Fixing our public schools has been a hot topic around the nation for some time now. Much of the focus, however, has been on teacher accountability, teacher evaluations and teacher pay. It seems that the majority of politicians believe that addressing these issues will solve all of the problems our public education system is facing. I will not deny that there are many issues relating to curriculum and instruction that need to be addressed if we want to increase the quality of education our children are receiving. However, there are many other issues with our school systems that are important and need to be discussed if we’re truly serious about creating a better educational system.
1. School Calendar: Many schools around the nation still adhere to the same agricultural-based school calendar that has been used for a very long time. But, how many of the nation’s families make their living from agriculture today? Having three months off in the summer might be what we’re used to, what we expect, but it’s not what is best for students educationally. In those three months, students forget much of what they’ve learned over the course of the school year, forcing teachers to spend the first few weeks of every school year teaching concepts that students have already been taught. If we want students to retain knowledge, and have time to learn and master new concepts, we need to adopt a better school calendar that makes more sense educationally.
2. Discipline Policies: If a student is late for class too many times, they are kicked out of class. When students are caught skipping school, fighting, or misbehaving in class, they are suspended from school. Essentially, the go-to discipline technique is to remove students from the educational environment in some way, be it in-school or out-of-school suspension. So, not only have they been in trouble, but now they’re losing valuable instructional time and getting further and further behind in their school work. If we want students to succeed, we need to find better ways to discipline them that doesn’t harm their education.
3. Traditional School Events: One of my biggest pet peeves as a teacher is the sheer number of events students are called out of class for. Class time is often sacrificed for assemblies, fund-raising events, sporting events, college visits, and much more. If students are to take school seriously, we need to limit the amount of time we are pulling them out of class for things that are not related to learning. Many people may say that these things make school “fun,” but the fact is that our nation’s schools are not being evaluated on how much fun students are having. Most, if not all, of these events could be scheduled outside of the school day. And, if students choose not to attend, it means it’s not that important to them anyway.
4. Testing: In Michigan, students in 11th grade spend three straight days in March taking state-mandated tests. These are students who are taking classes like Algebra II, Chemistry or Physics, American Literature, and US History. Yet, the government sees no harm in them missing those classes for almost an entire week in order to take not only the ACT but also a number of wrap-around tests they have deemed necessary. The amount of testing done in schools is excessive. If our goal is to provide students with a good education and prepare them for college or the real world, we need to take a good, hard look at how much class time is taken away by excessive testing.
Andrea Hayes is a math and English teacher in Michigan. She has a BA in Secondary Education and an MA in Education.
