How To Improve Public Education in the US - Essay Example

How to improve public education in the US The federal government and the oversee the funding and control of public school systems in the US. Elected school boards in these public schools are the ones that have jurisdiction over policies, employment, and teaching for individual district schools. The public school system does regular tests set by the state. The state sets educational standards for the public school systems. Private schools are however commonly free to decide on their own staffing policy, curriculum and voluntary accreditation. The public school systems run from the junior schools to higher education including postgraduate programs. In America today, there are two distinct systems in public education. There are the public schools that are not entirely within the suburbs but principally in the wealthier districts and urban jurisdiction. In many respects, these public schools could be better but they are not in comparison to the US international counterparts in industrial relations (Reese 210). The other system of public education is the one based in the rural areas that are poorer and is in more of a crisis. These public schools in the rural areas have many problems. The students in these schools drop out before high school graduation; many are not absorbed after high school graduation because they do not meet the standard for higher education. Some graduate with diplomas that do not certify academic assurance in various subjects and many are in the end unprepared to join the work force because they simply do not qualify. There is a distinct gap in wealth and resources between the wealthier influence and poorer influence in the two sets of public schools. With money matters in instances of difference in per pupil expenditure between the two sets of schools, the gap is closing but not entirely, there is still a significant difference recognizable. The reason for this is that most of the expenditure in the poorer public system is selected by the state through compensatory education plan. However, funding and expenditure per pupil is not the only problems public systems face. There are problems such as lack of focal point on results, the problem of teacher associations and lobbies sabotaging education reforms, the current socio-cultural trend is also a big problem these among other problems can however be solved. There are several ways to improve the system of education in the US. A great way to begin is to eliminate the ineffective public school programs such as the early childhood expansion. The fund in these ineffective programs can be of use in staffing classrooms in the poor jurisdiction areas. They should consider that parents come first before any necessary state program (Reese 250). In the classroom, the implementation of the following approaches will help improve public education at large. Comprehensive assessment ought to extend beyond test scores and should entail closely monitoring individual students understanding their weaknesses, strengths, and fears. Parents should be a part of the comprehensive assessment because they are close to their children at home. These, together with cooperative learning where students carry out projects together, solve problems as a group and enable them to learn how to collaborate with each other or without supervision. Students will eventually learn the importance of cooperation and controlling emotions when working with people. Engaging the students in integrated learning where they go beyond tradition together with project based studies will help them to go beyond the syllabus to attain real-life experience which will solve the problem of graduating students who cannot measure up to the real world. This will also improve the focus on education, and performance can improve drastically (Reese 252). In terms of funding, the government should provide additional funding to schools in poorer districts. These funds will improve the learning environment and additional learning resources required for the students. The elementary and secondary education has grown in the recent years but the results are not to expectation (Reese 256). Reforming of current public school policies is a necessary step and restoration of power to local leaders and the state and recognizing parents should have more authority over their children’s education. These three major resolutions can solve the main problems in public education system, which are funding, focus on results and poor management of state schools. The American system is however not all that bad compared to other countries because no child stays at home; everyone gets a chance to be in school, which is fair. However, several problems occur within that need correcting. If the government embraces its responsibility to the society and corrects these problems the education system in public schools will improve and results in the outside world will be visible in the workforce and higher education programs. Reasons for reduction in crime rate The United States has experienced varying states of crime since colonization. There was a sharp increase in the state of crime after the World War 2. Between the 1970’s and the 19990’s crime was in a peak state including property crimes and violent crimes such as aggravated assault. Most of the citizens stated crime as a major problem. America has experienced crimes such as burglary theft and even major crime such as murder and rape in large numbers. Suicidal bombings in the past that claimed several lives and the fact those citizens were in fear of another Osama event. However, crime has reduced over the past years to state such as the 1960’s. There are several explaining the reduction of these crime rates. Educational development over the years is one of the main reasons for the reduction in crime rates. America’s education is better now in comparison to the 90’s. Today, every child has a fair chance of going to school (Lott 176). This has kept all the children and young people busy learning something in school. This leaves no idlers who would have to commit crime in order to be busy (Lott 124). Many of the young people are striving to join the American workforce thus the young minds are only concentrating on the education and crime no longer has space in their minds. Education together with the trending technology has kept crime at bay. Since all the young people are busy enjoying social media and the internet, no one has an idle mind that might just end up committing crime. Proactive policing is key reason to why crime rate has gone lower. It is hard for a robber to commit crime with all the current surveillance. There are more police officers by the watch and 911 dials have proven to very effective. Alert citizens together with the increased police force, regular patrols and technology such as camera surveillance, finger print detection and other technology have driven crime down. One cannot even mug on the streets because the streets have CCTV surveillance. Crime is on the low since arrest is in a matter of time