American Education Essays (Examples)

American Education
Current state of American education

In the United States of America, both the public and private schools are liable for the provision of education within the entire nation. In accordance with funding and the full control by the local, state, and federal government, there is universal availability of public schools across the whole nation (Orland, 2011). Empowered by the jurisdictions over school districts, the locally elected school boards are responsible for setting the education policies, funding, employment, teaching, and the formulation of the public schools' curriculum (Frank, 2012). Additionally, the state governments control the standardized tests and educational standards for public school systems. On the other hand, private schools are free to determine their own staffing policies, as well as their curriculum via voluntary accreditation available with the regional independent accreditation authority. Educational statistics reveal that approximately 85% of school age children go to public schools, 10% attend…

According to the book, studies have shown non-native speaking students or students who have special needs physical or behavioral struggle depression because they are in a different country and away from family. "Psychologist David Pillemer has analyzed memories of school, and suggests that such memories have much to tell us about students' perception of success or failure. When I talk to people about their education, from factory workers to physicians, from middle-school to doctoral students, it is telling how many of them call up resonant and emotional memories of events in school that, they claim, have had a potent effect on so many things: their sense of their intelligence, their social competence, their bearing in public spaces" (p. 244 -- 245). Scholars argue whether this is the implication of the alienation to students who form the mainstream population or just one of the effects of being drenched in a multicultural…

This is important, because in the story Lilia, does not understand the conflict in Pakistan, much less cares about the issues, until Mr. Pirzada becomes a family friend. An example of this can be seen with the passage that says, "No one at school talked about the war followed so faithfully in my living room." This is significant, because it shows how the lack of studying world history could cause, a disconnect, as the class would cause the students, to instinctively focus on those issue that are relevant from an American perspective. In many ways one could argue, that this is microcosm of the cultural assimilation that the entire family is going through. Evidence of this can be seen by looking no further than the passage that says, "It occurred to me that the television wasn't on at Dora's house at all. Her father was lying on the couch, reading…

Teachers should feel the pressure when their students do not succeed while opponents argue that placing such pressure on teachers just adds to the problem and makes success just that more difficult and unlikely.
Even the most ardent opponents to standardized testing among the teaching profession would likely argue that the demand for accountability is a legitimate one. Every profession needs to establish its credibility among the public and teachers should not be immune from this process, however, what has been lost in the process of trying to make teachers accountable is the value of what can be learned beyond the preparation for the standardized test. There is a necessity and value in establishing accountability but the method of using the standardized test to do so must be questioned.

When the use of standardized testing first came into vogue throughout the U.S. The goal was to establish a procedure for…

Lives on the Boundary by Mike ose
The achievements of ose with his students were successful and exceptional because most of his students were in the circumstances he was once in the discredits most of the educational fallacies and stereotypes that are applied on remedial students and literacy. He also shows how one can succeed in life despite of the background as it is seen when he becomes a teacher and later a director at UCLA

The main theme in this book is to show how life can be hard for the remedial students who he argues that they do not fail as a result of intelligence and poor skills but due to limited opportunity and little understanding. He tells this through his own life experience to show how both social and economic forces play a big role in influencing performance and perception of the unprepared students. He does not…

Timeline
American education has evolved considerably since the late 19th century. One of the first philosophers to influence the character of modern American education was John Dewey. Dewey was a progressive, and believed that children should not just sit in classrooms passively memorizing material. Instead, students should learn via experience and interaction with their environments. Dewey's humanistic approach to education revolutionized the ways people thought about schooling and pedagogy. A timeline of American education begins with Dewey, because he was the person to first codify the structure and philosophy of education, and then offer the methods and means to implement those ideas. Dewey is known as a "pragmatist" because of his ability to fuse philosophy and practice, and had "the most significant contribution to the development of educational thinking in the twentieth century," (Smith, 2001).

Maria Montessori was the first female to become a doctor in Italy. Working closely with…

American Education System in Trouble?
In an enlightening article by writer April Shenandoah, on March 20, 2002, the reality that Americas' education system is in real trouble becomes clearly evident. The writer feels that when a child in America attends school, he is, in fact, more at risk than if he did not attempt to attend. This is because, of late, it has become obvious that most negative influences that children are faced with are being increasingly found in the public schools that they attend, and it is during the past few decades that the situation has worsened even further. In a simple comparison between the situation in public schools today and that during the 1940's, it is indeed amazing that punishments were given for 'offences' such as, for example, running in the corridor, chewing gum, talking in the class, and at times, unfinished homework, whereas today the top offences…

African-American Perspectives on Education for African-Americans
Education has been an issue at the forefront of the African-American community since the first Africans were brought to the colonies hundreds of years ago. For centuries, education was forbidden to enslaved Africans in the United States with penalties such as whipping and lynching for demonstrating such skills as literacy. As the abolitionist movement gained strength and the Civil War commenced, more and more enslaved Africans saw education as a sign of freedom and a representation of the many ways in which they were held back yet simultaneously integral to American culture. Two African-American writers, scholars, and leaders, W.E.B. Du Bois and Frederick Douglass, discuss the power and the potential for education in the African-American Community. Douglass wrote his seminal work, his autobiography, in the middle of the 19th century, before the Civil War, econstruction, the industrial revolution, and the turn of the 20th…

Afro American Education
Black Americans have had to battle for their right to public education from their very start in this country (Forsyth, 1991). The precedent of Brown v. Board of Education catapulted this battle to the forefront in1954 (Forsyth, 1991). The struggle for education was one of the most important in the struggle against oppression because blacks were denied education as a group-based entirely on the foundation of race (Forsyth, 1991).

