Friedman’s article brought up some points that I believe we, as Americans, are sometimes afraid to face. Without a doubt I believe in personal sacrifices in order to help others, but you must wonder how much of help are we? When do we need to step back and focus on ourselves? With national, state, and local budget talks constantly in the media it does concern me that we are sending so much of our money overseas while we have such struggles here at home. I hear within my district and through friends at other schools the cutbacks and layoffs that are taking place. The state of Michigan cut over $100 billion from its school budget this year. I keep thinking, with a lack of money and therefore resources, how can we make such post-Sputnik changes? What will cause us to finally realize that a spark within our own system is needed?
Data and tests show that American youth are below average in math and science in comparison to other countries. Shouldn’t this be enough of a wakeup call? One of the leading countries produces less than average students. Our focus needs to be on these subjects and producing students that possess skills that cannot be outsourced to other parts of the world. Children are our future. Actually, I would change that to say educated children are our future. Educated in such a way that they are prepared for global competition and hold skills that are unique and desired by other countries. I believe a change such as this take both monetary investments and a change in mindset at the federal, state, and local levels.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very interesting point. We are one of the leading countries and it is very sad that our students are not among the most sought after to hire into the working world. Also, it is interesting that the majority of our scientists and engineers come to the United States and are not students that are a product of our education system. This is very disheartening.
I would agree with you also that educated children will be our future. If we continue to produce students that can't compete globally, we will have few that will be hired here in the United States, as global competition will be rampid.
You also bring up a good point that it takes money and mindset to help make this change. It is not good enough to talk about it or to set money aside to fix it. There needs to be a plan and an allocated budget to put money back into education and specifically promoting STEM if we want to make a difference in the United States with our citizens. I hope that the spark that we need doesn't come too late! We can only hope and educate those in our classroom to the best of our abilities, exposing them to the power of STEM education.