Problems of Modern Education - Case Study Example

ISSUES FACING EDUCATION

Introduction

There are several issues facing education in today’s society. They involve either negatively affecting students' future or positively affecting it, which is rare. There is a lot of room for improvement in education systems, but implementing plans to resolve them is laborious than it sounds. Schools should reduce the impact of these challenges to encourage smooth learning. Some of these issues depend on the school's environments and maybe societal problems, which may be hard to resolve.

Three most important issues facing education today

One of the main challenges facing education is the issue of mandatory homework. Parents and students against homework argue that it does not allow their children to spend time with their families doing activities like fishing and soccer practice. Another reason is that homework makes students tired and exhausted. When students are up all night doing homework after having spent the day learning makes them exhausted even to concentrate the next day. Some people regard homework as very useful hence the need to take the issue seriously. Lack of homework makes students lose a lot of academic materials and can affect their achievements. Another critical reason to have homework is to keep students engaged at home, helping them avoid participating in harmful behaviors, and managing their time well. Education systems should look forward to a future where they make sure every chance is utilized to help students be more intellectual. The solution is for teachers to give students homework that takes just a little time at home. Another solution is to increase more classroom time for students. Instead of providing students homework affecting their time with loved ones, a little time should be added to class hours.

Another critical challenge facing public schools is the issue of homosexuality being part of sex education in schools. There is alot of homosexuality in schools today, and the syllabus and teachers fail to address their experiences, behaviors, and identities. Information on youth’s sexual health and sexuality is deducted from sex education. Homosexuality being part of sex education, would support their learning perspectives and improve their knowledge. Well-induced sex education can reduce negative sexual behaviors like infections of sexually transmitted diseases. Solving this issue will influence education in the future since it will enable the students be comfortable with their identities and acceptance. A solution to this issue is to have knowledge on homosexuality be a part of sex education by integrating it into the syllabus.

Mainstreaming special education students is placing them to learn with regular students during specific times according to their skills. Mainstreaming these students in public schooleducation affects them in that they do not receive the intended special education they are supposed to get. Most teachers in regular classes do not know how to attend to these students due to lack of training and skills, and they tend to expect more of them than they can offer. This affects the effectiveness of these students being provided with specialized education now and the future. This is a challenge to them since they have to keep up with regular students which affect their ability to achieve better in schools. This challenge should be addressed by stressing on training these teachers and instructors how to attend to these students. Finally the decision making of considering these students to be mainstreamed should depend on concerned individuals like parents, administrators, etc.

Conclusion

We have to accept the fact that these issues facing education today especially the ones mentioned above, will not be resolved over night as they will take a lot of time. These major challenges facing education in America should be dealt with especially by educators who should do everything in their power to conquer them. Education is a very essential instrument in the society and everyone in the surrounding should do what it takes to preserve its value.

Confucius belief on Education

Confucius, a Chinese philosopher born in 551 B.C is believed to have written very authentic writings concerning education. The writings are known as Analects which generally states that a man’s true goal of education is cultivation of his own character (Tan & Cham, 2018). His belief of education is that morality and learning have a very strong relationship. He believes that education improves an individual’s moral character besides increasing their intellect. According to Analects, he says that it is hard to find a leaned person being immoral (Ngai & Rita, 2019). Confucius insists that education needs to be based on moral principles in order for students to develop good moral characters. He illustrates the need of good education by five virtues on the analogy of the tree where he relates a person to a tree. A tree needs to be sounded by fertile soil and environment to do well. The roots of a tree (Jen) represent the will to do well to others regardless of ones wants. He emphasizes that education and the society should be properly rooted. The trunk of a tree (Yi) represents righteousness and strength. Education must be healthy in terms of being righteous and it should depend on many virtues to be strong. The branches (Li) stands for treating others with proper and right actions. Education should be based on good behavior towards others. The tree’s flower (Zhi) is the virtue of wisdom which is the flowering of love and good deeds towards others. Lastly is the fruit of the flower which is the virtue of faithfulness. As a result of an education based on moral virtues, the society has faithful people. According to this tree illustration, good education improves moral character, cultivates wisdom, and gives students strong characters. He believes that the cultivation of one moral character depends on rectifying the mind of the person (Ngai & Rita, 2019). This should be done from down to top gradually not from top to bottom. Confucius belief of education is compatible with my beliefs concerning learning. I believe that education should be based on moral virtues. Education needs to provide moral virtues to students to ensure a morally upright society. For people in the society to live harmoniously, relate well with each other and prosper, they need education that can develop moral characters in people. Therefore, Confucius belief of education is compatible with my beliefs. I believe that we need a society that is safe from immoralities that the today’s society is witnessing like, corruption, mass murders, inequality, and many more immoralities.

John Locke belief on Education

John Locke a British philosopher born in 1632 has another belief in education known as empiricism. Empiricism disagrees with Plato’s theory that the mind has some truths and ideas initially when one is born and as it develops, it build its knowledge from those ideas as other ideas help. Empiricism suggests that the human mind gets its knowledge through experience which is teaching (Sullivan, 2019). His idea of education is based on what experiences we can promote the mind to learn. He terms education as what makes our children either useful or not, good or evil depending on the kind of care parents provide them with. Parents have the duties and responsibility of a teacher according to John Locke. He says that education is everything in terms of environment that surrounds the child, therefore teachers, parents, and citizens in a society are all “teachers” (Sullivan, 2019). He emphasizes that the experiences that we give to children should not be driven by their desires but they should be what will make them great in future. He discourages severe punishments on mistakes to avoid children operating on the mere experiences of pain and pleasure. He encourages self-esteem as a mechanism to rectify mistakes through encouraging students to do better (Meiklejohn, 2017). Looking at what he believes to be the secret of education; John says that the most important aspect is being good examples to students. Another aspect of good education is acknowledging children’s worth of ideas. “Teachers” should encourage them in what they learn, listen to their ideas and take them serious. Lastly he says that “teachers” should present self-confidence in them for children to draw from. Children should feel confident in the experiences they pass through and parents should encourage them to be self-confident to be well educated. My beliefs about education are compatible with John Locke’s beliefs of education being experiences of a student’s surroundings. I believe that we learn from every aspect of our environment and everyone in the society should be responsible on the kind of experiences they give to children. I agree with Locke’s idea of everyone being a good example to children so as to encourage good moral behaviors and a prosperous society in return. Since children gain their education from experiences, setting good examples will enable children grow with proper moral virtues.