In earlier times, the general right to public education pertained only to Caucasians (Forsyth, 1991). In slavery times, outhern states prohibited teaching slaves to read and write (Forsyth, 1991). ome slaves learned to read and write in secret, had their owners found out, it would have meant a severe beating -- perhaps even death (Forsyth, 1991).

After the Civil War and during the Radical Reconstruction period, Black lawmakers developed the first Black free public schools (Forsyth, 1991). When…

The idea of group study for students that are struggling, however, also ties in with another idea for the improvement of schooling. The students that are performing the best at a particular subject could help organize and operate these study groups, in effect acting as tutors but yet not providing that service in such a way that they would be paid for their services or would work exclusively one-on-one with students that were having difficulty. This could help these struggling students to feel more comfortable and less 'singled out' if they were to work in groups with one or two other struggling students and a student that was performing much better. The help that these students receive in this kind of setting could be very valuable to them and also to the students that were providing the tutoring because those students would gain experience at helping others, which could be…

While his loss of accent brought himself and his teachers a sense of pride, it brought sorrow to his parents, who saw the change, however gradual, in their child. The author furthermore admits that for children like him, from a non-white American background, the home and school environment are at cultural extremes. This creates conflict that the young Rodriguez handled by conforming to his school environment. In effect he replaced the importance and roles of his parents in his life with those of his teachers, and as such became an academic success.
The author however admits that this is a shameful and lonely type of success. Nonetheless, it is a success that the author has chosen to conform to. Instead of therefore being successful because he has been educated, Rodriguez emphasizes that his success was chosen. He worked towards academic success with great passion, because this is what he wanted.…

The United Kingdom (and Northern Ireland) used to provide free higher education to all native Brits, but contemporary economic realities have forced UK and Northern Ireland colleges and universities to charge up to the approximate equivalent of $6,000 annually to offset the enormous cost of education. Unlike Canada, Britain provides higher education at the same price for students from Continental European nations but charges students from other nations more than the maximum allowed to be charged to UK students (Ciccone & Peri, 2006). Unlike in the U.S., there are few opportunities to earn scholarships to UK colleges and universities. Similarly, higher education in Southern Ireland costs only the approximate equivalent of $2,000 in the form of registration and related fees for students from Ireland and the European Union.
France provides (essentially) free education that is paid for by public funds and only imposes a nominal annual enrollment fee that is…

There are others though that believes that learners are born with certain innate capabilities that are then shaped and formed from the outside (Montessori theory, 2011)
No matter which theory one looks at though the bottom line is that each philosophy is based on the idea that everything possible should be done to encourage as much learning as possible. All philosophies are based on the fact that education should be about learning and that no matter how the learning takes place, what environment is takes place in or under what circumstances the edn result should be something was learned. Educational philosophy in general believes that in order for people to be successful and productive they must learn as much as possible and that this should be done by way of formal education.

eferences

Chinn, C. (2012). Epistemological Beliefs. etrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/epistemological-beliefs/

Evers, W.M. (2012). How Progressive Education Gets it Wrong.…

Education in the Community
A major issue currently effecting culture, population, and demographics is that of wealth inequality. As the global economic downturn continues throughout the world, wealth disparity is increasing rapidly. This affects culture, population, and overall demographics in a litany of ways. First, due primarily to lower wages, families are postponing child birth. The uncertainty surrounding the future creates an atmosphere of fear. Families are now waiting until the economic climate becomes more certain before they have their children. Furthermore, the median income for middle class families has plummeted within the last 3 years. The median income for the average American household was roughly $51,000 in 2008. Now the median income is roughly $48,000. This creates problems as families are less apt to spend money are discretionary activities that form the basis of their culture. Holiday spending, for example has yet to reach its 2007 heights. Families are…

S. is a worthwhile goal, but the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 is a poorly conceived approach whose deficiencies may actually do more to undermine many aspects of education than any meaningful improvement inspired by its programs.
eferences

Caillier, J. (2007) No Child Left Behind Act: Are States on Target to Make Their

Goals?; Journal of Negro Education, Fall 2007 Issue. etrieved September 8, 2008, at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3626/is_200710/ai_n25139930/pg_10

Crawford, J. (2004) No Child Left Behind: Misguided Approach to School Accountability for English Language Learners. National Association for Bilingual Education. etrieved September 8, 2008, at http://www.nabe.org/documents/policy_legislation/NABE_on_NCLB.pdf

Darling-Hammond, L. (2004) NCLB Implementation Challenges: The Local Superintendent's View; Peabody Journal of Education, 80, 156-169.

Forgary, . (1997) Brain Compatible Classrooms. Andover, MA: Skylight Publishing.

