Five days a week parents send their children to school with the hope that during the course of the day their children will encounter a positive learning experience, an experience that will lead them to more fulfilling lives. That is what I would like as well. However, that hope is currently only a hope. The system known as public education is one that does not provide futures for all children. The educational establishment seems to be content with implementing a system that contradicts itself while claiming to prepare our future leaders. When the system sees a drop in scores, it responds by lowering standards. Uniform tests like the SAT and Regents have seen lower requirements and less rigorous sections in order to maintain an average that looks good on paper. This has occurred all over the country as well as in my high school.
In the beginning of this school year, I was approached by the assistant principal of Science in my school and was asked to sign a waiver regarding a change in the way the Chemistry Regents would be graded. A student's signature was needed to initiate the waiver. The waiver allows the school to count a portfolio as 20 percent of the Regents grade. The portfolio is made up of a project and lab exercises required by NY state. The problem that I see with the waiver is that it allows students to obtain 20 points before they even take the test. In addition, teachers do not have to be as concerned with covering every topic because students have received a crutch to help them pass. Despite my protest, the waiver was passed. Students taking chemistry and other courses where this practice has been implemented are now being cheated out of all they could learn. Instead of deciding on a plan to guarantee that students learn every required topic of that course, the state has decided to concern themselves with passing students, not with educating them.
Which brings to mind the question how can we educate our nation more efficiently? Students,...