in any kids to learn. Yes there are few who have this key motivation to learn new things. In my opinion school Is almost like déjà vu in the way that it feels like we do the same repetitive things everyday. We also get a lot of teachers that don’t care enough about the students. The whole education system seems like a joke sometimes. People say that poor students do better because they live in crappy neighborhoods. But isn't that an excuse to help yourself to get away from the place you live in. There can always be things to put temporary stop to your learning, but nothing should ever completely stop you. You shouldn’t let anything like where you come from, or how poor you are get in the way of your education. As for me I don’t believe there is much I can do as a senior in high school to help reform education for the better. I can speak as loud and as much as I want but that doesn’t mean anyone is going to listen. The only thing I can think to do would be to motivate myself more and to and to help younger students to get motivated to learn.



Thursday, Amanda Ripley. "Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

"2009 DROPOUT DATA." Colorado Department of Education Home Page. 9 Feb. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

"Keeping Bad Teachers in Front of Students." Teachers Union Facts. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

Michael Nguyen said...

Many people find it hard to believe that student performance has been flat for four decades when we have more than tripled funding for schools and when we have put into place a number of reform measures. Those facts are clear, but the explanation is less clear.

The recent discussions in Congress, however, shed some light on this. The discussions of teacher layoffs have led Congressman Obey to try to find money to avert any dismissals of teachers. In order to be revenue neutral, however, he must come up with budgetary savings. Where does he look? Why, to reducing funds for Race to the Top, teacher incentives, and charter schools. In other words, a simple trade is proposed: sacrifice innovation and reform when there is a threat to maintaining the status quo of current hiring.

Students nowadays doesn't really care about school much and that is because they don't have anyone to push them to do so. I think the school can improve by rewarding students with awards or put a little comedy in class would definitely make students want to learn. We seniors should step up and show the rest that school is important by showing up everyday.

"Why is Reform so Hard" Eric A. Hanushek 07/01/2010
http://educationnext.org

http://www.wpbf.com

http://webscript.princeton.edu

Juan Gamez said...

Reforming public education is an extremely difficult task, some can argue its the most challenging issue in America today. There are so many people to try and please and it seems just too difficult. You are trying to please the future of America, but there are many issues that make reforming education too insurmountable. Issues may vary, including where you live and what school you are forced to attend, once attending, perhaps you know you are not getting the best education available for you, but you just simply cant do much. People argue its all about the money, while others say its not, for example a school in Kansas wasted money on athletics, than in actual school classrooms. People argue well get rid of the bad teachers can help students improve, then you will need to use "money" to hire more,which defies the argument that money isn't the issue. Teacher unions are to powerful in this country and that is holding reform back because the bad teachers rely on there tenure and the power of the union to help them out. Those teachers that simply might not feel interested to teach the students, which then leads to mediocre test scores all across the nation. Those teachers know they will not get fired and there have been cases where teachers have given answers to tests and have been caught not teaching at all, yet once they get attacked and threatened to be fired, they ask for support from unions and tenure. I think our educational culture today is easygoing and lazy. Students in our school just want to get through high school as easy as they can and not get challenged. Once they get challenged, the tend to get lazy and not do the work. A good example would be in English class, a lot of people there just want to talk and hang out and get through the class with a chill pace, but once they going gets tough they don't accomplish the work. Its a tough topic to try and fully analyze, me as a student and others just have to be motivated to accomplish work and tasks and to pass our classes because our ultimate requirement is to graduate high-school. Sure, it seems like all we do is focus on the negative aspects of education, failing schools, money, etc. There are good things going on out there, like kids advancing to the next grade, seniors graduating and good athletics. As a whole, its quite difficult to rate because of the good and bad, its not perfect but its not the worst, i think our education is a 6 out of 10. I think a huge factor to student performance is there parents. For those students who are failing, you might ask why are you falling? Why are not trying? What do your parents say?. What if public schools required an annual tuition? I believe if there was an annual tuition the parents of those kids that are failing would certainly be more involved and monitoring there kids academics. Thus, potentially increasing there performance. For those kids who are doing well in school, they already know what they must do to achieve good academic success, and their parents had a huge influence on them as they grew older and over the school years. Finally, i don't know what i could do to influence change in America because perhaps i wouldn't be taking into consideration, i could only focus on my individual education and motives and try to influence people that i know to try and do the same.

Thursday, Amanda Ripley. "Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

"Stupid in America." Top Documentary Films - Watch Free Documentaries Online. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

Do Schools Really Need More Money? [Mackinac Center]." Mackinac Center: Advancing Liberty and Prosperity. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

AZUCENA said...