Hendrie, C. (2002) Taking a Chance on Choice; Education Week, Oct 23, 2002. etrieved September 8, 2008, from www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=08choice.h22

Murray, C. (2006) Acid Tests: No Child Left Behind…

Education
As the educational system continues to come unde inceasing amounts of scutiny, the teache is ultimately at the fulcum of pessue. They ae equied to digest new educational theoy and sot out the wheat fom the chaff. They ae asked to manage inceasing levels of divesity in the classoom, and students who come to class acoss a widening spectum of pepaedness. At the same time, they ae expected to be a students fiend, motivato, and at times suogate paent. Technological advances in the maketplace have made it necessay fo teaches to adapt to inceasing amounts of technology in the classoom. All of these issues ae coming at a time when fedeal mandates in the No Child Left Behind act ae demanding impoved pefomance, in some cased damatically impoved pefomance.

In light of the inceased levels of demands placed on teaches and the continuing decline of academic pefomance, it is…

On the whole, American students are sympathetic to the difficulties faced by some foreign students such as in connection with the expense of living in the U.S. without a family support system close by and in connection with language and cultural barriers and prejudices they sometimes face. American students also believe that many foreign students bring a more serious work ethic to school and that they are better educated in their home countries than their American counterparts. Angela Angelov (Biology, 19) said that she believed "Most of the international students have learned all of the prerequisite courses more in depth than I did here…"According to Joe Engle (Chemistry, 21), "They bring a higher work ethic because they have traveled so far to reach their goals." Ben (Engineering, 34) echoed that observation: "Foreign students seem to appreciate the opportunity more" and also that in comparison, "American students seem lazy." Some American…

According to a British Study conducted on all students born in the first week of March 1958, and following them through adolescence and on until the age of twenty-three:
There were no average differences between grouped and ungrouped schools because within the grouped schools, high-group students performed better than similar students in ungrouped schools, but low-group students did worse. Students in remedial classes performed especially poorly compared to ungrouped students with similar family backgrounds and initial achievement. With low-group losses offsetting high-group gains, the effects on productivity were about zero, but the impact on inequality was substantial." (Gamoran 1992)

As Gamoran points out, grouping or "tracking" tended to accentuate a student's skills or lack thereof. High-ability students benefited from segregation, but low-ability students did even worse than before. And while low-ability pupils received no benefit whatsoever from the tracking system, neither did their schools. The net gain in performance among…

Education
John Gatto is one of the few teachers who are speaking out against the current educational culture who knows what he is talking about. After teaching the state of New York, which has one of the highest per student budgets in the nation, uses many progressive teaching theories, and still produces some of the lowest test scores in the nation, his frustration comes from a wealth of experience. Teachers who start their careers with a sincere desire to educate students have their hands are tied by multi-cultural disconnectedness and a socialist teaching culture which discourages individual accomplishment. The frustration expressed by Mr. Gatto (Berlau, 2003) is likely only the tip of the iceberg representing the depth of the nationwide problem. From Atlanta to Minneapolis, news papers are filled with stories of failing students, failing schools, and school systems which are confused as to the source of the problem. Maybe…

Fifth, the NCLB is devoid of any meaningful consequences for failing to achieve federal objectives other than the publication of such failures in conjunction with the rights of parents to request transfers of their children to better-performing academic institutions (Darling-Hammond 2004). Critics have suggested that the most likely result of enforcement of such limited consequences for noncompliance is the overcrowding of institutions who fulfill the federal requirements to their detriment by virtue of diminution in their ability to meet the educational needs of increased enrollment of low-achieving students (Sonnenblick 2008). Likewise, the NCLB Act authorizes increased federal funding of home schooling and for-profit institutions that further reduces necessary funds to public institutions.

Sixth, whereas George H. Bush articulated the connection between adequate nutrition and access to healthcare and preparedness to learn in school, the NCLB Act ignores this element entirely. Many critics and career educators believe that any proposed educational…

Accordingly, the ties between the psychological aspects of learning and the social aspects tend to be quite strong. Since the student's early social encounters take place within the classroom, he is learning far more than the step-by-step processes of test taking. Knowledge of his social conditions is necessary for the proper development of the student's abilities. Social and psychological features of education are so fundamentally related that they cannot be separated from each other without a sufficient loss of understanding concerning the other.

Primarily, the purpose of education is to produce functional members of society who value both each other and the work they perform. As simple as that may sound, it is an exceedingly difficult goal. In the United States the philosophical basis outlined by the Constitution demands that public institutions not only be employed, but also that they provide an equal level of schooling across geographic and social…

It is headed in the right direction and will surly prosper in the many years to come.
(c)Why were you able to accomplish what you did when you did?

We have been able to accomplish what we have because of the Land Grant College Act of 1862. In early 1848, Congressman Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont suggested that American colleges might steer away from the portion of the studies that had been established so many years ago and think about moving in a direction of having studies with more practical values. In 1857, he introduced a bill that incorporated leading reform notions in regards to technical education. He proposed that institutions should promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in areas that relate to the professions that people were doing (udolph, 1990, p. 149).

