Where my money at?
The American education system is suffering in so many different areas. As a future educator I definitely wish I could be paid better. I have actually considered trying to teach in a different country so that I could get paid more. However, the salary of teachers is by no means the only issue with the U.S. education system. An article entitled “What’s Wrong With America’s Education System” by Joao Alhanati discusses salary issues amongst many others. The article says, “Evidence was also given that America was more willing to lower standards than to raise salaries, and many teachers have little opportunities to collaborate with one another, making sense of the fact that a third of U.S beginner teachers leave within their first five years of work”. It is really discouraging to see a statistic that states that 33% of teachers quit within the first five years. Will I be a part of that statistic? Will the rewards of teaching outweigh the bullshit? In addition to all of my other concerns with becoming a teachers I also worry about these things.
The article goes on to discuss our countries spending on education and while we often complain about budget cuts and lack of funding, the U.S. actually puts a lot of money into our education system. According to the article the U.S. spends over $800 billion a year which is five times more than Japan who spends the 2nd most. However, with the U.S. already spending at least five times more than any other country on education and steadily declining in educational performance, maybe spending more money on education is not the answer. Another article I read in Newsweek entitled “U.S. Education: The Real Reason America’s Schools Stink” by Charles Kenny suggests that parenting is real reason why American schools do poorly in comparison to other countries. This claim is possible, but should be saved for a seperate blog post. It is important for us to recognize the areas in which our educational system is failing and consider possible solutions. Why wouldn’t we make comparisons with other countries and try to adapt different methods in attempts at bettering our system? I’m sure a salary bump would be appreciated and maybe that 33% percent of first five year “dropout” teachers would lower to 25%.
CSU CO301D 
While I do agree that a salary raise would be very nice for teachers and educators in the U.S. I really don’t think that it’s what we need to be focusing on. Honestly, if you look at is, teachers get paid pretty fairly considering that they get summers off and week-long vacations throughout the school year. And teachers aren’t in their profession for the money: they’re in it because they want to teach. Money isn’t everything, and that’s also the problem with our spending in the school system. It doesn’t matter HOW much we spend, but WHAT we spend and what on. A lot of funding goes into technology like smartboards and individual laptops which aren’t really necessary if they result in less funding towards content and resources. Funding is getting pulled from art programs to intensify science and math programs, creating an imbalance which is eventually going to spell doom and downfall. But the biggest problem that I see is the focus on standardize testing. Ridiculous amounts of money go into creating those horrible tests that only reflect a small percentage of what kids actually know, in a way that only suits an even smaller amount of kids. Money isn’t the issue: it’s the fact that we think money is the answer to all of our problems that is.
I really like the image you attached above the article because I think it does a good job of summing up some of the large issues American educational system faces. The article was interesting too and brought up many good points. I had no idea America was fifth from the top on funding schools but I think its the entire school set up that is the problem. People in class and articles have said that the educational system in the United States still goes by the 1950’s model, which is completely outdated now. In previous decades teachers were encouraged to use mostly lecture while teaching but now that practice is discouraged. The world continues to change and the education system needs to evolve with it. The entire school structure needs to be changed so students use higher function exective skills instead of just rote memory. School need to show students how to think not just memorize. I agree the funding is also not going to the right things, not every kid needs a personal school laptop, but every student needs the required books for classes. Technology is effective in classrooms, but will only become more effective when the education system is completely restructured.
I appreciate both of your comments and it seems that we all agree that changes need to be made. We can pump as much money as possible into the education system, but that doesn’t mean the outcome will be better. We need to restructure with the current times and focus the budget on what is important.