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The Road Ahead for American Education

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Jill Biden(left) and Joe Biden (right) Source As you probably know, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. won the 2020 presidential election. With his victory, the president-elect promises to bring forth policies that reform many aspects of our government. One of the aspects that his administration promises to improve is Education. The president-elect posted his plan in detail on his website , I highly recommend reading it as I will only be discussing some highlights. In summary, Biden plans on investing heavily into the education system with the primary goal of creating an equal model for all students. This focus on education comes primarily from Dr. Jill Biden. The future first lady’s resume in education spans more than three decades. Dr. Biden has experience in primary and secondary education, in addition to teaching special-needs students. Biden’s expertise lies in connecting with students regardless of their background. Many of her previous students have stated that Dr. Biden “genuinely care
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Finland's Education Model Crushes Ours: Here's why.

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     This week I watched an ABC News report about the Education Model in Finland. I learned that the Finnish Education system is cultivating an academic performance that blows away the international competition. I quickly began to make comparisons to our education system in the United States. It’s no secret that our education system is far from perfect. Despite being the fifth biggest education spender in the world, the United States consistently ranks in the double digits in academic performance, according to the Program for International Student Assessment. In contrast, Finnish students have been placed at the top of the pack according to the program. In 2009, the Finnish placed sixth in math, second in science, and third in reading. By comparison, U.S. students placed 30th, 23rd, and 17th, respectively, of the 65 tested countries. One of the biggest differences between the two countries’ education systems is funding. While the United States has an education system that largely relie
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Built to Fail: Why America Needs an Education Overhaul

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   Via gettyimages        This week I watched a TED Talk by Geoffrey Canada,  titled “Our Failing Schools. Enough is Enough!”. In this TED Talk, Canada discusses some observations he’s made in the American Education System, and he shares some of his frustrations with the lack of growth in the industry. During the talk, Canada focuses greatly on how little the American Public school “Business model” has changed in over 50 years. He says “Look, you go into a place that's failed kids for 50 years, and you say, "So what's the plan?" And they say, "Well, we're going to do what we did last year this year." What kind of business model is that? (Canada)”. This is the basis for Canada's talk, the idea that millions of American students are failing academically and we aren’t doing anything to fix it. Later, Canada moves on to talk about the growing evidence that science and technology need to have a greater role in the education system, “Technology has chang
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Public Schools: Underfunded and Unequal

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     (Image from NHPR)         This week I read a post from the Blog titled “ Brooke's A's and F's of Education ”. The main takeaway from the post is that the American public school system is experiencing major funding inequality. The most interesting point that the author brought up is that “schools with a lower percent of poverty got more [federal and state funding]”. I found this point particularly interesting because any funding that a school doesn’t receive from the federal government, they must then make up through local funding. This of course means raising taxes for the already impoverished families. And that itself is the root of the inequality. An area that has a higher percentage of impoverished families will have to tax said families more than an area with more financially stable families.       I completely agree with the point that the author makes in her blog post. The lack of federal education funding in areas with higher poverty rates cause a feedback l
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