This act provided for the support in every state of at least one…

American Religious History
Defining fundamentalism and liberalism in Christianity is hardly an exact science, especially because prior to about 1920 there was not even a term for fundamentalism as it exists today. hile present-day fundamentalists often claim descent from the Puritans and Calvinists of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Puritans were not really fundamentalists in the modern sense. They were not in conflict with 20th Century-style liberals and supporters of evolution and Higher Criticism because those did not yet exist. As George McKenna put it "if there were no liberalism there would be no fundamentalism" to react against it (McKenna 231). Today, about one-third of Americans define themselves as evangelical Protestants, and all Republican Party politicians have to make appeals to the Christian Right (Hankins 1). In 1976 there were at least fifty million 'born again' evangelical Protestants in the United States, and today their numbers may be as high…

Gardner, like Emerson, Russell, and Einstein, also criticizes the substantive choice of subject matter and the ineficiency with which traditional educational methods inspire genuine understanding or long-term retention of what is learned that way.

I think that we teach way too many subjects and we cover way too much material and the end result is that students have a very superficial knowledge, as we often say, a mile wide and an inch deep. Then once they leave school, almost everything's been forgotten. And I think that school needs to change to have a few priorities and to really go into those priorities very deeply." (Gardner 3007)

Similarly, Gardner (2007) emphasizes the importance of transforming the educational environment from the accumulative approach of traditional education and the NCL approach to one that mirrors the suggestions of Emerson, Russel, and Einstein:

we need to have the individuals who are involved in education,…

The U.S. retaliated by freezing Japanese assets and imposed a complete embargo on oil exports to Japan and delivered the 'Hull Note' -- an ultimatum demanding a complete withdrawal from China. Japan considered the act unacceptable and opted for all-out war by attacking Pearl Harbor. (Ibid.)
Major Issues of the War:

Fight against Fascism: Fascism gained strength after the WWI. Totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan looked to dominate their neighbors and threatened military occupation. The democratic countries and the Soviet Union fought to stop them.

esources: The struggle to capture natural resources such as oil, considered necessary for development in an industrial age, was another major issue of the War. Hitler looked to capture the resource rich areas to the east as well as to create Lebensraum ("living space") for the expanding German population. A resource-poor Japan led by militarists had also adopted a policy of expansionism in…

The obvious implication is that the pairing of hands-on, inquiry-based active-learning teaching methods with cooperative learning holds tremendous potential for improved learning and social development of grade school students. Naturally, that would be an appropriate and likely productive area for future research in the area of effective teaching methodologies.
Conclusion

Cooperative learning has demonstrated tremendous beneficial potential as a modern educational method capable of increasing learning. Evidence also strongly suggests that cooperative learning is an equally valuable tool for increasing the educational value of academic programs for mildly disabled student populations, as well as for their integration into the mainstream student population. Beyond academic achievement, cooperative learning seems to benefit students emotionally and in terms of their development of communications and cooperation skills. Ultimately, its greatest value may be in conjunction with the more general shift toward active learning instead of the traditional focus on passive learning that has long…

Apart from increasing subject matter retention, active learning promotes intellectual curiosity, flexibility, and confidence, in effect, teaching students how to reason and think for themselves.
Unfortunately, current indications suggest strongly that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is retarding progress in the direction of better education, precisely because it emphasizes rote memorization and drilling in two or three subjects at the relative exclusion of other academic subjects and to the establishment of an effective learning environment for students (Sonnenblick, 2008). That is because the most essential function of modern education is to teach thinking.

eferences

Huber, .A., Moore, C.J. (2001). "A Model for Extending Hands-on Science to Be Inquiry Based." School Science and Mathematics, 101(1), 32. Sonnenblick, J. (2008). "Killing Me Softly: No Child Left Behind" School Library Journal, May 1, 2008, etrieved January 7,…

American School
The idea of the culture wars is introduced here, and these culture wars begin to illustrate just how our continued dependence on the dominant Protestant Anglo-American culture has formed and influenced America's schools throughout out history. The chapter also introduces the concepts of racism and democracy, and demonstrates how these two opposite ideals often live together in our culture. The "culture wars" grew over the whites perceived "superiority" over other cultures in our country, and eventually, the dominant culture in America became the Protestant Anglo-American culture, and this dominance continues today.

The concept of education in colonial times is discussed in this chapter, along with early education's relationship to religion in the schools. It also shows the differing attitudes people of the times had about children, and how the idea that schools and educational theories could influence national thought was first introduced. The chapter also discusses the social…

Even under ordinary circumstances, the NCLB motivates teachers to spend more time teaching standardized test-taking and less time on substantive teaching.
The other principal set of interrelated problems currently plaguing American education is that teachers are underpaid, there is little if any correlation between performance and compensation, and tenure policies make it virtually impossible to remove bad teachers once they have achieved tenure. As a result, the teaching profession cannot attract top talent, simply because the highest performing graduates have no incentive to take on high-stress, low-paying jobs where they cannot earn more based on their superior performance. In light of the tremendous importance of improving the American education system for the well-being of the country, public education must make only very limited use of standardized testing. Public funds should be directed into programs to increase the compensation of all entry-level teachers instead of being wasted on standardized test preparation…

(Galston) All in all, it is clear that your social statute is a strong factor of influence when concerning the level of education that you receive.
In some isolate cases, people can actually improve the efficiency of their educational systems. It is absolutely necessary for an educational institute to have virtuous directors in order for its students to become well educated. An academic curriculum would surely be benefic for the young minds waiting to be taught. A solution for the U.S. educational system to be efficient regardless of people's backgrounds would be for the government to attempt to pay equal attention to all people. Also, the government needs to create better educational programs for all students to enjoy the same level of education.

