After watching a rerun of Oprah today, I started thinking about the topic, “Schools in Crisis”. According to the statistics on Oprah, schools in the United States, schools that once were at the top of the list in the world for test scores, now place 24th, behind Canada, Germany, France, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. How is it that one of the richest, if not the richest country in the world has fallen behind smaller, poorer countries in test scores?
According to Bill and Melinda Gates, Oprah’s guests, the reason the United States is falling behind is lack of funding for our schools. As Bill Gates stated, ” What good is it for a kid to graduate in 2006 from a school system that is designed for 1956?” He also stated that if the United State’s school system were a business, it would be now be bankrupt.
What does Bill Gates think our schools are currently geared for? He believes our schools are geared for the industrial age and we are living in a digital age. Because of this, our schools are lacking in funds and supplies that are needed to improve our education system. Because of how out of date our schools are, Bill Gates believes that children do not value the education they are receiving and often drop out. The kids that don’t drop out and do head off to college, often struggle in college, not prepared due to the school system they attended in high-school.
So, will more money for our schools improve test scores? Will it improve the chance of having fewer dropouts? Will more money improve our schools? More money will definitely give schools more options, improved facilities and perhaps, cutting edge technology. When you compare schools that have more funding to a school that has little money coming in, you may gasp at the differences. During the Oprah show they compared two schools, less than an hour apart from each other. One school, an inner city school only sees 40 percent of each class graduate. The other school in an affluent suburb that boasts a 65 million dollar facility, sees 99 percent of each class graduate.
Test scores were dramatically different in both schools. Can you guess which school found 78 percent of its students meeting the state standards for reading? Can you guess which school only had 16 percent of its students meet the state standards?
Do money and technology make a difference? Are teachers more apt to want to teach at a school that offers advanced technology and award-winning departments, rather than at a school that can’t afford to fill its swimming pool for the last decade? You tell me where the great teachers are going to fight to get jobs. So, it makes sense why money and technology can affect schools so much more than people think. Lack of funding, lack of technology and lack of programs do not draw in teachers. Without great teachers teaching, it is hard to improve test scores, pass classes and graduate from school.