Public education is a difficult task in this country because the students don't take advantage of their education.Money is being offered for every student but the students either don't pay attention or don't attend school.Also students are not the only problem but also some teachers which some don't even care if a student learns or not they just want to get paid.Some teachers don't want to socialize with their students and communicate with them at all just because of their bad attitude.It is also difficult because with all these issues depression is also involved in america, students get out of school because of personal problems and don't feel like learning or even being at school.Also students want to take the easier path were making money is easier and have an illegal job that will make them rich but even though learning takes time you'll become someone important that will be helping others and this country.Your not only helping others but also yourself in feeling great and loving your job.Back then teachers were capable of teaching anywhere home, outside, and students were more successful and would take the next step in their life and become someone important. Because the educational system had it handled then back then, then they had teachers and students on track but now it's like if the educational system lost control.back then every chance students or teachers had they would take advantage of everything they had and were proud of having those utilities.Some teachers also use to care about teaching right and making sure students understand and also sudents enjoyed learning.Now in days the culture of education is that, you see students getting in trouble everyday or hanging outside in the streets or even in jail.Now sudents and teachers are, "i say kind of inmature" because students don't have the capacity of wanting to learn or the excitement of being able to be a doctor, or lawyer, or whatever they would want to be.Students don't aprreciate their country and what it's offering,free education and freedom from being a delinquent.Our educational system is not that great because there are bad students and there are bad teachers. i think the bad goes with the bad and should be eliminated. Those problems should be solved by getting rid of those bad teachers and giving bad students more education so they can understand that education is important for their life and for their future. I think the educational system is not trying to make education better because it doesn't seem like it i mean yeah their are a FEW students that have good grades and get offered scholarships and everything like that but what about the other students? what about those students that don't learn, how are they going to move on and be successful?If nobody gives them support if nobody is confident in them if nobody believes in them, then their not going to be encouraged to want to learn.Outside factors that may influence bad or good students may be having better programs that help students to the next stage in their life.Other factors that can be useful are influencing teachers to teach right and make learning fun like try different activities such as using utilities. now in days technology can help students learn and understand.As a high school student i would include ideas to better our school here in the U.S. like useful programs and also try to convince teacher unions that some teachers aren't right for their job because it really does stand out.Some teachers don't even know what they are really teaching and i'll try to bring that out but at the same time i think that students don't have a voice i mean i don't think anybody will listen to a couple of high school seniors but if a lot were to gather then every wish will come true and make our educational system better.
Period 2

Baybee'G said...

There students that don't really focuse on learning they think it's just a game. They mess around instead of learning and all there attention are been taken by friends and parties. Now education is really much important to students and wants to graduate to by taking advantage of learning. Students have more ability now and wants to go to college and become someone important in life. Some teachers are actually trying to see the students to improve to their education. But some teachers just do it for the money and don't care about if the students are learning or not. The good the factors such as been around positive friends that wants the best for you to succeed in life. And the worst factor that way influced students in their achivement could be drugs, parties, and been around people who just peer pressure them into doing bad. The thing I can do for others students is to themm to be focus on their education. To not mess around there school year at all because it will be hard to progress in your achivements. They might not realize if they keep on messing around that the one been affected are them and their love ones.

"No Child Left Behind Act" New York Time, March 10,2011 March 15,2011

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subject

http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml

Jenifer Nava
per.4

MarkieMark said...

Making any kind of change in America is not an easy task. This education reform is especially difficult because when it comes to the way of doing things, we usually like to do things traditionally and in this case, it doesn't seem like it would work. And the things that are traditional, we have a hard time letting go of: teacher union contracts and tenure. Tenure is being abused by horrible teachers. With tenure gone, teachers that are inadequate will not be able to rely on an agreement for their job security but better they work harder to keep the job they are suppose to love. Even just as important as our teachers though is our students and parents. They need to have a better attitude towards education instead of the outlook today's culture has pressured it into. There will always be flaws in the system. When you make half of the people happy, the other half will be unhappy and vice versa. So my advice would be to eliminate tenure and maybe allow children and their families to chose the public school they want to go to while applying merit pay to the equation. This way, teachers will have to almost compete for the students to attend their school because they want to be paid well and thus creating a number of teachers that will start to better their teachings and attitude towards education of our future

-Mark Arnold
Period 4

Thursday, Amanda Ripley. "Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

"Editorial | Time for Positive Reinforcement in Education Reform." Tufts Daily. 15 Mar. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

Kristof, Nicholas D. "Pay Teachers More." NYTimes.com. The New York Times Company, 12 Mar. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

Arevik Martirosyan said...

In my opinion, it seems as if reforming public education in America is like an impossible dream. We have experienced so many attempts to reform it, with the expense of billions of dollars and so little results. We all have great ideas, but we don’t know where to begin. After watching “Waiting for Superman,” we get the opportunity to see how screwed up our education system is. One of the main issues that stands in the way of change are bad teachers and teacher unions. We don’t have good enough teachers that cater in our urban schools. Some teachers don’t seem to care about educating their students and can’t manage classrooms. They are only concerned about getting paid and this is why I believe tenure should be removed. Teacher tenure is not in the best interests of students. It makes eliminating bad teachers nearly impossible and discourages good ones. Furthermore, bad teachers lead to bad test scores, which can increase drop out rates because there is a lack of motivation there. Parents are another problem that need to be addressed. Besides teachers, parents are key factors that can influence better achievement in school. Motivation begins at home. Parents are a child’s first teacher and can instill values that encourage learning. They can motivate students to learn to a greater extent than teachers, since a student spends more time with their parents. On another note, I believe our education system isn’t hard enough, yet our standardized test scores are so low compared to other eastern nations. Finally, as a high school senior, I can encourage other students to take advantage of their education, be more involved in school, and try to find a way to make learning enjoyable, even with bad teachers. I could also voice my opinion to other administrators on campus about some of these issues because it only takes on person to make a difference.