and no one wants to serve jail time (Lott 120). The American government has increased employment opportunities in the United States. Thus, those who commit crimes have a better way they can earn a living. The burglars in the streets are now doing something constructive in a shop, a construction building, or an office. The fact that anyone can be anything in America has reduced crime rates. People are majoring on their talents and not necessarily getting degrees to work (Lott 123). For instance, a clown can earn a leaving without going to the office. If such a person did not have a chance, he might have ended up a criminal. Incarceration has also reduced the rate of crime because the criminal on the streets are now in lock up in the jail cells. In addition, the criminals who leave the jails usually have undergone reforms. Sweeping of criminals from the street to the jails it leaves the street with no crimes. When they leave jail for those who do, they apply the knowledge from reformation in jail. They end up joining the work force and thus do not return to doing crime on the streets. The US has improved correctional facilities and thus criminals return reformed and hence it is safer to walk the streets (Lott 125). The government has put in place programs such affordable housing and food stamps. This has reduced the economic pressure upon the youths who are the ones mostly committing crimes. Unemployed residents also receive some different forms of welfare. Some people turn to crime when in financial crisis this program together with increased employment alleviates the mind of many from economic stress. Social programs are also in place and these keep the youth occupied and work as an outlet that fights crime (Lott 125). Finally, demographics are a reason to why crime rate is low. The youth are the ones that commit crime and now that the population is mostly of the old, thus crime rate has decreased. As time goes by the US is experiencing little of crime and it is clear that with more development the crime rates are growing lesser (Lott 126). This means that if development keeps improving then crime will continue reducing and the long run crime will not be an issue in the United States. More measures brought into implementation to curb the remaining crimes committed will eliminate all kinds of crimes. Reasons local government should control zoning. Zoning is the process when the government controls any physical development on land and to what extent individual property is in use. Zoning has specific laws to what on where residential, commercial, industrial, or recreational facilitation may take place. An example is R-1 it allows only single detached residences as opposed to apartments while C-1 allows certain commercials or industrial activity together with housing (Fischel 1987). Apart from regulating land and use of property, zoning also regulates the ownership of animals such as dogs and sheep. For instance, one needs to get a permit to have livestock in an urban area. Extraction of mineral sources is also a under zoning and historic sites are protected by zoning. Zoning is the affair of municipal or local authorities as a wholesome (Fischel 1987). Zoning can be very different depending on the area f zoning thus having higher governmental levels govern it will be confusing since one set of zoning policies may not cover all the different features in the different parts of the country. The local government is more able to control zoning because each local government will be able to concentrate on their area of zoning in comparison to letting higher authorities that will zone all areas as a whole. For instance, the rural parts compared to the urban areas have different zoning rules that apply (Fischel 1987). Having a centralized power point to run the zoning will only lead to many potholes in the end. Decentralization of power to the local government will bring positive results. Zoning involves a lot of measuring buildings heights, number of stories, population density among other land and property related factors. Permits differ from thus managing thousands of different permits from all over the country will be difficult. Hence having the municipal cater for the different permits in the different districts will be easier (Fischel 1987). There are several benefits with allowing the local authorities to manage zoning. Greater participation is one of the benefits, the local authority is under the central government, allowing them to manage zoning will help citizens better understand zoning and this way the government will excel in governance. Local authorities managing zoning will increase efficiency since the people will be able to influence the type of service provided (Fischel 1987). This will not only ensure excellent service but will also help the citizens understand what is required of them for the have better care of their resource. Local authorities can manage local affairs concerning zoning these are some of the issues that are easily unseen by the higher authorities as they try to reconcile the people to the law. Local authorities will have that effect where they can encourage stability and social cohesion that are necessary in the enforcement of zoning since it also includes ensuring people are within the law (Fischel 1987). Representatives of the local authorities are able to carry out functions such as finding out how public resources are used. They are also able to come up with innovation for zoning within their zoning areas. Local authority will be keener on areas such as transparency, openness and accountability in zoning since they are concentrating on one area of zoning. Local authorities will be in a position to formulate solutions if any problems concerning zoning occur since each region has power to manage their resources independently (Fischel 1987). It is better to allow the local authorities to manage the zoning instead of higher government. Local authorities are close to the people and understand the needs of a region better since they are close to these regions. Zoning is entirely a local authority business because each zoning are has different features. Thus, each zoning area will require different permits (Fischel 1987). This can only be possible by empowering the local authorities. For these to succeed the authority has to be close to the people in order for the people to understand what is required of them. Higher authorities may not be able to reach all the people in every different zone within the country thus having the local authorities do it will be simpler since they will be able to reach the people and explain in detail what is required of them. Works cited Lott, John R. More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Print. Fischel, William A. The Economics of Zoning Laws: A Property Rights Approach to American Land Use Controls. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987. Print. Reese, William J. Americas Public Schools: From the Common School to "no Child Left Behind". Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011. Print. Read More