Professor Delfinado
English 101-021
21 January 2015
Summary
In “The Quality of Public Education Has Declined,” Karl Zinsmeister argues that standards in American Public Education have deteriorated since the 1960’s when school reforms were instituted. Schools are starting to go back to the times where they let the students teach themselves and give them all the freedom they want. Parents started to become worried that these new teachings would affect their children. More money started to be given to public schools intending to improve education, but instead we see a decline. Students are not prepared for the real word after leaving high school while attaining a small amount of knowledge. Before school reforms were instituted the standards were held at a much higher level while also challenging students to do better and succeed.The standards today have dropped, teachers aren’t pushing students enough and lessen the workload to relieve their stress.
The idea of letting students be creative and use their imagination allows them to express themselves and learn from each other without judgement. It does work only to a certain degree though, everyday can’t be a walk in the park. The curriculum being taught isn’t challenging enough for the students, it is allowing them to get away with doing minimal work that won’t help them later in life. Learning being fun can help students because they engage more when something is interesting, but it can also be a downfall at times when students don’t know when to buckle down and work. Today’s society students aren’t challenged enough, instead teachers let students slide by and it ends up hurting them in the long run.