"Big Ideas for Better Schools: Ten Ways to Improve Education | Edutopia." K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies That Work | Edutopia. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. .

"Teachers' Union Leading School Reform? Impossible! - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher." Education Week: Blogs. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

Thursday, Amanda Ripley. "Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

Thursday, Andréa Ford. "If You're a Recent High School Graduate - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

Kyle Vargas said...

Some outside factors that may contribute to the student/teacher educational system such as parent involvement, problems at home, loss of interest, etc. Many things can help prevent this era of students from failure. From my point of view, I think its just the fact that people are either giving up or yet, just don’t even car anymore. There are kids out there who want to learn. There are people who can do better. We just have to find them. As for tenure, Teachers who have the best results should receive it. If a teacher is not doing so well, why keep them? Teaching should be a competition for the best education. In that sense, educators would make the class involvement fun and more educational. We as students get out from what we make of education. Why do it wrong and fail? Sometimes its not our fault. It’s the system. Reason being, lets say im failing a class, I bring that grade to a D, Should I pass, or should I fail? The government says I passed. Did I really? No. A C is passing. People should not have the opportunity to walk if they do not have a C average.

kauluwehi93 said...

To change the education system I believe that we, as students should speak up. We should attend the board meetings and the other meetings (if we can) and let our voice be heard. We should let them know what we like don't like, what we want and don't want, and what should be handled in the classroom. None of this will change unless our voices are heard. But then again these school officials will just act as if they are really listening, but really its going through one ear and out the other. In my opinion, our education system sucks butt!!!!! There are a lot of teachers our there that have a teachers license for FREE! I believe those teachers should be FIRED! The heck with the tenures. That should be put out as well. In my opinion school officials should wake up and realize that our education system is messing up not only because of the students but also because of the teachers. Students tend to slack off and not pay attention yes, but that shouldn't give the teachers a reason to also do the same. As a senior one thing that I can say to really change our education system is taking away all the negative presprectives from school. Meaning, not matter what about tenure's, it should be taken away. Fire the teachers that needs to be fired. Bring the students all together and make them interested in what you the teacher is going to teach to them. The more exciting and more interesting the subject is the more students you will get to pay attention. The less interesting you teach the less students you will get to pay attention. So what im saying is that both students and teachers should play a role that way our educational system would be much better.

-Takaua Tupou.
Period-1

jhorowitz1 said...

For starters, the reason of difficulty for reforming education is this: change, no matter how great, no matter how big or small is always going to be difficult. The education process we have now has been in effect for quite some time now. Yes the NCLB is a bit newer, but that is just an addition to what we already have. When someone speaks of reforming the entire Education process, they are not talking about some little fix, they mean to change up many aspects of it.
Our culture, refer to the top, and you have a pretty broad idea, but for some help: Our education culture, although possibly more valued now than before, is still nothing to be proud about. We are letting kids who have a D-average walk during graduation. A D is basically doing nothing. look at China, education is valued there. Compare China to us, and you'll understand.
What we can do is educate ourselves. That's all we can do at the moment, educate ourselves now and then educate the next generation while making it known that school is important.



Ripley, Amanda. “Waiting for ‘Superman:’ A Call to Action for Our Schools.” Time Inc. CNN. September 23, 2010. March 18, 2011.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019663_2020590_2020592-1,00.html

Vaidyanathan, Rajini. "Does it pay to be a student in the US?" BBC News, Washington. 24 November 2010. 18 March 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11832373

margarita said...

Well in my opinion I think reforming public education is going to be tough it’s not a easy fix were talking about reforming the whole thing in my opinion I don’t think it well will happen any time soon. The culture today on education is not great and I know it could be better. I think that schools should be stricter because right now there being too easy on us and I think that’s why we don’t really care about school and get away things. Kids now a day’s don’t really care about school because there too caught up on just hanging out with friends, partying, and doing drug just simply because it makes them feel better. My view on the educational system is that’s not good. There so focused on getting money, saying that they need it for this or that when in reality they don’t need that. And if they do get the money they don’t spend it on the right things that we need. America is so focused on always trying to beat other countries when in reality were so far behind especially on education. When we were watching stupid in America kids and teachers that were being interviewed said that they pity for us, and it showed that they were way ahead of us. I think that teachers should all have fun different ways of educating us and should care if we’re learning or not. Not only does it make the student look bad that at least trying but it can also affect the teacher. We as seniors can’t really do anything to change the educational system, but we can encourage the next generation to do way better than us.

