Friday, January 10, 2020
Charting a New Course for Schools Essay
Marc Tucker’s article, â€Å"Charting a New Course for Schools,†highlights the most urgent problems that the American education system currently faces. He mentions the need to reform the education system in order to compete in today’s global economy.            Tucker pointed out the deficiencies of the educational system in the country today. Furthermore, he stressed on the need to implement changes to the system. The author focused on information that evidently shows why there is an urgent need to overhaul the educational system.            According to Tucker, the report of New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, â€Å"Tough Choices or Tough Times, provides an overview of the current status of the American labor force. It shows how the American workers are lagging behind workers from developing countries in terms of skills and abilities. Also, Tucker points out that workers from developing countries possess the same skills and knowledge as American workers and yet are paid lower wages. This poses a problem for American workers since it is a given that any business man would choose to lower costs for the same quality. American workers are losing their edge in the labor market due to the antiquated education system of the country.            The dilemma for American workers is this, they must either give up their current standard of living or they must improve themselves in terms of skills, talents, and abilities. The latter, according to Tucker, is the reason why a revamp of the country’s education system has become a necessity.            Tucker points out two criteria that the United States must meet in order for its workers to continue commanding their high wages and maintain their standard of living. The author says that first, American workers must match the best academic performance in the world. At the same time, Tucker said, the country must offer workers that are the most creative and innovative.            The article also highlighted the characteristics of a premium worker or the worker that deserves to be paid premium wages. According to the author American workers should become premium workers in order to receive the current wages that they are receiving. He described a premium worker as someone who has a high level of preparation in the general areas of reading, speaking, mathematics, history, literature, fine arts, and science. Furthermore, a premium worker should be comfortable with new ideas and abstractions. He must also be creative and possess the imagination to come up with meaningful and useful products for the company. Premium workers must also possess the ability to solve problems by using their knowledge from various fields. Lastly, Tucker described a premium worker as someone who is a team player and can easily adapt to the various changes around him.            Premium workers are products of a good and up-to-date educational system. This is the current problem of the education in the country as the current system is no longer adept with the conditions of today. To tackle this problem, Tucker suggested seven steps that can be taken to reform the American educational system. First, Tucker suggested charting a new course for student progression through the system. This requires a total reorganization of the system and opening of new educational opportunities as the students progress. Secondly, the author pointed out the need to reinvest resources where they are most needed and where they will be most efficiently used. This means that available resources should be allocated to areas of the system which can produce the greatest amount of rewards for the students. Another step is to initiate a universal preschool educational system. Tucker viewed preschool education as the foundation of school-based learning. If students are to become highly-skilled workers, they must have a good education foundation and preschool education is the integral aspect of such foundation. For teacher recruitment, Tucker suggested that schools recruit those coming from the top third of the college class. This will ensure highly-educated and competent teachers. Moreover, Tucker suggested the adoption of high-performance management modes to improve schools and districts. Also, he pointed out the need to provide strong support to disadvantaged students. Finally, he proposed the rebuilding of standards, assessment, and curriculum to reflect today’s needs and tomorrow’s requirements. In general, Marc Tucker’s article discusses the problems of the antiquated American educational system and its severe effects on the country’s labor force. I believe that there is indeed a pressing need to revamp the current educational system. Education in the country today no longer meets the needs of the economy. The labor force that the educational system produces is insufficient in terms of skills and abilities. The workers lack the necessary skills that warrant the wages they get. It is for this reason that American and international firms seem to turn to developing countries for their labor needs. If American workers are to remain deserving of the wages they receive, they must become more competent and highly-skilled. It is my opinion that the only way that the country will produce highly-skilled, creative, and innovative workers is to change the educational system. The system should focus more on the development of skills necessary for the various employment needs today. It is the right of every citizen to be properly and adequately educated in order to survive. The current system can no longer provide the educational needs of the people. The primary reason why people go to school is to prepare them for work. Since workers currently receive sub-standard education, they lack the skills and abilities that the labor market needs. Evidently, the only solution to this dilemma is, I believe, to revamp the educational system.
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