One of the biggest mistakes made by a normal institution is to believe that in order for a certain problem to be solved, one would need to…

" (Montessori, 9) There is a counter-intuitive disconnect between the priorities of the educational system and the real-life demands of individuals attempting to function ably therein.
Here, Montessori speaks to the incredible irony present even in higher education, where students are essentially intended to be prepared for the real world but are instead isolated in a false environment where priorities such as a streamlined means of graded evaluation, a disregard for the physical or emotional needs of students and an overall proclivity toward isolation from true conditions of worldly socialization tend to misappropriate crucial transitional learning years.

In some regards, Montessori's work is relatively outdated, betraying its origins in the first half of the 20th century by criticizing an absence of services that are now present in many universities. Some of the better funded academic institutions do possess programs availing medical treatment and psychological counseling to students where needed at…

European countries have absorbed a great deal in the way of material and culture from the United States, they have not become "Americanized," and that each country has incorporated what it takes from the United States into its own nationalism. In addition, the author argues that American culture has been influenced by European countries, although our culture has remained distinctly American. Finally, he makes the point that "Europe" is not one culture -- and that the United States is made up of many cultures as well. While European countries are "not like us," Europe and the United States have the presence of multiple cultures in common.
The book is organized into two sections. In the first three chapters, the author gives an overview from prior to World War II and continuing through the end of the Cold War. Then the author looks at specific cultural components affected by American influences…

Education in America
The seventeenth century has been called, as an age of faith, and for the colonists a preoccupation with religion, as probably right. The religious rebel of the sixteenth century was severe and shaking as its impact was felt both on the continent as well as in America. However, intelligent Americans of the seventeenth century thought and realized that education could, and may be should, be a handmaiden to religion. Yet, humanism was there more than religion in the intellectual diet of the educated Americans 1.

The humanists preceded their work at a stable speed, which, affected education of northern, middle & southern colonies of America. However, many argued that without much attention given to education, and without even realizing that the books comprised illustrations of better life were taught into schools in order to affect the life and mind of students, how could the aspiration of humanism…

Hernando County and NCLB: Mandate for Drastic Change
The Hon. Ginny Brown-Waite

North Main Street

Sincerely,

Hernando County's Current NCLB Situation

The Hernando County Situation in a Larger Context

National Commentary on NCLB

2004 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) eport -District Level, Hernando

1004 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) eport, Hernando

FCAT Grades and AYP Status, Hernando County Schools

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act has stamped modern American education with the mark of mediocrity. In mandating that all school districts in the nation live up to a set of standards or lose important Title 1 funding for their disadvantaged schools, and by imposing sanctions that are draconian in their effects, the federal government is imposing the will of Congress on the choices of parents. In addition, the dissonant requirement that states set their own standards creates disparity of a magnitude unimaginable before the federal government decided to intrude into this…

Ceasar and McGuinn (1998), "We are approaching the end of an era in educational philosophy." What was once a wholly Eurocentric framework for constructing an approach to the structures of the mind, psychology, and education, is shifting to include models of Eastern thought and new constructions of educational psychology. Western education has had for more than two millennia a singular purpose in mind - to make a better citizen of the community through learning, social development, and an initiation into the prevailing political, economic, and social structures of the community. Aristotle observed that there is no hard and fast rule to determining what should and should not be the focus of education. To determine what balance is "perfect" for education between practical and theoretical, between concrete and abstract, is a question that has been unanswered since Aristotle and, likely, will be unanswered over the course of the next two-thousand years.…

The effort to create an educational system by blacks and for blacks reflected the determined pride that characterized the newly freed black community. Moreover, the emphasis on black education also pointed to the segregated social conditions of the south.
Fairclough's second main point is that white supremacy reigned in the south until the Civil Rights movement. In fact, black political, social, and economic welfare actually worsened at key moments in history. White southerners relished the notion that blacks would run their own schools without the interference of socially liberal white Yankees. Black educators in the south found that schools did little to promote the practical advancement of black communities. African-Americans continued to earn less than their white counterparts even after they achieved the same level of educational attainment. Continued white supremacy led to a gradual mistrust of black educators and of black education in general. Cynicism poisoned the potential of…

Educational Problems
IS THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN TROULE?

The United States has enjoyed a long history of providing public education for all students. However, many people believe that our educational system does not function well and that it has not for some time. Although multiple ways to improve public education have been tried, the belief persists that our schools produce under-educated students who are under-prepared for college or work. The goal of education is to teach students, but not all the students learn well, and for those who do not learn, we cannot always find either adequate explanations or solutions.