“No Child Left Behind Act.” New York Times. March 10, 2011. March 15, 2011.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/no_child_left_behind_act
/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier

Thursday, Amanda Ripley. "Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

♥Grittilz♥ said...

well after seeing stupid in america, waiting for superman,and after reading the article it made me think about our educational sytem. i really do believe that we need to improve in how the education works and how can we change for the better. i wonder are we really gunna let teachers sit in a building doing nothing and still get paid for not doin nothing. well if so sign me up because thats a dream job to be a failure and get paid for it.b now really we have to start rewarding the good teachers and stop making excuses for the bad ones, as president obama said in the state of the union. i agree fully with him but i want to see change not just talk because i think may be one day i will have kids of my own and not only for there future but for other generations i want whats best.we are putting our countrys success on the line because we still follow the same system that was build years ago, we need to update and change as time changs because if we dont we are only hurting ourselfes. in the documentary waiting for superman the democrate who said he cried when he was told that superman wasnt real, but he cryed because there wasnt anyone with enough power to come save us. in a way this is true can we change and is ther anybody with enough power to save us from failure?? i know that most high school students are not prepared to go to college because by doing the bare minumum you can graduate. i also dont agree with tenure because its not fair you cant fair a bad teacher and if you really want to there are alot of steps involved to fire them but why? "i dont need the unions to protect me i need the unions to protect my students" this really made me think the good teachers want whats best for there student but the bad ones need to be protected and it really is affecting the students and im not saying its completely the teachers fault because its not. the parents also play a big part in a students life they need to step up and push us to achieve the best even the impossible. well all in all ther are still alot of issues that need to be fixed but we have to do it all as a great nation not as just a change because if we fix our flaws we can change not only our economy but the world. the economy can be changed by the next generation of "well educated" people because they will create jobs and not just be homeless people, we can be productive. we can change the world by setting an example of how things can work, this will make others look up to us like a little brother looks up to his big brother. well the last thing i have to add is for students to be motivate not only involves the teachers to make learning fun and enjoyable but takes parents to care and students to motivate themselves. we can all achieve greatness and even one day glory but if we truly care enough about our future as a whole.

Grettel Aguilar
period 1

Ripley, Amanda. “Waiting for ‘Superman:’ A Call to Action for Our Schools.” Time Inc. CNN. September 23, 2010. March 15, 2011.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019663_2020590_2020592-1,00.html

-Jay Hancock. "Why Should Teachers get Tenure?". The Baltimore Sun. 22 Jan. 2010
Jay Hancocks Blog.Balitmoresun.com. 16 March 2010

"Teachers' Union Leading School Reform? Impossible! - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher." Education Week: Blogs. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .

alex.fino said...

Education reform is far too difficult to be dealt with in America. The motivation factor for students is so limited, that students no longer care about their education. There is no push to help students strive for education. We can not reform education right away, it will take several years (generations) to fix this problem. The biggest fear is that those who drop out, and have children, will not teach the importance of school to their children. The generations will exhibit the behavior of their parents. America has too much debt to be able to help make the system work. Americas generation is astronomically lazy. We don't care about our own education no more, because we rely on technology to do it for us. We rely on other people. We rely on people to get stuff done for us. We the students need to step it up a notch, and strive for the best. Our education system is completely bogus. We are limited to the amounts of freedom we want. For example; we have to attend the school where are house is located. We can not go to other schools that are out of our zones. And most schools that we are stuck with, have a horrendous education system. What influences the way we learn, is our family, our neighborhood, who we know, and most importantly motivation from teachers. Bad neighborhoods are typically associated with bad schools. If we can improve neighborhoods, possibly we can improve schools at the same time. As a High School Senior, all I can do is spread the word to my family and friends, that education is the most important thing in your life, and it's what will make your life much easier to cope with. Education is a priority.

"Do The Poor Deserve Bad Schools? - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. .

Thursday, Amanda Ripley. "Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. .

Jackson, David. "Obama Urges Education Reform - USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. .

-Alex Fino

andreavillarinho said...

In my opinion, it is so difficult to reform public schools because no one is able to agree on anything. Out of everyone, only a few come up with ideas and even fewer act on those ideas. Then people just disagree and argue which puts our progress to a halt. Today, our educational system is focusing on the basics. I can tell you now that at Twinhill Elementary, the only focus is nonstop academics. As a result, the children feel that school isn’t fun and it is discouraging them. When you add things like arts and crafts for elementary children or more ROTC Programs for teenagers, it is going to encourage everyone to do what interests them.
I feel like our educational system is built for generic children. Children that need to read, write, and do math, when there are millions of varieties of people. When people are given more options, those options are going to attract more people. People always complain that school is boring and that’s because nothing is grabbing their specific attention.
When I think of outside factors, I think of family members and children’s outside environments. When your parents and siblings put knowledge as a high priority, you are more likely to do the same. After all, your family is your biggest influence. Unfortunately, that comes into play when your family or neighborhood puts their education at a lower level. People just want to blend into the crowd so they will follow what they see others doing.
As a high school senior, the best I can do is let the younger kids know that they really do need to try their best. When I would look at adults sharing their wisdom, I use to just forget it because they were in high school at a different time. As seniors, we are old enough to have wisdom and young enough to be able to relate to the new freshmen and sophomores. The best we can do is influence enough kids to want and actually strive for change.

