It is time for the State of the Union… where do you think education resources should go? what should be our priorities as a nation when it comes to education?
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Poll: What are your Education Priorities?
Posted in: Key Players, Polls
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Your turn
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I have been a school librarian for 36 years and even after years of research studies which link spending on libraries and having a certified librarian to raising test scores that in this time of povery budgets libraries seem to be the first thing to get cut. This year and next year I will be buying new books for the school library through bookfairs and my own pocket book. My students are poor and their parents can’t afford to buy them new books every week. We need to keep students reading. The latest series books, the current movie tie-in titles do just that. Does everyone want to read their books on a Kindle? I don’t think we could afford to purchase an electronic reader for every student.
The world wide web is a wonderful resource if you know how to search it and students need to be taught those skills. They need to know that Google searches don’t always return truthful information. Website evaluation is a skill that is learned over time. We need to teach our young people to ask important questions and search for reliable information and where information doesn’t exist to do the research that creates new knowledge.
The school library media center is the place where books, data bases, and information searching all come together. Library media specialists model search strategies for young people and teach website evaluation and illustrate the place books hold in the research process.
Library media specialists are the champions of creating life long readers and learners. Young people are curious creatures and the library is where that curiosity is nutured and student interests can flower. Libraries contain information for all learners regardless of their cultural, ethnic, religious or racial backgrounds. Without libraries we will be raising a generation of ignorant citizens. What is more fundamental to our democracy than a place where information from all points of view and many levels of difficulty can be found. The time is now to make libraries a national priority and true temples of learning.
Our education system has sadly FAILED. As Americans we pay more and our children get less. They can not compete in today’s world. Not every kid needs higher education but every kid needs to be a vocation.
i agree 100% with lori–as an educator of educators i have come to the strong conclusion that it is not the teachers but the parents–i think that parents have abdicated parenting and it is the kids and the teachers who suffer–i am tired of the lets blame the teachers/mentality that exists in this country–it is time to look more at the parents and outside influences and to stop making teachers the scapegoats!!!!
Reducing class sizes is always good, more focus on the individual student, rather then letting any child fall behind.
Do our schools need more funding? Absolutely! Only if it appropriated correctly, our district is top heavy. Let the funding be specifically for the classroom, not administration at the central office.
If someone outside of education actually sat down to talk to an educator, or spent a week in our shoes, they would understand the pressure that we are under constantly. We are told to be everything to our students, but yet at the same time, when we do we are punished.
As far as closing the Achievement Gap, it’s about seeking to learn then to understand. Be aware of stereotyping our students. Jamal is black and Muslim, therefore, we need to treat him with kid-gloves, because he “might” be a threat to us someday. Did you ever ask Jamal about things you did not understand about him? Maria is an excellent student in class, but she very rarely does her homework. You give her zeroes, because she didn’t do it, or it wasn’t complete. Did you ask her what she does when she gets home? Our students lives are very complicated, just as our lives are. When society reins terror on our students because of where they are from or whatever stereotype is attributed to our students, we need the be the ones to demystify and reeducate ourselves and sometimes it is the student or the parents who can explain their personal / societal cultures the best.
NCLB? There are good and bad to the law…yes, it does need an overhaul a major one. So get out there and cyber-lobby!
As educators, we, are great multi-taskers. Can we do it all? No, not really, but we can do what we can in order to educate and make our classrooms great for everyone.
Jeanne, I agree. We do need more funding for the classrooms and not for administration. Learning should be taking place between students and teachers in the classroom, but no funding ever seems to arrive in the classroom. We get wonderful budgets for our technology departments, but it goes to hire more technicians, and not for technology in the classroom. Teachers are severely underpaid for the responsibilities and education required of them, but we continually pay out of our own pockets for text books, modern literature, paper, basic classroom supplies and even foot the bill for our own field trips. If education is really important to the American people, start spending some money on the students and give us what we need to teach! When will we get some funding labeled, “For classroom use only: By Teachers?”
I have been an educator for 18 years and I believe the achievement gap can be closed. I also believe that teachers are the ones who have to do it. We send kids home with textbooks that they can’t read and homework they don’t understand and say they fail because they didn’t study or that their parents didn’t care enough about education to help them. The truth is until we, the educators, stop making excuses the systems of oppression that serve the dominant culture at the expense of others will remain intact. Collectively we hold the power to improve the futures of millions of children. The only yardstick that ever should be used to measure a teacher’s success in the learning of thier students. It is time to stop passing the buck and do what it takes to make sure every student learns every day. That is our job!!!!!
And how do we make sure students learn every day when they are not in school every day – when their parent’s send them to school hungry – when they come to school exhausted because they were awake all night worried about their drunken/strung-out/high family member beating the hell out of their mother – when they learn through movement and the administrators take away recess and Phys. Ed – when they are emotionally scarred from watching their father literally murder their mother one the side of the highway and nobody would stop to help them… how can we teach when a child that refuses to turn in his/her work is told that it is the fault of the teacher and they will sue the teacher or get her fired? How can we teach when students are so busy listening to their gangsta rap music about how they should kill anybody that disagrees with them and sending harassing text messages on their cell phones that their parents insist they NEED to have during class time… If it is really up to the teachers to make sure that the students learn – then let us teach. Stop tying our hands behind our backs and forcing us to deal with the same disruptive students every day that take away learning time from the students who really do want an education.
I agree with President Obama “… the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than their potential.” Having said this, something must be done about the moral and ethical responsibility of our government from the top to the very lowest on the totem pole of this system. This would include not just providing for parents but expecting parental accountability on all fronts. Education begins at home whether poor or wealthy.
ADHD, PARENTS…THIS IS WHAT OUR COUNTRY HAS BECOME, IF WE CAN’T EDUCATE THEN OUR SOCIETY IS DOOMED…
I believe we should tax parents that do not show up for conferences. 2 conferences a year $250 each if the parents do not show.
Why ARE the school systems responsible for Johnny’s attendance?
When Johnny has been told by a doctor he HAS ADHD….
Just correcting a few of your errors there. I certainly hope you aren’t a teacher, if so I can see where part of the problem lies.
I agree with you, John! Some of the grammatical errors within these comments are embarrassing and I certainly HOPE all these folks aren’t teachers!
A major problem today with Education is the parental accountability. There is none! Why is the school systems responsible for Johnny’s attendance? When Johnny has been told by a doctor he is ADHD and needs to be on meds, the parents refuse the meds, Johnny’s behavior is out of control, but it is our responsibility to teach Johnnny anyway. Marty never does homework, does poorly in subjects and on tests, and parents can’t make it to conferences and notes Never get returned and phone calls never get answered-numbers are changed.