Topic+of+the+Week

​​** May 17-May 21 **

Education reform is a current controversial issue. One of the big questions being asked by politicians, education administrators, teachers, parents and students is how can the United States's public education system be changed so that a better education is provided for our students. Some suggetstions that have been made are: 1. making school days longer 2. having year-round school instead of summer break 3.setting higher expectations for students 4. holding teachers accountable for failing students 5. implementing special programs, such as "Race to the Top", that will provide funding for successful schools 6. paying teachers more money 7. starting school later in the day What do you think? Choose one of the above mentioned suggestions for education reform to discuss. **Explain why or why not (in at least 4 or more sentences)** you think it will help make our nation's public education system better for students. Also, feel free to add your opinion about any of the other suggestions on the list.

I disagree with #5 because I don't understand why you would give money to an already succesful school. If the school is succesful in teaching academics and providing students with resources that they need, then why would you give them even more money? I believe that "Race to the Top" and all of the other programs to less succesful schools so they can have a chance to compete against the more widely known schools. It seems all our government cares about is making the core schools popular and the lesser known schools sucky. This isn't highschool. They need to grow up and realize that by giving money to the more under-achieving schools, our nation's public system would improve because more students would be growing in academics, and the unemployment rate would decrease because more children would have jobs because they actually have a highschool/college education and they DID achieve something in school. -Cara Quinn

I agree with #7 because people could wake up and not be so tired. This would help because i don't wake up until about the middle of 1st hour. I also disagree with paying teacher more money because the teachers might not being a good job teaching. With paying teachers more it also may lead to longer days of school and longer school years. Tyler Hoekstra

Well, I agree with #3 because I think that student's should be reponsible with their HW or studying for a test. I mean, why should it be the teacher's fault that student's aren't prepared for the next day? It's the student's job to make sure that they study or do their work, otherwise they would fail. Besides, usually teaches always give student's study guides so they know what the test might have on their, so they should study the study guide and then they won't fail. Also, if you set higher expectations on students, then they can set a goal and work hard until they reach that goal. Then it could make them more positive with theirselves.-user:fengclaire

We shouldn't hold teachers accountable for failing students because it is not always the teachers falt. Kids that are failing is usually because they don't want to do the work, don't want to listen to directions, and get in trouble a lot. Sometimes it is the teachers falt, an example of that is if everybody is failing in that class but in other classes they are doing fine. The reason that is the teachers falt is because if everybody is failing that probably means there is something wrong and usually there are only one or two kids that might be failing. Holding teachers accountable may or may not help make our nation's public education system better for students because it always depends on the situation if whether or not the teacher is accountable or not.-Andy Robuck

===//I don't think we should make the students days longer because the students will get tired.For example, if the school starts at 7:30 a.m. in the morning and if school starts ends at 4 p.m. then the students will get really tired. Also the students will get really tired and then they won't have much time to complete all of the homework. Also if the school days are longer students will nt have much time for other extra activities. ~ Vindhya Marri//=== I think we shouldent hold teachers accountable for failing students because it is your job to learn and be succseful in life. Since school was madr everybody was acountable for there own studys and study habbits. -Ryan Bauer

I think that paying teachers more money is a really good idea. That's because teachers get kids through life. They help us with our futures and to get jobs and to get into colleges and things. Without them, nobody would have good jobs and be educated! It __IS__ our job also to make our future but teachers help with that a ton! So, they should get paid a ton to help make up life for kids. Infact, they have one of the most important jobs so why arent teachers getting paid as much as they are important??!! They should defidently get paid more.- Sammie Zoghby
 * I think if we pay teachers more, they will be more motivated to help kids in school. Plus, they take 8hrs or more out of their day just to help kids and to teach us how to do things we are going to need someday when we grow up. They are as important as doctors and doctors still get paid more, but why!? Teachers help kids every-single day and definitely deserve more money for doing their job than they get right now. user:sealemckinley**


 * I think that if we make teachers accountable for failing students that they will be more determined to make sure students don't fail. They know that it will be their fault for making a student fail, so they don't want to make their students fail. They will make sure they're doing their job right, so they really don't want to get fired. Even if its just the student that doesn't want to study, the teachers will make sure they study in class, they will make sure the knowledge stays in their head.- Clarisse Sison **

I say yes to #2, having year-round school rather than summer breaks. I personally think it'll be nice to have some one month break to look forward to every three months, rather than a three month vacation every nine months. That way, not only will you not forget what you learned, you'll also have something to look forward to during school, which makes me less stressed out. And less stress means better grades. So I think that this might be something good to do. And that's not to mention that you won't forget anything you learn that quickly, like most students do. ~Rachel Zhang

I say yes to #7 because, we could sleep in later. I'm not just saying that because I want to sleep in. I think students would be more alert at morning classes if they had more time to properly wake up and be more rested. It would result in happier students, and better grades. What a great deal! user:baxterchloe

I agree with #7 but we should end later also because we need more time to sleep so we can **//__FULLY__//** recharge our batteries. So then we can use those batteries during the school day. If we have full bateries we can use every thing we have to concentrate and burn our energy into thinking. Some kids have a really hard time getting up in the morning. It is only worse if they dont sleep well at night. So I kind of agree with #1 also. ~Evan McDurmont

i agree with #6 because teachers shod be paid more because some students dount wont to work or be good and stay out of iss and,or dethin.-by cody dailey

