A Failing Education Sector
Education has been going through several changes in recent years. The idea of an education system that provides the key to success has witnessed different explanations from different scholars. However, the current trends in the education system have not been avoidable, and change is inevitable. The norm of children going to school because a certain age has been reached is slowly changing, and parents are having set out goals for their children’s education. The impact of technology cannot be overlooked in the education sector. The last half of the 20th century saw tremendous improvements in technology and education has never remained the same. The education sector is, however, receiving criticism for several failures that are threatening the authenticity of the once celebrated field.
The success of a child in education is determined by the efforts put towards making sure that the child is fully committed to education. Education is not a teacher-only or parent-only activity since neither the teacher nor the parent enjoys a hundred per cent time with the child (Deming & Figlio, 2016). The time that the teacher spends with the child cannot be said to be enough to ensure the success of a child in terms of education. Parents’ involvement in the education of their children is the best strategy for improving the performance of the child. However, the education system is failing due to the economic status of the US. Most parents are employed in demanding jobs and are unable to create enough time for their children. Also, the education system is structured in a way that the time spends by the teacher around the children is limited. Therefore, the children end up spending a lot of time alone without the supervision of either the teacher or the parent. The results from such a system are a failing system whereby children are forced to devise ways of surviving the education journey alone.
Government policies have, on several occasions, led to significant failures in the education system. The primary mandate of the government is to protect the interests of the citizens. However, the government has, in the recent past, been developing policies that are causing suffering among communities and specifically school-going children (Neill, Guisbond & Schaeffer, 2014). A policy has been in existence for some time that authorizes the closure of underutilized public schools. The decision to close the schools has been based on the number of students attending a particular school. However, the views of the parents and children have not been of significant impact since parents have always been advised to transfer their children to other schools. The transfer of children from one school could have significant impacts on the parents in terms of costs and distance and to the child’s performance. The government should instead consider the interests of every citizen irrespective of the cost incurred since every citizen has a right to be protected and served by the government. The closure of schools should only be done after sufficient consultations between the parents, students and the stakeholders to ensure that closure is the only option.
The lack of proper balancing in school enrolment has led to a gap between the overcrowded schools and the underutilized institutions. The government has been quick to close the schools with low student enrolment instead of encouraging transfers from overcrowded schools to the less crowded ones (Torres, 2017). The overcrowding of schools has been associated with serious setbacks. First, the success of a student is determined by the distance between them and an instructor. The personal interaction between students and teachers in overcrowded schools is difficult. Also, the access to essential education services such as libraries and laboratories becomes a challenge and children may not receive the quality of education that they deserve. The effectiveness of a teacher in an overcrowded class is significantly tough to maintain, and children are left without critical skills that require close monitoring by a trained teacher. In addition to overcrowding in classrooms, the advancement in technology has brought significant difficulties to the teachers and the education sector is suffering.
Technology has been a cause of debate in education. Although the benefits of technology have, in most cases, appeared to outweigh the disadvantages associated with technology, some disadvantages are severe. Most parents have tried to replace their position in children’s education with educational games or online tutorials. However, the intelligence level of children has been ignored in most of the games that the parents expose the children. A parent can balance whatever they are training their children on and the teaching from their teachers. Technology, however, tends to instil irrelevant ideas to the minds of children, thus making the work of the teachers difficult. The challenges that teachers have been facing due to the impact of technology have contributed to a weakening education system that does not consider the needs of the child and the teacher at the same time. Technology is, however, not the only challenge facing the education sector since the government has also been on the spot over mean spending on education programs.
The priorities of government spending are placed according to the impact on the common development of the whole nation. However, the education sector has been left behind despite its crucial position in the development of the states (Wyner, Bridgeland, & DiIulio, 2017). The budget estimates have proved that education is one of the lowest beneficiaries of the government’s budget. Despite the reported growth in the US economy, for example, a squeezing has been evident in the education sector with most education programs remaining stagnant due to lack of sufficient. The government has been blamed for spending huge amounts of funds on projects that do not benefit the common citizens at the expense of crucial sectors such as education. Students are entitled to some amount of allocation that is supposed to cater to their education, but the amount has not been sufficient for the increasing requirements in the education sector. Some important projects, such as advanced teacher training have been left out due to the lack of sufficient funds. The lack of funds has generally led to the provision of poor quality education.
In sum, the education sector has been criticized for its enormous failures. The failures in the education sector have, however, been brought about by factors that are beyond the control of the sector. Government policies, for example, have made the provision of quality a challenge in most occasions. Also, the impact of technology has seen the work of teachers becoming difficult since parents are replacing their roles in children’s education with technology. Additionally, the funding of the education sector has been squeezed, leading to poor quality education.
References
Deming, D. J., & Figlio, D. (2016). Accountability in US education: Applying lessons from K-12 experience to higher education. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30(3), 33-56.
Neill, M., Guisbond, L., & Schaeffer, B. (2014). Failing Our Children. How” No Child Left Behind” Undermines Quality and Equity in Education. An Accountability Model That Supports School Improvement. National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest).
Torres, J. A. (2017). US Supreme Court Landmark Cases: Desegregating Schools: Brown v. Board of Education, 1st Edition . Enslow Publishing .
Wyner, J. S., Bridgeland, J. M., & DiIulio Jr, J. J. (2017). Achievementrap: How America is Failing Millions of High-Achieving Students from Lower-Income Families. Civic Enterprises.