For some decades, the United States has attempted to use group testing to track the success of our educational programs. One attempt was by use of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests (Ipka, 2003). These tests provide raw scores of from 0 to 500. The Department of…

American Indian Movement
The poorest people in America are the American Indians and it is also a fact that Indian reservations have unique laws that has made it a nation by itself within the United States. The modern movements focus on the American Indian reservations being empowered by self-determination. This is important for the economic, social and cultural improvement of the American Indians. It was with the Nixon administration that the welfare of the tribes became the focus of the government. The subsequent administrations encouraged the Indians to adapt to a policy of political and economic self-determination. Today many reservations have become economic hubs with tax and regulation havens for investment. Thus as of now the Mescalero and White Mountain Apaches "have become premier private managers of multiple-use forest resource economies." (Legters; Lyden, 1994)

However it must be stated that only during the eagan administration that there were major reports…

American Civil ight Movement
Compare and contrast the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on the basis of their leadership, philosophy, and tactics.

Philosophy

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was a civil rights organization that was initiated by African-Americans in 1957 (Fairclough, 2001). The movement was primarily aimed at ending the segregation and discrimination against the black African population in the U.S. The core philosophy of SCLC revolved around to seek civil rights and economic justice for the people of Southern States having majority of African-Americans.

Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) actually aimed achieving same objectives as those of SCLC but through non-violent sit-in and defiance of segregated dining and lunch services. The core philosophy of SNCC was also eliminating segregation but the mission statement was narrower compared to SCLC.

Leadership

The most prominent leader of SCLC was Martin Luther King, Jr. Other prominent…

The relationship they had with one another included a fair division of land, and a good balance of trade. Unfortunately, after the settlers learned what they needed from the Native Americans and took what they could from them, they no longer had any use for the proud people whose land they had invaded.
The relationship between the settlers and the Native Americans began to change as settlers learned to do things for themselves, grow their own crops and breed their own animals for food. With the settlers being able to survive on their own, there was no longer any need for the Native Americans to help. The population of settlers was also growing, and new villages were being built on land that used to belong to the Native Americans.

The settlers kept expanding the areas that belonged to them, and this made the areas belonging to the Native Americans smaller…

American Civil Liberties Union
(Friend or Foe)

America was founded on the astute principles of democracy and the potential benefits of freedom it derives. America, unlike many of its foreign counterparts has long recognized the benefits of individual rights, freedoms and privileges and has fought to the death to protect them. Currently, America aims to spread these principles of democracy around the globe in an effort to create a better quality of life for all mankind. Even with these lofty and ambitious goals, America, on occasion fails to uphold these principles within its own borders. Too often, America has overlooked the problems prevalent within its own country while criticizing other nations about their own circumstances. Many of these overlooked issues including slavery, discrimination, women's rights and others have left an unfavorable image in American history. In such instances, the American Civil Liberties Union has become the beacon of hope for…

Therefore, for instance, the Stamp Act was justified through "granting and applying (of) certain stamp duties, and other duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America, towards further defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same; and for amending such parts of the several acts of parliament relating to the trade and revenues of the said colonies and plantations, as direct the manner of determining and recovering the penalties and forfeitures therein mentioned"(the Stamp Act, 1765).
Taking these legislative manners into consideration, the opponents of the Loyalists considered that the issue of trade as a reason for maintaining the British rule was by no means a viable solution. More precisely, they argued that the lack of representation in the British Parliament should not allow the British to impose taxes they do not agree or vote upon. From this perspective, it can be said that the Loyalists had…

American Independence, National Unity
rief thematic history of the U.S. from 1760 to 1815

In describing U.S. history from 1760 to 1815, I would have to title it as "The United States: The Formative Years." From the ritish indifference to her New World colonies, and the War for Independence; to the events before the Civil War, the United States formative years were ones of triumph, struggle and unity.

During 1763, up until 1775, the United States and ritain feuded over 'taxation without representation'. Like a child, the colonies had to break free from the mother country and find themselves and their independence, which they did in 1776 (U.S. History Timeline).

Thomas Payne said in his political pamphlet 'Common Sense' that "There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest…

Education for Economy Theory as it elates to Adult Education
In an economy motivated by improvement and information, in marketplaces betrothed in powerful opposition and steady regeneration, in a world of incredible chances and risks, in a culture facing multifaceted business, political, scientific, technological, health and environmental challenges, and in diverse workplaces and neighborhoods that center on mutual associations and social networking, the cleverness, nimbleness and skills of the American people are vital to U.S. competitiveness (21st Century Skills, Education & Competitiveness, 2008).

Education economics is the study of economic matters as they relate to education, comprising the demand for education and the funding and condition of education. The leading model of the demand for education is founded on human capital theory. The main idea is that undertaking education is an investment in the attainment of skills and information which will augment earnings, or offer long-range benefits such as an…

Suppose I was asked to donate money to "Citizens for Better Schools," what would I need to find out about the group first? The first thing would be find out if they are a bona fide public charity -- a 501 C3 -- and if they were, I would examine their bylaws and mission statement. Secondly, I would locate board members and examine public statements they have made and projects they have injected themselves into. Something with a vague title like this one has could actually be a protest group trying to remove certain board members from the school board or they might be advocating to have the science textbooks changed so evolution isn't taught. I would also look through newspaper reports to find what the group has been advocating in its public pronouncements.