Andrea Villarinho
Period 2

“Big Ideas for Better Schools: Ten Ways to Improve Education | Edutopia." K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies That Work | Edutopia. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.
Ripley, Amanda. “Waiting for ‘Superman:’ A Call to Action for Our Schools.” Time Inc. CNN. September 23, 2010. March 18, 2011.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019663_2020590_2020592-1,00.html
Whitmire, Richard. "On Education Reform, 'Safe' Has Gotten Us Nowhere." USA TODAY. 26 Jan 2011: A.9. SIRS Researcher. Web. 18 Mar 2011.

Jarel said...

To attempt to reform our horrible education system is, indeed, an extremely arduous task. What diminishes the attempt to bring out reformation on our education system are the power of teacher unions and tenures. Once a teacher receives tenure, it is most likely the case that he or she will cease their efforts to teach and carelessly cheat students out of their education. Tenure serves as a job-protector; a guarantee that teachers will almost never lose their jobs because of the dreadfully long process of firing a teacher. It is unfair and selfish of teachers to sit at their desks and stare back blankly at their lifeless pens and paperclips while students invest six to eight hours of their lives every day to get the best out of their education.

Culturally, our education is not what it used to be decades ago. In the political cartoon worksheet that was handed out for homework, there was a picture of a student in the year 1909 carrying a huge stack of textbooks, and next to that studious student was a seemingly lackadaisical student of the year 2009 riding a skateboard while listening to a music device as an SAT laid there so defunct. Gradually, kids and teenagers are becoming less academic and continuing slack off more, one generation after another. At the beginning of the semester of this school year, I was tutoring about three to four freshman students in regular Biology. These were the students with D’s and F’s in their classes, and no matter how hard I tried to drill in the Central Dogma theory into their heads, they sat there as if I never existed. They ignored me and went off mingling with each other! I’m quite fearful for the future that I’ll soon be living in because of the idea of living in a world with a lot of less-educated people, that is, if the degeneration of academic students were to continually progress. The social culture of today has dominantly taken over the lives of many kids and teenagers, and we definitely need to set a balance between work and fun.

As a whole, our education system is “okay.” What I’d like to see more in schools are good teachers, a huge variety of classes, and a sense of motivation and inspiration. High schools should be more like mini-colleges, where students can attend classes they want, necessary for reaching their future careers, at a certain time of a day. Since it’ll take several years to change up our education system, the best we can do, as students, is to work hard and study well in history, English, math, and science classes, even though we may find some of them to be useless for our future jobs. Because most schools don’t provide enough eclectic selections of classes, most students tend to wander off from the classes they find boring, causing their grades to suffer. Distractions such as social networking and video-gaming are just two factors contributing to the downfall of students’ grades. I’d propose the idea of schools offering a variety of classes to at least make education exciting and fun. Setting an example as a hard-working student is the best I can do right now to influence others to do well in schools.


- Jarel Lim Per. 4


Communications, Digital Media. "Letter: Tenure Amounts to Lifetime Job Protection » Knoxville News Sentinel." Knoxville News Sentinel: Local Knoxville, Tennessee News Delivered Throughout the Day. 17 Mar. 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/mar/17/letter-tenure-amounts-lifetime-job-protection/

"Keeping Bad Teachers in Front of Students." Teachers Union Facts. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. http://teachersunionexposed.com/protecting.cfm

Thursday, Amanda Ripley. "Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019663_2020590_2020592-4,00.html

boogala said...

To make a change in our nation it is a really difficult thing to do.tenure makes it even more difficult because you cant even fired the bad teacher in public schools.Tenure is being abuse by all the bad teacher who just want to get paid.If tenure did not exist teachers would work harder on students and try to keep there job.I also think parents,and children should be allowed to choose there own place of education.Parents should also get more involved in there children education. If the parents does not care about his kids education then the kid wont care either.teachers should also motivate their students more they should try and help them not make them look stupid in front of the whole class.My suggestion is that if your a good teacher and your not afraid to prove it or even get fired give up you tenure and show everybody at your schools that you are a good teacher.Teachers and students should really oppen their eys up because we are staying behind in our schools.





http://www.nytimes.com/pages/education/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/nyregion/15suit.html?_r=1&ref=education

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/us/17florida.html?ref=education

Louie said...

When a country treats education like a business, the system fails. The money being siphoned into education ends up being spent on the wrong resources. Rather than focusing on education, schools value extra curricular activities more than they should. The culture of education has devolved. America is centered on Hollywood and other mediums of entertainment and appraise appearance. Because of this, students try to act "cool" at the expense of education. Too many mainstream songs and movies redirect and influence children's attentions against education. To mitigate the influence, parents must be more involved.

Ripley, Amanda. "A Call to Action for Public Schools." Time. CNN. Web.

Wyatt, Bruce. "Lawmakers Unveil Revamped Education Reform Bill." Dnews. Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Web.

Grant, Drew. "Kids Whine About the SATs' Reality Show Question." Salon. Salon Media Group. Web.

K.Pacheco_10 said...

It's funny how people are so surprised that America is on the decline in education. If anything people should have notice this during the Vietnamn War. When people have the mentality of an old tale it seems that history has showed us that it flips on them, hard.

