Aishwarya Wagle
Designed fully to be combined with the academic rigor of students and a powerful curriculum, American education systems have till now dominated the sector with careful precision. However, a few cracks in the glass make it difficult for learning to take the effect it has always had on these students. It is imperative for stakeholders in the education sector to understand these intersectional issues to better facilitate students across all dynamics.
The Tech Experience: What is the RIGHT Amount?
Modern technological solutions have solved a lot of issues regarding educational accessibility, but it has not eradicated the very persistent problems of a. A clear digital divide, and b. The use of this available tech. The problem of the digital divide among students clearly stems from a socio-economic issue, where non-accessibility of decent quality technological material for students is the main issue.
Whereas the second problem with using this technology is how it helps in classrooms. Students have divided opinions, some say that tech has made it easier for them to just know facts on the go, but others say that it has reduced the hunger for learning because of over-accessibility. A uniform level of accessibility and knowledge on how to use these products, especially in the classroom, must be provided to students expertly for the education system to function. Eradication of textbooks is not an option, but a combination of traditional and digital elements is accepted.
Student Incentives Over and Above Report Cards
Many students, particularly those of multi-ethnic backgrounds in the US, are often prodded into this school-to-prison pipeline, mostly because of factors like lack of parental involvement, lack of educational continuation motivation, no proper funding, and overly large motivations to drop out and pursue vocational training.
These problems often tend to hinder progress, ask too much of students and come with no provisions for multi-racial education support. Schools fail to locate the importance of a formal education within black and latino students mainly because it is expensive, and most teachers and principals are often not involved directly in the trust building process for these students. It turns out that a loss of faith in the system is more dangerous than an attempt to thwart it.
Standardized Testing: What do these tests check?
Many debates on standardized testing have risen lately due to students being pressured to take up these tests and perform well. Anything but an exceptional performance is threatened with loss of college admissions, with the Ivy Leagues put so high up on the list of things to achieve. Moreover, these tests do not actively test students’ comprehension but more of how much they have stored in their memory. Another line of complaints against these tests is that though institutions expect an average student to live an adult life after passing these tests in high schools, they do not provide any sort of real-life training whatsoever. This is also an important reason why many students report feeling insufficiently experienced after reaching college and experience living alone.
Education systems are supposed to be institutions that help students transition from an environment of learning to the workplace, while being trained to take on responsibilities that accompany being an adult, for example, handling finances etc. But being taught so less about these skills is a chink in the armor of the American education system. A good move now would be acknowledging these systemic errors, and provide a uniform sense of accessibility, instill a faith in the robust educational system, and figure out ways to help students in ways that would lift their academic growth.