Should journalists have the right to protect their sources? The answer is yes. One example relates…

Even if a student has low grades, if they want to attend college, they should have the opportunity. Many students do better in college because they are more interested in their courses and in learning, and so, even if they had lower grades in high school they should have the opportunity to attend college.
Higher education prepares the students for the "real" world of work and family, but it can make a true difference in a person's life, as well. Just two examples of many that exist are Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama. Winfrey grew up poor, was shuttled between relatives, and was molested by members of her family when she was young. She managed to attend college, and it prepared her for her career in broadcasting, which began when she was 17. "She attended Tennessee State University, where she majored in Speech Communications and Performing Arts" (Editors). She began…

Many colonists had come to the new world in search of a lifestyle infused with greater freedom. The colonists' ideas about government differed greatly from their English counterparts. hile the English still focused on the power of the monarchy, the colonists had been holding popular assemblies since 1763 ("The American Revolution: First Phase"). They began to believe in rights that they saw the English and their stationed guards as there to violate. In addition, they believed that they, not a country across the ocean, should have the right to control or at least have a say in the political decisions that would affect their lives.
In addition to these highly popularized economic and ideological causes of the revolution, social causes also added fuel to the fire of revolution. As the 1700s wore on, More and more Americans came from European countries other than England. As these people began to immigrate…

It is important to recognize the many different areas within adult education, and what type of students these areas attract. Ultimately, for the adult education department to be successful, it must attract a wide variety of students, and keep at least some of those students coming back to continue their education in order to be successful. Adult education serves a vital role in the upper education system, and it serves a diverse amount of people, but in most institutions it also has to support itself if not turn a profit, and that is an important aspect to take into consideration. Therefore, classes must be viable to the institution, but to the student, as well, to keep attracting a wide variety of students into the program.
In addition, diverse students could form a major foundation of the program, and so, it pays to understand these diverse learners so administrators and teaching…

It is now recognized that individuals learn in different ways -- they perceive and process information in various ways. The learning styles theory suggests that the way that children acquire information has more to do with whether the educational experience is slanted toward their specific style of learning than their intelligence.
The foundation of the learning styles methodology is based in the classification of psychological types. The research demonstrates that, due to heredity factors, upbringing, and present circumstantial demands, different students have an inclination to both perceive and process information differently. These different ways of learning consist of: 1) concrete or abstract perceivers, where concrete perceivers acquire information through direct experience of doing, sensing, and feeling, and abstract perceivers, instead accept new ideas through analyzing, observing and thinking; 2) active or reflective processors -- active processors understand a new experience by immediately utilizing new information, and reflective processors analyze an…

One of his major works was a long poem written in three cantos about the horrors he experienced while being held prisoner on a ritish prison. ship. There we see a much edgier, angry Freneau who is willing to write about real life in real terms:
Here, generous ritain, generous, as you say,

To my parch'd tongue one cooling drop convey;

Hell has no mischief like a thirsty throat,

Nor one tormentor like your David Sproat."

All of these influences eventually came together, resulting later in the 19th century in Transcendentalism. This time when American writers reached to the past, they combined the best higher ideals of both the Puritans and the Enlightenment, and the love of nature from neoclassicism, and produced bodies of work that transcended all its previous influences. The roots for the literary movement that would bring us "Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry…

, 2005).
Even within the United States, the education system has proven itself to be extremely vulnerable to the detrimental influence of intellectual corruption by the excessive entanglement of ideology and formal education. Specifically, the infamous Scopes Trial featured the criminal prosecution for teaching evolutionary biology because it conflicted with prevailing religious dogma (Davidson, 1999). Much more recently, a conservative political agenda has dominated the educational systems of individual American states in which educational administrative authorities have sought (in some cases, quite successfully) to promote religious or quasi-religious dogma under the very thinly veiled guise of teaching nonsense such as "Intelligent Design" (Feldman, 2005; Mooney, 2005). Specifically, that approach (in conjunction with renewed attempts to challenge the legitimacy of established evolutionary science) was a deliberate attempt to promote particular religious beliefs in a manner designed to circumvent very explicit constitutional prohibition against that church-state entanglement (Feldman, 2005; Mooney, 2005).

Ultimately,…

This helps the institution become more successful and viable, and it creates a more diversified and content student body. It is the responsibility of students to demand this type of diversity if it does not already exist, as well. Students have the right to expect the best educational experience they can imagine at their institutions, and institutions have the responsibility to continually upgrade their delivery and content to meet the needs of a changing student body. Diversity brings greater awareness and understanding, and it brings new opportunities to learn from a more diverse population. An institution that remains stagnant when it comes to diversity will find itself behind the times and losing enrollment to more progressive schools, and so, it is the responsibility of the institution to keep current and foster diversity.
Diversity is the wave of the future, and an institution has to prepare its students for the future,…

