The Public Education System

There has long been debate over the international competitiveness of American education, and there is a large number of people who argue that the American education system is dysfunctional and needs to be fixed. There are numerous proposals proposed by politicians of different era designed to revitalize and mend the system. One result of the approaches taken to mend the education system is increase in the influence of private corporations on the public education system. Though those corporate reforms have called attention to the public education system, those reforms are often superficial, and corporate influence on the public education system often detracts public education from its original intention.
When the government fails to adjust to …show more content…
Some corporate reforms have brought changes that would have been difficult to achieve otherwise. Private education reforms, such as Teach for America, create incentives and opportunities that are very difficult for the government to create. Teach for America sends recent college graduates to tough classrooms for two years to bring new energy to the public education system. Teach for America certainly begins with a noble intention and has successfully called attention to public education reforms, but the program is only a temporary fix for the system. The two-year system brings instability to classrooms; whether bringing young, inexperienced teachers to classrooms is effective is still debatable, and the idea behind Teach for America becomes less attractive as the criticism for this program grows[ Rich, Motoko, Fewer Top Graduates Want to Join Teach for America, The New York Times, 2015]. It is challenging to improve the quality of education without resolving the root cause of insufficient education, poverty. Children in poverty are less likely to have parents who have the time and education to provide children the necessary studying environment and train them habits that are necessary to have a successful education (Ravitch, p. 36). Those problems are not directly related to the public education, but they undoubtedly …show more content…
To counter those influences, the government, whether federal or state, must expand its role in public education. First, the government must appropriate a larger percentage of its budget to public education to compensate for the increasing cost, making public education more affordable, especially to those at economic disadvantage. Though regulations passed in the past have expanded the role of government in public education, those regulations left ample of room for private corporations to take over. The government’s role should not end after mandating new requirements; the government should also become an active force in helping schools achieve the requirements with help from government agencies and staff. Lastly, simply improving the quality of public school does not bridge education inequality; the government must take action to provide quality after school programs that would bridge the educational difference outside of the