What would you like to see change in the education system or do you want change? If so, are you going to take action to make the change when you start teaching? (you can even elaborate on the steps if you have a plan )

There are so many different aspects of teaching that I would like to see changed I am not sure where to really start. I think that high-stakes testing needs to be taken out altogether. Testing in itself is not a bad item to have because it shows who needs more help in certain areas and who is more advanced. To place so much emphasis on it is not proper in my opinion. I would like to see more faculty interaction, more than just departmental meetings. I feel that in order to operate to one's full potential in the school department, the entire department must work together in teaching. I feel that this is left out in many schools where the departmental meetings occur for "teacher development sessions" that give little help to the actual process and method of teaching. I also believe that if education could have only one, just one change, I would have teachers of all subject areas and experiences along with parents serving on local school boards rather than those who have names associated with money running the school board. In my own county this happens and the results are disastrous for the students. The "richer" schools are given much more money and the "poorer" schools are given nothing or if they are it is some meager amount of what the more affluent schools receive.

In middle school and high school, I would like to see more emphasis put back on to education itself and less emphasis on sports. I can remember when I was in high school that if you were not apart of a sport you were not really popular. Our school board and alot of our parents thought that sports was the most important thing. It is still that way today.

When I become a teacher, I would love to change it but I am going to have to get a group of people together to help back me up. In my county this is most likely not going to change, but maybe I can make just a little difference.

Sorry I forgot to log in. This is my post:

One thing that I think needs to change in the schools are the arts being dropped. I am not an art or music person, but there are tons of kids that are. I used to love my art/music classes and they are taking them out of the schools because of money issues. Come on, haven't they heard of grants and fundraising?!?!? Sometimes it is the art/music classes that keeps some of the "almost dropping out of school" kids in school.

The main thing I would change is the importance placed on testing. I realize that we need some type of accountability in schools today, but I feel that standardize testing is not the right way to go about it. I feel that if we were to measure progress from the beginning of a unit/ semester to the end of the unit/ semester, then this would be a better measure of student learning. I believe that the whole point of being a teacher is to insure all students are learning from both ends of the educational spectrum. Not to say standardize testing doesn't show this, but there are better, less stressful ways to assess our students than to say "Take this test to move on to the next grade".

I too feel that standarized testing needs to be taken out of our school system. We need a better way to ensure that all kids are learning but this is not a good way to do it. As we talked about in class, many people don't perform well on these tests, but that should not hold them back from succeeding. Of course the all famous thing to be changed is funding. How can we expect children to succeed and grow if we don't have the proper materials and supplies to teach them. I personally believe that parental involvement in the classroom is very important. I hope to make a change when I start teaching to encourage all parents to be a part of their childs education and be involved in the classroom. I understand that not everyone can be there and parents have jobs also, but I feel it is very important for parents to support their kids.

I think that there needs to be a higher pay for teachers first! we are the ones who teach the baseball players, doctors, etc., but they are the ones making all the money. I also think that being a teacher should be seen as a true profession that is treated with respect, and that we will not just been seen as "babysitters." I think that some tests are needed to simply make sure that when students graduate, that they could read and write good enough to get a job.

Hannah in reference to higher pay, I wonder where the pay would come from. I mean, the state of North Carolina is not exactly boiling over with extra funds. I would say that if something were to be increased in that area, then it should be an increase in benefits. For example I would like to see North Carolina teachers not have to pay any personal income taxes. I think that would go a long way to reducing the teacher deficit that we are facing.

I have been thinking about the importance of physical education for a while, and now that I am taking a PE and Health class, I am beginning to see its importance more and more. Therefore, I would change the fact that PE is being cut out, and that the programs that exist are often lazy. By lazy I mean that there is little activity involved and little planning or skill instruction on the part of the PE teachers. In my high school and middle school, I think we played "Prison Ball" 50% of the time. It seemed that my PE teachers placed way more emphasis on "dressing out" each day that actually becoming more healthy, physically skilled people.

Furthermore, I think PE is SOOO important. Just look at the rise in childhood obesity! We need to teach these children about nutrition and instill a joy for activity in them. Besides that, I think students need to move around and get rid of some energy during the day. I think this would help them concentrate better and decrease class disruptions.

For those schools that do not have a PE program, I believe teachers should integrate it into the curriculum.

There are two things that I would love to see changed. First of all, the amount of testing that kids today are being put through is completely ludicrous. It seems that kids are being tested from the time they walk into school. Many people seem to share this opinion and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who feels this way. The second thing I would like to see changed is the fact that P.E., Art and music are being taken out of school. As a matter of fact, my brother and I were talking about this earlier today. He was asking me why in high school, you only took P.E. your freshman year, and if you wanted anything close to that afterwards, you had to take a weightlifting class (at our old school). About the Music and Art classes being cut out, many of my friends (at risk of dropping out) told me all the time that if it wasn't for their art classes, they would have quit. I think these classes are very important because they are important to so many people other than me.

I would like the testing of students to be reduced. It seems that once I start teaching that I will only be able to teach the topics that will appear on the test. This is something that I am not really excited about because I would like to have more freedom with my teaching. I would also like to see the continued practice of Physical Education, Art, and Music. When one enters college in America, they take general courses in order to become well-rounded individuals. If elementary, middle, and high school students are not exposed to these three subjects, how do we create well-rounded individuals? I also think that these subjects allow student to find and better their talents.[/code]

THere are so many things that would be an ideal teaching situation. Teachers pay in North Carolina is one of the lowest in America, I do not know what the answer is, but Travis had a great point. There are other ways to compensate teachers. I know a few years back the state increased teacher's saleries but decreased their benifits.
I would definatly do away with funding issues. In the ideal situation the school would be able to afford all arts and sports programs.
And testing...yes, I would do away with testing all together. We are such an a society that needs accountability. We need to point the finger and make someone else responsible for fixing a problem...although I do not know what the answer would be to ensure every child recieves a fair education.
But this is an ideal situation, so every student would be going to a awsome school with great resources, dedicated teachers and administration.....!!

When I think of what needs to be changed in the educational system today three main topics come to mind. First, of course, is teacher's salary. I know we all agree on this so I won't elaborate any further. Second, I would agree with Jeni that the arts need to be left in school. I hate hearing of a school that is having budjet cuts and thus loses the music or art teacher. I know, like I said the other day in class, I never had an art teacher through out my elementary and middle school years. And I don't want that to happen to any other child. Finally, I would change the emphasis that is placed on standardized testing. Growing up in TN we never had EOG's or any other end of the year test that determeind whether we passed the class and the teacher's job. Hearing about it in my classes and seeing the stress that it is placed on students first hand, I do not agree with it. I understand that there must be some way to see how well students are doing but I don't believe we should put so much credit on the tests.