What I mean about the Vietnam War is that many soldiers went into that war with the mentality that America, as seen in WWI and WWII, did not loose wars. We seemed to be unstoppable, unfortunalty it was not true every nation whether big or small has the same chances of winning and losing. Our mentality of education seems to be the same.

Yes it is true America was once one of the most educated country and probably the most riches and most advanced country at the time but, times have changed. The world around is changing constitanlty with new things such as technology and availability of resources in a blink of an eye. When kids now research things for a school subject project we see that resources are just a couple of clicks away in front of a computer, we can now research things quicker and more efficiently than spending hours and hours looking trough book after book for a simple answer that is on the Internet. If one is to have the want to understand education one must see how the ecosystem of education and how it can be innovated as we Americans are so widely known for doing.

We need to see education as a part close to an evolutionary scale, that every so often in time we must change our ways to adapt and survive to the new changes in life. Other countries see this and are taking a leap of faith to out beat other countries so that they can be the America of the 19th century in the 21st century. We need to do the same if America is going to want to even have a standing chance in the world that is coming soon.

I pray that America will reinnovate it's self, and have a fighting chance at whatever means possble, because one day we will happy in tue new world or be consumed with regret of not wanting to go the extra mile for the long run.

-Kevin Pacheco

Period 1

andreanatalie said...

My opinion on why reforming public education is a difficult task in this country is because of the culture we live in where not that many people actually take education seriously. In fact even some teachers don’t, as demonstrated in the movie, “Waiting for superman”. Another reason is that there can’t be a lot changed due to the power the unions have which prevent bad teachers from being fired, and compensating good teachers as well as other things. Lastly, the school system is so out of date predetermining students’ lives when that was ok back in the 40’s but now at a time when all our industries that require high paid professionals are being outsourced, we need people in the United States educated. In my school I hear so many students talk about their educational views and they don’t value this time at all, they have no future goals for themselves or if they do its labor jobs that require no educational background. The culture surrounding the youth of today prevents some from developing goals that make them wants to succeed and work hard for their future. From lousy teachers who either do nothing to teach or just put down their students weakening their will to learn to lowering standards year after year to the point that its middle school material needed to graduate. The educational system in my eyes is in the top 5 worst of the world. We are being beaten in education by almost every other country in the world, because they actually consider it of upmost importance while the highest priority in this country is war. There of course are outside factors that influence student achievement in school. Parental involvement is one lack or having one affects students, if they have that parent who’s always pushing them they are likely to do better and if they don’t it depends on self motivation which in people I know they do not. Environments students live in are another factor as well as family issues, and special education issues. It feels like as a high school student I can’t really do anything to influence change in our educational system, but maybe by having students actually have discussions with students and teachers, like in Mr. Palos class, to express our views and have administrators and superintendents come and listen and hear their ideas for positive changes.
natalie r.
p.1

152-pounder said...

I believe reforming education in this country is so difficult because, different cities and states have different standards which make it hard to set everyone to just one solution. Do to the lack of change in the educational system kids are going out to the real world not ready for what lies ahead. Today in the world kids are just dropping out not even trying to succeed. There is just a lack of motivation in the world that wasnt present in the past. I think this is due to the economy since there isnt any jobs available people do not try. Multiple countries around us have a education system that is working and going places. But ours is just getting worse as it runs its course without change. We must do something to get everyone motivated to get educated. The question is what can we do? I believe change starts with sacrifices and we must go along with Obama's education reform. It may not be perfect at first,but it will only get better.

Bryan Hales
period 1

Jess said...

Today’s schools have no perspective of really what is going on. They don‘t understand that what they are doing is not helping the students but really hurting them badly. People think that the only problem is we need education when sadly that is not the case at all. There is a far bigger problem than money and no one seems to understand that we need to help the students and show them there is a reason other than you have to come to school. Most students see school as a requirement very few see it as something good some see it as a way out and a motivation to do better in school , but how when you have bad teachers . We can’t even fire the teachers that are bad for us, we must keep them and they must go thru a process and see if they are really fit to be fired or not. I for one have had experiences with these teachers that are bad and they really need to be prosed quicker than just going thru a process that can take up to five years. I for one think that by taking away these teachers we can even save money and then people might stop complained that there’s never money. My solution to this so-called problem here in the schools are raise the graduation requirements and I say pay better teachers more money take tenhard away its not helping anyone its only hurting teachers and their students more

Everentity said...

Why, in my opinion, is reforming public education a difficult task in this country to answer this I’d have to say that part of it would be the economy, not only that but I also think that our educational system was one that was made and built for and from a different age/era. That being the ways of the intellects of the Enlightenment coupled with the growing notions of the Industrial Revolution. What we are doing nowadays if mostly for the most part being repeated from the past. Explaining the way culture of education is today, is it’s how we educate our children to their place in the economies of the 21st century. Given that we can’t think likely what the economy will look like as the end of let’s say next week will be. Going towards our urbanity in the United States I think it’s more of a cultural identity with globalization. it’s the technologies that we have as teenagers and younger that makes a lot of adults thinking we have a low span of knowledge when in truth its more like our spans of attention is short because of all of these distractions that are being placed all around us. In my opinion, how do I view our educational system as a whole..?  I think that our educational system is to redundant. I mean this in the sense that we are all grouped according to our ages, being grouped in certain building with the same subject and being pretty much with the same group of people your whole 10 or so years in schooling. It doesn’t allow any type of flexibility at all. That’s limits us as a nation in moving forward. The outside factor is can influence students achieving in school is the lack of interest and care that the government etc gives in our education, example of that would be education being the first thing to take away when handling budget cuts. What I can do as a high school senior to influence change in our educational system.. Proposing something to the teachers for the next school years to come for the incoming future kids to get in on the opportunities that perhaps I didn’t get. We should be waking up students for what they have in themselves that’s all there is to it. Finding that passion within them to make them want to learn great and new things. ’Great learning happens in groups, collaboration is the stuff of Growth.’ 