I agree with number 3 because it is the stuents job to do their homework. They also have to study and be prepared for the next day of school. Teachers also provide study guides so the kids should do their work and study. So it wouldn't be the teachers fault if the studen fails the class. Setting higher expectations will let the person set goals and try to reach their goal.-Todd Merlotti

I picked number 2. having year-round school instead of summer break. I think this will make are schools and education alot better. I think it would help because kids forget alot of information they learnd in school over the summer. If we had year round school we would not have to take up as much time relearning what we learnd last year. If we had more school we would become smarter in the future. It might not be as fun to be in school insted of at the beach but it will help if we learn more. -Jacob Highsmith

​ i agree with #4 because if the teacher dosent teach the student(s) correctly or not teach the lesson right then the teacher should be held accountable for failing the student(s)... Kaleb Taggart

I want to discuss having higher expectations for students. I completely agree with that because when students have low expectations they think that that means its ok to do. For instense the teacher at the school where the student got shot in the face twice, she said that it happens every year and they why they have people and police officers on the scene to help. she said there was no escaping it and that was the teachers expectaions for there students. i think that if the students had expectations then they would realize that this is not a normal thing and it definatly doesnt happen at every urben school. when i feel like a teacher has a low expectation for me then i dont try my best becase i know that i wont get in trouble for doing bad, but when a teacher says i expect all of you to get at least a 90% on this test then it makes me want to ful fill that expectation and be the best i can. i also think though that teachers should be given higher expectations because they could have tenor just because they have tought for five years and be a horrible teacher but there is always a reason why they are a bad teacher and i believe that partly has to do with low expectations and that admistrators should give teachers higher expectations so they can pass more students. I would write about the other topocs but that could take a while. :) -ABBY BENSON

I think that the teachers should get payed more. They help us make and reach the majority of our goals. My parents could not teach half of the things that my teachers have teached me! Also when I am in high school ready to go to college, my parents could help me decide which one I go to, but its up to my teachers to help me reach the standards of that college. The other idea i agree with is making school days longer. I think school should start at 8:00 am and go to 3:30 pm. I know for me, in the morning its hard to get up and learn. By lunch time I'm up and ready to learn, but before that I'm not. Kids need sleep and this would give them a better oppertunity to get it! - Erin Shelby

iagree with number 7. I agree with that because a lot of students are always tired at school and are not getting enough sleeping. If we start later in the day kids will be more awake and willing to learn. I also think we should have year round school because during summer break kids lose 1/3 of what they learned during the school year. - Kelsey Blades I agree with number 7. The reason is because of corse almost every child is going to agree with this but I agree with this because i honestly think we would get more sleep and if we get more sleep then the less tired we will be in class and the less tired we are in class the more awake we are in class the more we will pay attention. And finally the more we pay attention in class the more educated we will be! ~ MaLlOrY FiNnEgAn

I have mixed feelings about #4 because I think it depents on the situation. Sometimes it's the teachers fault because they aren't teaching it right (not explaining well enough) or they don't even teach it and just give a work sheet about it. Other times it's the students fault the teachers povide help such as Navigators Help Session and the kids don't show up so the students don't take the help the teachers provided. So you shouldn't blame the teachers till you know the whole situation. - Claire Reed

I agree and disagree with #4. One i don't think that teachers should be held accountable for students failing because what if it is the students fault for failing. Some students don't like to study. Then it could be the teachers fault for the student failing because the teacher says copy this down in two minutes. They don't explain to you what it is about and how it works.~Samantha McClenning

I agree with paying teachers more. Teachers get one of the lowest paying jobs when it is by far the most important. Teachers prepare students for life, and what we learn in the classroom can help us out later. They help and guide students to their future career. So we should pay teachers more. -Addie Barch

I strongly agree in the higher expectations part of the reform, becuase for me, school is WAY TOO easy. If there were higher expectations, then people in school would be more smarter. I always hoped that school would be harder, ever since 4th Grade. Now I don't really expect school to be any harder, because its been super easy for atleast 2 years already. If there are higher expectations, then my dream can become reality. I strongly disagree with everything else though, because it would disturb the way I've lived and everyone has lived for almost a century now. user:blairshane

I really agree with longer school days because i think we need a little more time for class so we can finish a lesson for once. another reason is that i see my sister do homework. she really struggles. I like longer school days because i wouldn't want to do extremely hard homework.The yes's won the debate!!!!- Ryan Shepherd I agree with having year round school because teachers will have the same amount of time to teach their students, but if you have a week break instead of a three month break, they can pick up where they left off while what they were taught is still in their head and they haven’t forgotten anything. It will also make our schools better, because research has shown that over the summer break students lose a third of what they were taught. Also kids won’t get burned out from school because they will have shorter breaks more often, so they will do better. The teachers will have more time to teach students new material instead of reviewing old material if students are remembering material after shorter breaks.- Michael Hernan

I agree with #3 because students need goals to try and accomplish. If teachers are expecting them to just get Cs and Bs then they won't try extra hard to get an A. Also in the video we watched with the student getting shot the teacher said,"There is always going to be violence in an urban school at the end of the year". She was basically expecting fights instead of trying to stop them. So I think higher expectations will help schools and students. user:klopfercaitlin