| Subject: Education |
Author:
David Nguyen
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Date Posted: 23:18:13 04/15/04 Thu
For generations, education has been what America’s backbone has been laid upon. Americans thrive because of its education and its thirst for knowledge. However, studies have shown the need for excellence in schools is beginning to decrease. The thirst for knowledge has begun to be nonexistent. Why has the youth of today given up on their future and the search for knowledge?
One theory is that most students work better in certain situations. For instance, there are three types of learning styles, kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. A kinesthetic learner learns by doing hands-on assignments as the instructor is giving the instructions, auditory learners do well by listening to instructions and then doing the assignment, and finally there are visual learners that do well by seeing pictures or graphs that display the problem or assignment that they are learning and reading the instructions.
Another theory would be how schools have chosen to distribute the day. For instance, in the 1950s, schools ran on a traditional schedule, six periods a day. Now in the 21st Century, there are school schedules that deviate from the traditional class schedule. These schedules include the block schedule, and the AB block schedule. For the block schedule, a student has four classes in a day that extend for about 90 minutes. For the AB schedule, the classes are also 90 minutes long; however, classes are extended over two days, which allows the student to have the six periods that are present in the traditional schedule. These new schedules, which try to accommodate the changing of times, also have their disadvantages; for instance, block schedules which are nice for students that want the basic classes. However, if a students that are interested with extracurricular classes, such as music, theater, or vocational classes, it is fairly difficult to accommodate to their needs. Then there is the AB block schedule, which combines the traditional and blocks schedules together. It tries to give students a feel of control over their schedule decisions; however, it also hinders a great deal as much as it is beneficial. With the AB block schedule, the student must keep track of the days they have their classes, which spans between two days. This type of schedule does a great deal of damage for traditional classes like English and Math. It hinders the student from getting extra help on assignments before they are due.
Finally there is another theory why education has been decreasing, standardize testing. Tests that measure the students’ knowledge and skills learned in the classroom. Doesn’t it sound like a great idea, in theory? If applied in schools it could mean a great deal of damage. With tests, in general, certain students are not able to complete because of mental or physical limitations. Also, there are students who do know the skills; however, experiences test anxiety which prohibits them from performing well. These standardize tests do not take in account of these issues. Also these tests are given during the school year. However, these tests contain problems that the students well encounter at the end of the year.
With these theories, it is easily to see why education might be decreasing in the United States. However, there are plenty of other reasons why the youth of today might view education as unimportant or unnecessary. No one can tell all the theories of why education is decreasing; however, it is a goal to increase the numbers to where it once was at.
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