With Kim's help, I saw that I had a knack for helping people. I was able not just to be supportive of others, but I could really connect with people and help them. I also had a great knowledge of course planning for almost every major at UConn, because I liked to read through the course booklet and see what kinds of classes were out there and see the different majors and what the requisites were for each. Also, I realized that I often helped my friends with their course selections and major planning before they went to their own advisors. Therefore, I decided to major in Human Services, where my concentration was in academic advising.
Thus, in my own way, I was able to travel through each of the seven vectors identified by Chickering and elucidated by eisser, ultimately arriving at the final point: the development of purpose in…

Denying certain individuals access to education at all, in a society that privileges literacy, also creates a societal imbalance and social inequality, as manifested in the examples of Frederick Douglass in America (Gutek, 2005).
Consider in our own contemporary public schools, how even simple actions taken for granted like pledging allegiance to the flag affirms the value of citizenship, how demarcating winter break as a time of rest reinforces the importance of Judeo-Christian holidays, and the content of the textbooks used determines what the child will later consider 'American history' or 'Great Literature.' Editing out certain authors or entire groups of people from the body of knowledge transmitted in a nation's schools creates an exclusionary message of what is intellectually valuable that the child will carry within his or her set of core assumptions, possibly forever.

orks Cited

Cahn, Steven M. 1997. Classic and contemporary readings in the philosophy of…

Finding out about other peoples and cultures, through technology, will be an essential part of education in the years to come.
Numerous aspects of the current educational system will need to be improved in future years. The focus must be on children's individual needs and abilities. Today, standardized tests and general requirements frequently restrict students' opportunities to learn. Many youngsters do not get the attention they need, or the enrichment they deserve. Teachers often lack the necessary resources to prepare children for the real world, or to deal with children's real world problems. "Teaching to the test" creates its own difficulties for the educator, leaving many unprepared for atypical classroom situations. Young people have difficulties at home, or in their personal lives, and educators do not have the training to deal with these potentially serious problems. Disruptive and violent behavior can lead to tragedy. Children do not receive sufficient ethical…

Education
The definition of an educated person has no doubt altered over time. Certainly, many people have tried to formulate the ultimate definition of what an educated person is, and what achieving that state might entail. In my earliest thoughts about the subject, I probably thought an educated person was probably my grandmother; she seemed so wise, and certainly, I never asked her anything for which she didn't have an answer, and a good one at that. I hasten to add that I didn't necessarily think so at the time. hen an adolescent love affair of mine had gone awry and I was miserable and mopey, she would advise me that the way to get out of the pits was to work at something, really hard. I wanted to wallow in misery. It took a few years more of life before I understood that, and even now, she was better…

A group that is, by its very nature, mentally defective, will also easily be viewed as incapable of supporting itself without help - a strain on the larger society. In terms of modern day American society, this could be seen as declaring that African-Americans, and other similarly impoverished and marginalized groups, are likely to remain forever within the care of the social welfare system. Believers in such ideas might easily raise the question - why bother with caring for these people at all? More to the point; however, is the question of whether there is really anything wrong with most of these individuals at all? Clearly, a large part of their "mental disabilities" derive from internal and external assumptions about what it means to be African-American, or a member of some similarly tagged minority group. A multicultural approach to the educational process helps to guarantee that all individuals are ranked…

Generally, it works by either giving a reward for an encouraged behavior, or taking something away for an undesirable behavior. y doing this, the patient often increases the good behaviors and uses the bad behaviors less often, although this conditioning may take awhile if the rewards and removals are not sufficient to entice the patient into doing better.
Existentialism is important to discuss here as well, and is often seen to be a very drastic way to examine human behavior. There are two types of existentialism. One is Atheistic Existentialism, and the other is Theistic Existentialism.

Atheistic existentialism has its basis in the statement that the entire cosmos is composed only of matter, and human beings see reality in two forms. Those forms are subjective and objective. People who believe in Atheistic Existentialism do not believe that anyone or anything specific made the world. They do not know whether it…

According to both testimonials and statistics, educated people report higher levels of personal happiness and job satisfaction. In her book, Nickel and Dimed, comfortably wealthy author Barbara Ehrenreich reports being taken out for a "$30 lunch and some understated French country-style place" and discussing "future articles I might write for [the editor of Harpoer's] magazine" (1). It is lunching with this editor from Harpers that she decides to take on a monumental task: leaving her posh environment and working in a blue collar job in order to prove, or not prove, that such one can get by making so little.

It is not only her work, but also her ability to take on such a task that proves the importance of education in both personal happiness and job satisfaction. Here, in the first few lines of the introduction, Ehrenreich alludes to her education and the choices it has allowed her…

A two-year degree can offer an affordable foundation towards a Bachelor's degree through a community college, however, it is important to have students take courses that can easily transfer to a university when the time comes. Educators and administrators should be mindful of the importance of guiding students to choose courses wisely with a focus on transferring.
What it all Means

The changes are here to stay. Students with Bachelor's degrees are more economically successful than those who do not attain them. esearch concludes that the disparity between incomes of those who are educated and those who are not, is only going to get wider until there is serious class distinction between the two lifestyles.

Educators nationwide can work to bridge that gap at every level of education. Those charged with educating grades kindergarten through high school, need to focus on learning styles, and the importance of teaching students how…