SWA #23

Jonny Leon

English 102-111

April 2, 2012

Outline

Title: Improving Our Schools without Improving Test Scores

Thesis: The failing United States school system would see the greatest improvement by eliminating standardized testing and using a more effective evaluation system.

1. Problem – The current US education system is failing its students and will continue to do so until some change is enacted.
1. Teachers’ Unions prevent ineffective teachers from getting fired under the idea of tenure.
2. Standardized testing gives students only what is necessary to do well on the tests and no more.
3. The No Child Left Behind Policy rewards high preforming schools and punishes underperforming schools.
4. All students are not treating equally within the school system and gifted students are given more attention.
2. Solution – Elimination of standardized tests altogether and a focus on teacher evaluation of students.
1. Standardized tests should be eliminated altogether from the school curriculum.

                                                              i.      Standardized tests are useful for student evaluation in some ways but they become the only method of evaluating students.

                                                            ii.      Their use has become abused in all schools throughout the United States.

                                                          iii.      That is why they should be eliminated altogether rather than still used in a small manner.

2. Standardized test are way for the government and the administration to see how schools are performing but offer no real learning potential to the students.

                                                              i.      The current use of standardized tests is not what they were designed for.

                                                            ii.      They were just supposed to be a way the government could determine how much money to give to each school.

                                                          iii.      They have no become the main subject of teaching and some students are taught nothing but what will be on these tests.

3. In the evaluation of standardized tests students are compared to each other rather than up against some standard of excellence.

                                                              i.      This means there is no real standard for what students will be held up against.

                                                            ii.      Each year the standard will change.

4. Teachers should evaluate students individually.

                                                              i.      The United States is one of the only economically driven countries that still uses standardized tests as the main way of evaluating students.

                                                            ii.      Students should be evaluated by their teachers and then at a higher level of education they should be evaluated by a panel of teachers.

                                                          iii.      Individual teachers could evaluate the students through primary school but in secondary school a panel of teachers would evaluate their students.

                                                          iv.      To most Americans this concept seems so foreign and probably very difficult to enact but it is what most European countries do and the United States is well behind these countries in education.

3. Justification
1. Standardized tests are the greatest problem to the American education system.

                                                              i.      They led to all other kinds of problems within the education system.

Fixing the current curriculum based solely on improving tests scores would improve all aspects of the education system. 

SWA #22

Jonny Leon

English 102-111

March 28, 2012

SWA #22

            The current education system in the United States is no longer the top education system in the world and far behind many European countries. It is a problem that has been getting progressively worse since the 1960’s. One of the first real major changes was the No Child Left Behind policy in 2001 but that been ineffective and has even made some parts of the education system worse. Standardized testing and Teachers’ Union have all added to the problem of the decline of the American Education system.

Thesis: The biggest problem with the current American education system is the use of standardized testing to evaluate students. More effective ways of evaluation would have a great impact on all aspects of the education system.

SWA #21

PAPER 3

The issue discussed in this paper is deforestation. The importance is explained at my different times throughout the paper bringing up new reasons it is important.

The four different views are easily identifiable. The first view is that of the locals which disagree on whether or not they should let the big businesses continue to cut down the trees. The second view is that of the businesses. The business that are responsible for deforestation are dependent on these trees and would go out of business if  they had to stop. The third view is that of medical researchers which think deforestation should stop because valuable plants and animals are becoming extinct. The fourth view is that of environmentalist who think everyone, except the locals, should leave and the allow the locals  to have their land back. The thesis is informative but not very concise.

The introduction effectively leads into the argument by giving the readers the necessary information need about deforestation. It introduces the reader to the problem and the different sides of the problem. The conclusion effectively leads out of the argument by presenting the authors opinion and possible solutions the author might have to the problem.

This essay is generally effective but has a some problems.The different sides of the argument are all very similar which is at some points confusing. The different sides do not have different solutions. The different sides are offering, basically, the same solution from different points of view. This essay could use more facts than the ones include.

SWA #20

Jonny Leon

English 102-111

March 21, 2012

SWA #20

Title: Fixing American Education: Solutions to a Failing System

Thesis: The problems with the American education system are great and numerous, but solutions to the problem appear to be promising.

                   I.            The American education system has been failing its students for quite some time now and attempted solutions, while good in theory, never seem to work out properly and have very minimal effect on changing the American education system. The United States used to have the top education system in the world but now it is far behind most European countries. The No Child Left Behind policy had the greatest impact of anything so far. There are many critics of it, but just like any proposed change.  

                II.            Teachers’ Unions pose one of the greatest problems for the education system.

a)      Under the idea of tenure teachers remain teaching regardless of how effective they are.

i)        Teachers’ Unions have brought about the idea of tenure so teachers have a very small chance of losing their jobs.

ii)      In most states, tenure can be gained by working just two or three years.

iii)    After receiving tenure, teachers will rarely be fired because of ineffectiveness.

iv)    Many teachers’ unions require a teacher to be a part of the union if they want to teach in the state.

v)      Ineffective teachers will remain teaching which can have very negative effects on the students.

b)      Evaluations of teachers’ effectiveness should be done instead of the idea of tenure.

i)        Teachers should be evaluated on their effectiveness to determine if they are adequate to continue teaching.

ii)      Some critics of the education system say the effectiveness of teachers is the biggest influence on students’ ability to learn. It is not solely based on the quality or type of learning environment.

c)      This view is held members of the government and some teachers.

