Democratizing American Education Essay

For years, the the Statesn commandal activity brass has been plagued with chiding. In 1983, for instance, a report authorize A Nation At insecurity from the theme Commission on virtuousness in Education warned that the tuitional foundations of our nightspot be presently being eroded by a rising soar upwards of second-rater that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people. (p. 4) deuce decades later, Americas public schools watch b arly made progress in addressing the hassles posed by the NCEP report.This is evidenced by the continued inability of most schools to heighten scholars who ar mathematically and linguistically warlike enough for the demands of the Ameri canful labor market. (Du Pont, 2003) Likewise, the rapid addition in immigrant population has brought the problems of the American didacticsal outline to the fore by heightening the impact of the socio-economic divide on individuals access to quality precept.In Lives on the Boundary, author and educator Mike uprise (2008) describes how the changing landscape of America is displace the claim for reforms in the gentilityal system in order to adapt to the diverse realities of a multi-cultural American background. However, Rose excessively con scats that some schemes being advanced purportedly to democratise rearing, may actually increase alternatively than narrow down the spread head between the rich and the poor, and further force out the people who be in possession of been historically marginalized both literally and figuratively from the sphere of encyclopedism and education.(as cited in Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz, 2008, p. 99) unitary finds it difficult to dissent with Rose doubts about the ability of the proposal to go across to what he calls the ratified tradition in the university and in American education in general, to turn the quality of American education around. Rose shows the problems of the proposal to return to what he calls the canonical trad ition of pedagogy by presenting the realities of three immigrant students and an African-American student, individuals with vastly differing cultural backgrounds from the predominantly white, middle-class America.In this situation, it is doubtful that canonical teaching would be able to address the increasing need for student knowledge that is found not only on literacy but as well as the unique needs of the students for brotherly comprehension and empowerment. Rose argues, for instance, that the obsession among influential educators and policymakers to nail down achievement and excellence in harm of the acquisition of a historically authorise body of knowledge (as cited in Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz, 2008, p. 98) tend to push the marginalized more deeply into the margins rather than brings them into the social fabrics of American society.Indeed, despite the elected trapping that has been thrown over efforts to corroborate uniform standards and benchmarks of learning, at t he heart of the canonical tradition is the tendency to homogenize student thinking and learning. The superficial commitment to democratizing education is illustrated in the way that Americas education leaders pay flange service to democratic exalteds while inveterate to deny the rich cultural re genesis and the individuality of each student in terms of his or her learning needs.One of the educators that Rose mentions is Paulo Freire, who acknowledged that real education must be relevant to the lives of the pot if is to have any meaning at all. In this sense, a return to an education that is establish on the Great Books or the canons would be tantamount to regression. Such proposals likewise inevitably dilute public deliberate and understanding of the structural flaws of the American education system through its naive and forgetful assumption that the failures of American education are ca apply by a failure in instructional methods alone.However, scholars have pointed out tha t the handicap of the American educational system is pedagogical in spirit. Smith, et. al. (2004) contend, for instance, that the decay in American education arises from the increased influence of corporations (p. 193) on educational policy. Consequently, the leaders of the American educational system suffer from a simple view of education in which it is seen as a nothing more than a means of training the next generation of workers, cogs in the great American industrial empire, in order to sustain Americas supremacy over the world.The united States alarm at the increasing mediocrity of American schools was rooted more in its economic concerns as the worlds economic giant rather than concerns for cultivating a better American society base on American values and ideals. Clearly, the inveterate failure of the current system of education points only to its inability to provide students with the best learning opportunities and the best learning opportunities are necessarily the on es in which they feel have connection to their realities, which have relevance in their lives and in their struggles for a sense of indistinguishability and belonging.In this aspect, the very benchmark used to treasure student learning in American schools must be questioned and examined based on how these are used to shorten students based on the mold of the ideal worker and punish students who cannot cope with much(prenominal) corporatist educational standards because they learn differently or they have trouble understanding the radical culture they are in. Even the name mediocrity or the label inferior carries with it the bias of class, race, and gender.Clearly, these labels are usually addicted to individuals or groups who are impoverished and who cannot adjust to the ideal of white supremacy and strength. Thus, meaning(prenominal) education must consider the setting in which it occurs, (Rose, as cited in Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz, 2008, p. 101) more than importantly, ap preciating the nature of literacy necessitates an understanding of how it can be used as a implement for empowering the marginalized, the uprooted, and the disenfranchised on the basis of social inclusion and identity formation.In this sense, regularize tests and benchmarks can never really measure what students learn. Instead, educators should create and utilize learning benchmarks that are based on the concrete learning needs and interests of students. Thus, Rose discussion of the keep marginalization of the immigrant and cultural minorities in the compass of education reflects the social inequities which underlie the problem of American education.Further, the authors criticism of the additional threats posed by moves for canonical-oriented reforms shows how the educational problem lies in the general philosophic problem of the meaning and relevance of education for both citizen. In the efforts to institute reforms that would democratize and enhance access to American educat ion, at that place is nothing more defeating than the assumption that a single American experience exists to which the constitutional American society can preserve to.Another faulty assumption is that every single American student can be taught to behave and to think based on the ideal male, white, and middle-class American. It is this multi-dimensional nature of America that the leaders of the American educational system have time and once more failed to acknowledge. It is this failure by American leaders to come to grips with the diverse nature of American reality that is the real cause of the developing mediocrity in American schools. deeds Cited Du Pont, P. (2003). Two decades of mediocrity. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 30, 2008 from http//www.opinionjournal. com/columnists/pdupont/? id=110003445 National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983). A nation at risk imperatives for educational reform. Retrieved July 30, 2008 from http//www. ed. gov/pubs/NatAtRis k/risk. html Rose, M. (2008). Lives on the Boundary. In Lunsford, A. and Ruszkiewicz, J. (Eds. ) The presence of others Voices that call for response, (p. 90-103). late York Bedford/St. Martins. Smith, M. L. , Fey, P. , Miller-Kahn, L. , Heinecke, W. , & P. F. Jarvis (2004). Political Spectacle and the Fate of American Schools. coupled States Routledge.