Teacher Talk Blog: Flaws in American Public Education

Teacher-Talk.blog: Flaws in American Public Education

BY CoachB

#SCHOOLS, COACHING, EDUCATION, HIGH SCHOOL, TEACHING, UNCATEGORIZED

Flaws in American Public Education

1- School Safety- Schools are becoming a common place for fighting and gun violence.  Used to be the bigger city, schools were faced with issues of gang, gun and drug violence.  Now even the small and rural schools are faced with the possibility of mass shootings, drugs, gangs, fighting and other violent actions.  Schools are not set up for correct safety measures due to outdated buildings, technology or lack of funding.  Schools need more resource officers, security guards and much stricter policies for students that promote violence, fight, bring guns and drugs on campus.  School systems claim that staff and student safety is #1, but in many cases do not back that up with policy, procedures, technology and corrective discipline.  

2- Cell Phones- Cell phones are the enemy of public education right now.  Students spend a good part of the day watching videos, posting on social media and other activities related to their phones.  This has cut into learning time significantly.  Some schools have a zero cell phone policy while others allow them to be used at any time.  As an educator, I can say that phones are an issue that must be addressed going forward or the gap in reading, writing, math and social skills we currently face will continue to grow across America.

3- Charter Schools/Vouchers- With the rise of Charter Schools across America it is creating a divide among the poor and the more well to do kids.  Charter schools go by a different set of rules for both academics and sports.  Many of the charter schools are power house teams in sports due to having a radius of 25 miles (in NC) to choose from.  Many times the kids that attend have transportation and funding for food.  This leaves lots of the poverty kids stuck in public schools with no way of improving their position.  I am not against charters, just think they need to be governed by the same sports rules as public schools do.  

Vouchers can be used to allow students to leave one school for another or maybe attend a charter.  Vouchers and tax money should not be given to students and families to send their kids to a private school.  That should be up to the family to fund and not the state taxpayers.

4- Common core- Common core is so old and outdated.  It was a grand idea but is not the fix for America’s schools.  We need innovation and improvement in the process of teaching.  We need to focus on math, reading, writing, social skills and other related areas that will teach our kids life skills and not how to solve a quadratic equation.  We need trade classes, shop classes, computer classes, health classes, financial classes and other life skill learning that will enable a student to graduate and be a productive citizen.  

5- State Testing- Stop state testing, district testing and federal testing.  Teach the content so the kids can learn at their own pace and not to a state standard.  I see so many teachers cramming content down kids’ throats just to try to make them pass a test.  The teacher is on module four material and the student is still trying to figure out module 1 material.  I see it daily and it is sad that we are so stuck in a system that checks itself based on student scores and not actual learning and content mastery.  Allow teachers to make the test and teach the content so kids can take their time and learn at their own pace.  

6- Teacher Pay- As a veteran teacher in a non-union state I can assure you that raises come far and few.  States spend less and less on teacher pay with an occasional raise of a few percent.  Imagine working a job where you do not get a raise from year 15-25 with zero extra money.  Teachers work hard and are professionally licensed experts that should be paid higher money.  Yes, most do not go into teaching for the money but a good yearly raise would be nice and may help keep more young teachers in the system and less older teachers retiring early.

7- Mental Health- We are facing a mental health crisis like none before.  Students are faced with poverty, violence, traumatic issues and other problems that have created a gap in mental health.  Schools need more resources for mental health awareness and teacher training.  Teachers are the front line of the school and are involved with the students more than anyone.  Teachers are the ones that will see the triggers students have and issues they are facing.  Teachers become the parent in many cases and are kind of a promise keeper for student mental health and safety.  The internet and breakdown of moral values and the introduction of DEI into schools has also created mental health issues with confused teeangers not knowing what they are or thinking they are a cat or dog.  

8- Uninvolved Parents- I have been in both a large county school system and a small city school system.  I can tell you that the small city system parental involvement is not half what it is with the county schools in the area.  We rarely see parents even on parent teacher nights and a good portion of them do not support their kids at athletic events, after school events or school programs.  This gap in non-parental involvement is due to various reasons.  In the case of my system it is poverty and the breakdown of the modern family unit.  We have many single parents (men or women) and children living with other adults (grandma/grandpa) or even neighbors.  The parents are either working or laying around doing nothing but sleeping while the child is at school.  

9- Old School Teaching Technique- Schools are stuck in the 1960’s and 1970’s with teaching style and technique.  There are better ways to deliver content and I see American schools eventually being 100% online with just a moderator handling attendance and monitoring the classroom.  We teach with older antiquated ways that are outdated and are not meeting the needs of modern day students.  We are not preparing them for life, college, work or trade school.  I am a fan of taking notes and using a pen and paper but that may never go out of date.  However, we do need to utilize online material, websites, project based learning and better ways to challenge and grow our students basic skills.  

10- Admins Assigning Check the box Activity- This one drives me and most other teachers crazy.  We spend time planning, submitting plans, submitting this, filling out this report and that report all for what?  It is a waste of time, energy and uses way too much teacher time that could be used for preparing students to learn.  We attend senseless staff meetings during and after school.  Senseless training, PLC meetings and other unimportant content stuff that does not relate to our specific genre of teaching.  I am an exceptional children’s teacher.  Why do I need to attend a classroom management seminar that focuses on lead teachers when I am mostly a support person.  Why attend math training if I am an English teacher?  Stop the wasted time and use email to send out these things.  

Let’s fix this before it is so broken that we cannot catch up.  I am on the tail end of my teaching journey and have seen all these things and more be problematic in our educational process and system.  Lets bring innovation into education and get away from checking boxes, process and procedure and begin to teach our kids that hard work, dedication, discipline and education is important.  We need the parents to step up and not miss school activity.  Your kid’s future is more important than going to a workout or weight lifting.  It is more important than finishing a report at work and missing a ballgame.  You have the rest of your adult life once they leave school to do all that other stuff.  Come on America, step up and let’s correct the broken system we have in place and ensure the future of our children and grandchildren.