1. TheRSAorg. "YouTube - RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. .

2. Thursday, Amanda Ripley. "Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 23 Sept. 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. .

3. Ambrose, Jay. "Unions Stand in the Way of Real Reforms in American Education | Deseret News." Salt Lake City and Utah Breaking News, Sports, Entertainment and News Headlines - Deseret News. Desert News, 25 Feb. 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2011. .

Azalea Armixo
Period 4

theresa.jones said...

I personally feel that in order to reform public education, America would literally have to abolish everything that they have based education on and start over, and that is why it is so difficult. First, I feel that we need to get rid of tenure. All tenure does is allow a teacher to suck at teaching and insure they wont lose their job. But then again, the process to fire a teacher is so complex, convoluted and fraught with legal requirements that actual tenure or the granting of tenure is almost irrelevant. I feel that a teacher should want to teach, and if they are terrible at it, they should lose their job. I honestly do not comprehend why we need tenure. There are so many people out there that actually want to become a teacher. There is no reason to feel the need to have to save teachers from losing their jobs if they are terrible at it and there is someone out there that could do better. I also feel that parents need to be more involved in their children’s school life. I think it would help a lot. If we were to improve these two things, the moral and willingness to try in students will go up.
I think in our country education is not a big deal. I think that people would rather focus on anything other than education like sports, music, and video games. I feel that in the past, America was more motivated to excel in education because we strongly wanted to work our way up to the top. Once we got there, I feel we almost got cocky, and as a result, we fell drastically. I think people should stop focusing so much on the less important things and start thinking about education.
As a whole, I wouldn’t say our educational system is terrible, but its definitely not at its best. I would really like to see more good teachers that actually want to teach. In “Waiting for Superman” I saw so many teachers that were trying so hard to help out their students. I don’t see that too much nowadays. Also, I think we just need more motivation. I have no clue what to do to get students motivated because I have seen teachers do everything from rewarding students for doing homework to scaring the heck out of them by telling them what their future holds. I think there are just too many students out there that simply do not care at all, and that irritates me so much. I, personally, don’t know what I, as a senior could do to improve this. I have worked hard my whole life to get out of school and I feel that if students don’t try to work and don’t feel the need to do well in school they deserve exactly what they will get. Too bad its at the expense of a nation. (sarcasm)


Gee, Bill. "Tenure and the Teachers Union." Nolan Chart. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. .

"Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News,

theresa.jones said...

"Waiting for 'Superman': A Call to Action for U.S. Schools - What Makes a School Great - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. .

"Keeping Bad Teachers in Front of Students." Teachers Union Facts. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. http://teachersunionexposed.com/protecting.cfm

ERICKR24 said...

Reforming the education system in America is going to be very hard to overcome. It seems like America doesn’t like to see any change or are afraid of it. Most people talk about change but never try to stand up for what they believe in and they just complain. One thing we need to change is not giving the teacher unions so much power over our education system. It seems to me all that really matters to teachers these days is salary and that student’s for some is the least of their concerns. So enough is enough we should take action and for those teachers who don’t have great results in classes should get fired and we should take tenure out because it’s almost impossible for a teacher to get fired once they have it.
The documentary “Waiting for Superman” really opened my eyes to see how our education system isn’t working so we need to find new solution to motivate our students and give more teachers freedom on the ways they want to teach. I think if tenure wasn’t on contracts more teachers would take their jobs more serious. So once their job is on the line they would want to help the students who need the most help and give them more attention so just like the students we need to motivate our teachers to want to teach the students as much as they can. We should make our schools have more competition and let parents choose what schools their children should go to.
I also believe students should take advantage on our free education and make use of it cause it isn’t always going to be there, most students in high school only care about is having fun and not doing work and rather being partying and out with friends instead of being home doing school work . So if we want to see better results it should be more important in your house to get good grades so parents should get more involved with their children’s education.

Erick Rosales P.2

lshsfinest0 said...

Reforming education in the U.S.A., many ideas come to mind when talking about changing the way school operate.Do schools need more money?, Do we need better teacher? subjects need to be more interesting?, all these quetions may come to mind, but do we neccesarly need to change these things. Cause even though it all starts in school in what you want to do in life you are going to be accountable for your own actions. So the true question is does the school system need to change, or do we need to change? think about it.

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/sep2009/id2009092_504210.htm

" waiting for superman "

http://www.invisiblefist.com/2010/08/11/sacred-braus-ed-reform/

Davon Bowen
per. 2

kay said...

