Education Rewrite

For teacher Hernandez D. Stroud, an Alabama-born teacher working with Teach for America teacher, the state of the American education system is in serious peril. In the place of teachers we have script-reading robots, while mindless droids fill desks that formerly held ranks of students. Under the burden of meeting state regulations, he feels that teachers are compromising quality teaching that empowers students as critical thinkers for tips on how to fill out a multiple choice sheet accurately.

And this is all due to one word: Accountability. Specifically, Stroud finds the stringent standardized testing that has come to define American education as backward, ineffective, and confining. According to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the federal government is only another part of the problem holding back the advancement of the American education system. “For far too long we have been a compliance machine, rather than an engine of innovation,” Duncan said.

With the results of the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), internationally the United States ranked seventeenth in reading, twenty-third in science, and thirty-first in math, while Shenghi was first in every category. The report found that “the United States needs to produce roughly one million more graduates a year by 2020—about 40 percent more than today—to ensure the country has the skilled workers it needs.” For many bureaucrats and politicians like Duncan, this means tightening government restrictions and raising the standards of statewide tests and accountability programs.

For University of Michigan professor Yong Zhao, the American education system would seriously benefit from reversing its incentives; he would rather see emphasis on a diversity of programs, such as art or auto shop, than standardized testing. Accountability should be “input-based” rather than “output-based,” according to Zhao, and school should be evaluated on how well it facilities practical experience and creativity.

Michael Von Wahlde, a teacher at Westhill High School in Stamford, CT, strives to paint the walls of his classroom with creativity and the wisdom of his personal experience, if only to make it that much more accessible to his students. As a teacher of about 10 years, Von Wahlde is drawn to teaching because “if you want to change the world you must do it yourself. Do you want to subvert the dominant paradigm? Teach its faults.” Rather than teaching to a test, Von Wahlde finds it much more successful to teach by holding his students to a high standard in everything they do, just like his freshman English teacher Donal Nekrosious, while also allowing them room to explore new concepts and ideas.

“The most rewarding thing [about teaching] is having ex-students come back and say, ‘You illuminated this for me,’” said Von Wahlde.

“Right now we seem to be stuck with the idea of standards as the panacea to fix all of America’s education problems,” said Zhao. “I don’t deny that the U.S. education system has problems, but I don’t feel the problems can be solved by standards and high-stakes testing. Rather, standards and high-stakes testing run the risk of ruining the advantages and great tradition of the system.”

“There is too much corruption and emphasis on testing, and not nearly enough attention paid to the individual needs of students in order to nurture their learning,” Boston University student Ellen Pogson said. Pogson, a senior in BU’s School of Education, believes the current education system to be unsustainable. She would rather see money go into poorer school districts so that all children can receive an equal opportunity to achieve more.

Pogson is more hopeful about her future as a teacher. “Even though I am anxious and even a little nervous about having my own classroom in the future, given the training I have had thus far…I absolutely feel ready to teach the next generations of American youth,” Pogson said.

Works Cited

“A New Approach to Teacher Education Reform and Improvement.” U.S. Department of Education. 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. .

“Standardized Testing Hurting U.S. Education, New Book Contends | MSU News | Michigan State University.” Home | MSU News | Michigan State University. 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. .

“Teacher Salary - Average Teacher Salaries - PayScale.” PayScale - Salary Comparison, Salary Survey, Search Wages. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. .

Genzlinger, Neil. “Vanessa Roth’s ‘American Teacher’ — Review - NYTimes.com. “ Reviews, Showtimes and Trailers - Movies - New York Times - The New York Times. 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. .

Mourshed, Mona. “How the World’s Most Improved School Systems Keep Getting Better.” McKinsey on Society. Nov. 2010. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. .

Stroud, Hernandez D. “The State of American Education: The Era of ‘Obama-cation’” Philadelphia Public School Notebook. 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 06 Oct. 2011. .

Louisiana’s Turnaround Zone: Answering the Urgency of Now. Rep. no. 18099. New Orleans, 2010. Web. 3 October 2011.