United States Public Education System - Essay Example

However, many Americans believe in the ability of their public education to satisfy the needs of society. The three major reasons for this are funding inequalities and segregation, curriculum and assessment systems and educational behaviour policy. United States public education has often promised high-quality education for all its citizens irrespective of race, ethnicity and income. However, the education system perpetuates high-level inequality and most children do not have access to equal opportunities.

The level of segregation is so high today in the United States that cannot be compared to any other time after 1968 (Darling-Hammond, 16). According to Darling-Hammond (17), the schools attended by the students of colour in the United States of America are not only segregated but less-resourced compared to the ones attended by their white counterparts. In this regard, they are not able to meet current learning requirements. It is important to note that inequality has a lot of influence on the performance of students at school.

“Recent studies of schools and students learning have focused less on organizational constraints of material resources and shifted the emphasis towards organizational structures and processes such as leadership, efficacy among educators in school” (Sadovnik, 138) rather than issues of increasing segregation and financial inequality. Curricula and educational systems form the second reason for the disparity in performances in different public schools in the United States. Sadovnik explores different theories and explains how educational processes impacts how people work, think, role in society, life and whether they are likely to succeed or not.

Educational processes and learning systems should provide opportunities for all students based on their merit and not increase social inequalities since these have an impact on the outcome of their learning. Sociology of Education is therefore important in identifying different educational problems and providing solutions. However, in the United States, this has been a continuous cycle that has not yielded any fruit. According to Sadovnik, “Modern System of public mass schooling appear to travel a continuous cycle of identifying problems, constructing solutions, and implementing new reforms, only to start the process all over again” (234).

These are fruitless efforts thus there are no improvements in the performance. In this regard, a poor education system coupled with inequality increases the opportunity gap and reduces early opportunities to learn. Other key factors include; poverty, poor curricula, school funding, dysfunctional education environment, academic tests and lack of qualified teachers. Kozol also wondered why the education system holds an eight-year-old child “accountable” for her learning in a standardized test yet the administrators of the same system are not held accountable for denying the child what the child should be given to succeed (53).

In this respect, there are other hindrances to high performance that are not the prerogative of the learners. Behaviour change with respect to education policy is another reason for the reduction in performance for most public schools. The availability of teachers and the nature of children-children and teacher-children interactions play an important role in promoting effective learning processes or perpetuating social inequalities. Social inequalities have contributed to a higher extent in developing attitudes and behaviour in most American public schools and education systems.  The nature and strengths of the patterns of interaction are thus keys to understanding the relationship between individuals and organizational behavioural change” (Sadovnik, 439).  

It is therefore important to note that the frequency and powerfulness of these interactions play a key role in shaping the behaviours of individuals and vice versa. Sadovnik arguments, therefore, assert the fact that learning processes require more than just teachers delivering the content but also interaction. It is therefore important to note that educational processes play a key role in shipping the way teachers and students work, live, believe and thinks, this may affect their performance to a greater extent.

Inclusive education that provides equal access to resources and educational opportunities is the main solution to the academic achievement gap in American public schools. The United States Public education requires comprehensive reforms not only to raise the performance of both the poor children, but also to bridge the achievement gaps. Administrators must therefore create an equal teaching and learning system since it prepares both leaders and teachers well to face the different challenging atmospheres they are faced with. This kind of system would also ensure teacher and student learning by ensuring that the curriculum, standards, and assessment tests guide their work thus relevant to the knowledge and skills required. Schools should be equitably funded and resourced in order to ensure there is equitable access to a high-quality learning system for both the poor wealthy children.

Reduction of the achievement gap and enhanced learning opportunities will be attained through supporting early learning environments since this forms the foundation for the learners. Social security and welfare should be enhanced so that the current social inequality is reduced to a minimum. This would not only shape the behaviours and what children think but will also improve performance and bridge the achievement gap. The learning system should embrace In-depth student-teacher learning so as to create an environment of social interaction not only between the students but also between teacher and students.