The Need for Federal Government in Education
The Need for Federal Government Involvement in Education ReformFor centuries, generations of families have congregated in the same community orin the same general region of the country. Children grew up expecting to earn aliving much like their fathers and mothers or other adults in their community.Any advanced skills they required beyond the three R's (Readin', Ritin' andRithmatik) were determined by the local community and incorporated into thecurriculum of the local schools. These advanced skills were taught to the up-and-coming generation so they could become a vital part of their community. Thelast several decades has greatly expanded the bounds of the "community" toalmost anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world for that matter.Advances in transportation and communication has made the world a much smallerplace then the world we knew as children. The skills our children need torealize parents' perpetual dream of "their children having a better life" are nolonger limited to those seen in the local area. It is becoming more and moreapparent that the education system of yesterday cannot
Students practice on these exams to help themprepare for the exam they will face; they know where to concentrate to meet thestandard. National standards must be established toalleviate variances from community to community and state to state in order forall citizens to have an equal chance in the global society. In England, standard setting wasconsidered the responsibility of local schools until 1988, when the EducationReform Act mandated and outlined the process for establishing a nationalcurriculum. The content covered and the manner in which time isspent was at one time fairly uniform in American education, today there islittle consistency in how much time students spend on a given subject or theknowledge and skills covered within that subject area. To improve education meant to tryharder, to engage in more activity, to magnify one's plans, to give people moreservices, and to become more efficient in delivering them. Three facts drive this new approach to creating schoolcurricula:* Fact 1: All students can learn and succeed, but not on the same day or in thesame way. Chester Finn describes this shift inperspective in terms of an emerging paradigm for education. Unfortunately, even though the system has been in place for a century, there isstill not much agreement as to the exact meaning of letter grades. Their means and methods are different however, theirobjective is the same -- To improve the education of future generations. Common Arguments in Favor of Outcome-Based Education* Promotes high expectations and greater learning for all students. If this is not a role for the Federal Government, I don't know whatis? . For example, in their studyof standards-setting efforts in other countries, Resnick and Nolan (1995) notethat Many countries whose schools have achieved academic excellence have anational curriculum. If wecreate the right environment, any student can be prepared for any academic orvocational career.
Common topics in this essay:
EDUCATION MOVEMENT,
Resnick Nolan,
Outcome-Based Education,
Bill Clinton,
Ritin' Rithmatik,
According NESIC,
Robinson Craver,
Chester Finn,
Office Education,
James Coleman,
national curriculum,
standards movement,
outcome-based education,
federal government,
academic achievement,
future generations,
subject matter,
obe movement,
grading practices,
school districts,
standards movement obe,
education future generations,
movement obe movement,
outcome based education,
outcome-based education *,
|