Reforming Public education is a very difficult task to accomplish in this country for several reasons.In my oppinion i believe that the main contribution to it being so difficult to achieve is due to the teacher unions.Teacher unions in my eyes have to much power and authority.I believe that teachers that arent doing their jobs properly should be able to be fired and that the students should have more of an input.Another thing that the teacher unions control is tenure. tenure is almost granted to every teacher imediatly i believe that tunure should be an honor and that is should be difficult to aquire that way it will garantee teachers to work to protect there jobs because their jobs would not be gauranteed.I think that the culture of education has changed dramaticly over the years. i think we are a lazy bunch it seems as if more and more students are becoming more focused on other things and dont take advantage of the opportunitys they have. when schools where first established it was an honor to be able to go to school it was very difficult to attened a school and those who attended it took full advantage of the knowledge they gained. now a days the drop out rate has grown and less and less kids are trying to improve.Overall i dont think that our education sysem seems to work i think that students are just taught to memorize their information until they take a test as if they learn just to take test.i also think that the system doesnt work because apperantly teachers are garanteed their jobs onve they get tenure even if caught on tape dunking a kids head in a soiled toilet. That alone shows how the system is not working.I know that it is not only the educational system that can affect a student outside factors can also play a big role.Sometimes a students enviorment at home or the students neighborehood can affect the ability of the student.Peer pressure and financial problems at home could be another influencial part that can affect a students ability sometimes for the good and others for the bad.I from experiance have wittnessed how outside factors can play a huge role.I myself can beeter the way i take advantage of all the tools i am given and i can try to influence my peers to do the same ,as they say one can make a difference ,and imagine if more and more people begin to influence others to actually try and take advantage of our opportunities. Great things can come from people just trying their best.


keila zamarripa
per2


Ripley, Amanda. “Waiting for ‘Superman:’ A Call to Action for Our Schools.” Time Inc. CNN. September 23, 2010. March 15, 2011.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019663_2020590_2020592-1,00.html

nader said...

“Waiting for Superman” is the most suitable documentary that all Americans should watch in order to understand how education functions in the United States. It might be a shock for some parents to know the truths, and to feel like being cheated on, but it is always a good start by putting the facts on the recovery path. While for some it might be an obvious issue, but they are just lacking the interest on building the standards that were set from the beginning. As I said previously that the culture of education and the way people view the value of education is what influences the most in a society. It is like an influential magnetism that can’t be broken easily, unless people in general and especially students simply motivate themselves on gaining more knowledge. There are limits in life that shouldn’t be exceeded and what we’ve reached so far is just way off our expectations. Instead of picking up the progress that we’ve already built from previous generations, we are falling apart from what we have always aimed for. In my opinion reforming public education is a complicated mission, because we basically don’t know the main factor of what lead us to this point. If it is either teachers who are causing this gap by not taking their career as a serious job, or students who merely don’t know their own responsibilities, or even parents who are not performing their parental role as they should, but all I know is that they are all causing a certain affect in this overall outcome. Whenever we think of education, we think of the past, we think of the future and to where we are heading to, but what about the present and the issues that we are facing now a day’s from complexity in holding the promises to all the educators who are hoping for more gaining more knowledge. I think that we should work on solving this issue as fast as we can, so that we wouldn’t let any further difficulty to affect our goals.

Jake. “Education Reform of America.” American Education Reform. Web. 16 March 2011.

Shenk, Jerry. “Challenging the Teachers Unions.” American Thinker. 13 March 2011. Web. 16 March 2011.

Michael. “Does America Really Need Eductaion Reform?.” Michael Priceless. 7 February 2011. Web. 3 March 2011.

N.DeAndrade said...

Waiting for Superman is a great movie. Let me say our education system sucks. We need to get rid of all of those "bad" teachers. Nowdays all kids seem to do is memorize their lessons unitl the test arrives,and after we take that test we forget and thats what we've learned to do. We are not taking advantage of our educational system and unfortunately we are letting it slip right through our fingers. Teachers should not be allowed to have ten-yer (however its spelled)and if they do receive it there should be a process, not just being as teacher for 2 years. They fail to realize that they aren't advancing the future. & why would we want the generations to come become STUPIDER by the MINUTE ?

Cole Canup said...

Trying to reform our nations schools is mainly such a hard thing because people have different views on how schools should be ran. One thing is for sure though, everyone wants kids to do better in school and learn more. The culture of education has been the same for quite a while. Education hasn't really changed and the world around us has. There are jobs out there that workers are not educated enough to do which gives us a lack of jobs and progression. If we can get more kids interested in learning about the jobs of the future, then our kids will be better prepared for the workforce of tomrorrow. Things i can do to help reform education could be going to town hall meetings and talking, being more involved in government and voting, or try to get bills passed to help education. Mainly we just need to have reform and people need to stop being so worried about change

Robinson, Anna.Education Reform"The problem with helping everyone reach average"AlaskaDispatch.com March 19,2011

Monitors Editorial Board. "Next US higher education reform:higher teacher quality" csmonitor.com MArch 19,2011