Plans To Strengthen The Education System Worldwide

The country's future, a large part determined by its future adults, can be shaped by those who, with education degrees in hand, enter the field of teaching. Teachers help young children develop mentally and socially, instilling in them the skills that can help them to become capable adults. When education leaders from throughout the world gather in New York in March, they plan on trying to come up with ways to strengthen the profession of teaching.

Individuals who are born with a great talent for teaching might be among those who set out to obtain education degrees. But talent isn't everything, US Department of Education's Secretary suggested in a news release from the agency. She noted that the entire education system - from recruiting teachers to maintaining and supporting them during their careers - is important as far as establishing teachers who, collectively, have a positive effect on their students.

The training that students receive as part of education degree programs in the United States might depend largely upon the type of teacher they want to become. In the book, The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World's Teachers for Improving Education in the Classroom, authors James W. Stigler and James Hiebert contend that the focus in improving education should be on teaching, rather than teachers, and establishing a system that is able to learn from its own experience. Continued learning for teachers, according to Stigler and Heibert, is also important in terms of teaching.

These authors look towards 8th grade math, and point to Japan when it comes to having the most skillful and purposeful teaching system - one where teachers, through past lessons, memorization and lectures help students build "scaffolds," or establish ways for resolving problems that can at times be challenging. Teachers in high achieving countries follow different methods of instruction, Stigler and Heibert found. Teaching at its Best author Linda Burzotta Nilson recommends in part that teachers understand their students and how they learn.

Nilson's book focuses on college and university instruction and also addresses the millennial generation and distance learning, or online courses and online degree programs. Education degree programs also are available online, and students who participate in these programs might, once they enter teaching careers, find themselves relying more frequently on technology. That's in part because distance education is becoming more prevalent at the K-12 levels as well.

Students in education degree programs might learn about the federal government's "Race to the Top" competition, whereby states can obtain grant money for education reform efforts. In Florida, which was selected as a winner, the State Board of Education and Florida Department of Education this year held a "What's Working in Effective Teaching and Leadership" series.

In one session, the Vice President of Policy for the New Teacher Project, spoke about teachers being the most powerful factor in the academic success or failure of their students. He spoke of the "widget" effect, where teachers are treated in evaluation systems in different states as if one was as good as the other. There are some teachers who push students forward and others who drag them backward, he noted. By the time students obtain education degrees and enter the field, they might be evaluated differently as well.

Importance of the K-12 Education System

K-12 education is an innovative education system. This area of education has a dominance over the conventional educational systems as it puts more weight on thinking and reaching own self-explanatory conclusions.

The way of teaching here is completely different and phenomenal. Teachers generally follow the tactic of asking students to work on a lot of assignments since it develops an intellectual, yet interesting learning habit. In reality, this method helps the students in revising what has been taught previously. In K-12 education system, all the students are given individual attention and hence they understand their subjects in a more practical way. The role of a teacher here is just to guide them in the right way and provide them with learning opportunities. What really happens is that, the individual discovers his own learning capacity and success depends on the thinking ability of the student.

The classroom activities might be similar to what is being practiced in a public school where students go and get their notes and submit records but the key difference is that her in K-12 classes, the students are encouraged to bring about their personal thoughts and visions. Students enroll themselves in different forums and educational clubs where they get to discuss many points for the same topic and get different views. The teachers here contribute so much as to turning every discussion into a positive note cooperating with the students.

K-12 education system has revolutionized the education system in India. Over the years, the level of education system and syllabus has greatly improved in time. The K-12 segment accounts for the lion's share of India's educational market. Students are provided with the ultimate learning opportunities. The school invests thousands of dollars in bringing the best infrastructures. It is also equally important that the student utilizes this system in best possible ways. He must always evaluate the available information to jump to a rational ending. This is the type of educational platform any student can experience in the K-12 program. Therefore, it is no surprise that this methodology is being introduced by most educational institutions in India.

The traditional learning styles have their own merits, but this new and innovative education strategy is superior in that. It helps the students work individualistically and find solutions on their own. This strategy makes students self-determining, reliable and indulgent. It also improves the relation between the teacher and students and brings a warm classroom atmosphere. Such a harmonious atmosphere can create masterminds who, in the long run, can become assets not only to the school but to the society as a whole.

Our Education System Must Change

Is the goal of our education system to prepare our children to enter the job market? Does our current system meet those goals? An argument can be made that our education system fails to meet these goals and changes are dearly needed.

Our education system has become outdated and too expensive. From the time a child enters kindergarten, the learning process is to get them ready for college. In reality only a small percentage of students will ever attend a college or university. However, our system is to force every student to learn curricula that is required for college entry. We do this in an effort to be fair, so that all students have the same opportunities. What this has really created is an unfair system that does not address the needs of the majority of our students.

Education must become tailored to the student's needs. All students must be taught basic reading, writing and math skills, which should be accomplished before they reach high school. By the time a student reaches high school they should be tested to determine a track for continued education. Unfortunately our education system has stigmatized any form of education that does not include college. This is where the system is unfair as most students would be better off attending a trade school rather than being forced to take classes they are not capable of learning. Students who are not academically inclined should be diverted to schools that teach them job skills. Aptitude tests should be used to determine a students natural abilities. The type of education a student receives should be based solely on testing.

In addition, our colleges and universities must also change. Even this education must become more like a trade school and be narrowly targeted to the career the student has elected. Students are graduating from colleges with degrees that do not prepare them for the job they will enter. Our college education system is so broad that it often takes five years to get a four-year degree. This is not necessary and entirely too costly for the student and the country. If a student attends college to become a doctor then teach them what they need to know to be a doctor. Broader areas of education that do not need to be learned to perform the job skill should not be required. Surely half of the currently required classes could be eliminated if our education system was more narrowly tailored to the area of profession chosen by the student. The broad system we currently employ leads to students being saddled with thousands of dollars of debt. This would seem to put the emphasis on funding schools rather than teaching students. Students would be better prepared for the work force if the education system concentrated on the education they needed rather than the broad area of learning we have now.

An example of waste in higher education is the requirement to learn a second language. Learning a second language is a worthy part of either lower or higher education. However, students are required to take two years of language courses and a large majority cannot speak the language at the end. If the goal is to teach a second language, then our school system is failing miserably. What should be adopted is one of the commercially available language software programs that teaches you to read and actually speak a language. If students were required to do this for one year, they would become proficient in speaking a second language and the goal would actually be met.

With the advent of the Internet the possibilities for teaching our students is endless. The need for brick and mortar schools will become obsolete. Parents will have more options than the current public school system. Schools, colleges and universities will have to adapt in order to exist. Preparing our students to enter the work force should be the goal. Parents can no longer afford the cost of tuition and it is criminal to saddle our students with thousands of dollars of debt before they even enter the work force.

Most job creation in this country is done by small businesses. A lot of very successful small business owners do not have college degrees and don't consider having one to be a great asset to them. Especially when the degree is not tailored to their business. If a college degree is going to be the student's highest achievement on their resume, shouldn't it be specific to the job they are seeking?

Change is coming whether our educators and government want it or not. We should embrace this change and make educating our children about preparing them for the job market.