             III.            Performance on standardized tests is the way most states determine how much money to give to the schools.

a)      Standardized testing fails to correctly evaluate student performance.

i)        This type of testing causes teachers and administration to only focus on improving test scores.

ii)      Teachers begin to only “teach to the test” which means they only teach students what is necessary to do well on tests and nothing more.

iii)    Schools that do not do well on these tests get reduced funding and the students only tend to do worse there.  

b)      There are more effective ways to evaluate student performance.

i)        The United States is one of the only countries in the world that evaluates student performance solely on standardized tests.

ii)      A better determining factor of student performance would be teachers’ evaluations of students doing learning tasks rather than a standardized test.  

c)      This is the view of many members of the government and also the view of some teachers.

             IV.            The No Child Left Behind policy originally started in 2001 as a way to evaluate student performance

a)      This policy started as a way to improve schools performance by adding incentives to schools that do well according to a set of standards that were set.

i)        This creates some major problems within the school system.

ii)      Underperforming schools get penalized for not meeting the set standards.

iii)    Schools may lower their standards so they are not penalized but this then causes the students to get a less effective education.

b)      Obama plans to make a complete overhaul of this policy.

i)        Obama wants to focus more on the underperforming schools which may cause changes in administration or even closing the schools down.

ii)      Obama wants to create a set of standards that are agreed upon by all states but these standards would be less focused on standardized tests.

c)      This is the current view of many members of the government including the president and the secretary of education.

                V.            Gifted students are treated as superiors and therefore given more attention.

a)      In most schools gifted or exceptionally smart students are given much more attention by teachers and the average or poorly performing students are forgotten.

i)         These gifted students are put in special class and allowed to be in special programs that allow them to get even smarter.

ii)      It may not be a bad thing but then more money is spent on these gifted students while the rest of the students suffer.

Conclusion: The American education system is a growing failure and will not improve until someone enacts real change. All of the problems within the education system cannot be solved so determining which is the most important will have the greatest effect on bringing about any real change. This education system is something I have experienced firsthand and would like to see changed before it fails more children. I believe the biggest problem is  the focus on standardized testing and changing that may bring the greatest improvement to the education system in the United States.

SWA

Jonny Leon

English 102-111

March 14, 2012

SWA

Sam Register, et al. "Why We Can't Get Rid Of Failing Teachers." Newsweek 155.11 (2010): 24-27. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.

Teachers’ unions are allowing ineffective teachers to stay teaching. These teachers in elementary and secondary education are having a large influence on low academic achievement in these schools. Most states have very strong teachers’ unions which give teachers almost lifetime tenure after teaching for only two or three years of teaching. This is contributing to America’s low education standards and academic scores. The United States used to be one of the top achieving academic systems in the world and is now below most of Europe. It has been seemingly overlooked until now but the greatest influence on academic achievement is not quality or type of learning environment but the quality of the teachers. The government is instituting new programs to try and break up the power of the teachers’ unions and also give more credit to the more deserving teachers.

Granger, David A. "No Child Left Behind And The Spectacle Of Failing Schools: The Mythology Of Contemporary School Reform." Educational Studies 43.3 (2008): 206-228. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.

This article discusses the failures of the current ways that teachers are evaluated and how the current evaluations techniques make it almost impossible to determine if a teacher is actually good. The teaching system is flawed because it is too curriculum based and it makes the profession of teaching something almost anyone could do, therefore lowering its value. It makes teachers feel demeaned and underappreciated. The current ways of testing for teachers only are there to ease the minds of the public and have no real purpose in determining a teacher’s competency. 

SWA

By researching terms related to Kang's essay, I found many different articles relating to the same concept as Asian Americans playing baseball in the major leagues. Many of these Japanese players were cheered for by other Asian Americans just because they were Asian, not because they were  particularly skilled. It showed that racism is very much alive in baseball because certain players are written off just because they are not Americans, before they have even had a chance to show what they are capable of doing. Some people have even said that Asian Americans are sometimes put on teams just to gather support for their team from other Asians. They know the Asian Americans will support other Asians, therefore supporting the team.

3/12/2012

Certain players are discriminated against because they are not of American origin. The author makes the point American's will accept foreign players if they are good or stars in the sport. Asian Americans are not usually accepted into the sport, but Ichiro was accepted into the sport because he was very good. Baseball is America's pastime so many Americans want to keep the purity of baseball with Americans. The author is disappointed with himself because he liked Ichiro for the wrong reasons, racial reasons.

This article completes the task of getting his point across that stereotypes cloud people's judgment when looking at sports stars. His argument is effective with both personal experiences and facts about the issue he is raising. As a Korean he is able to get his point across because he falls into the same stereotypes.

The idea of true Americans is addressed in this article. Kang presents the idea that certain players will not be accepted into baseball because they are not truly Americans. Stereotypes are brought up because certain races are generally not seen as good at baseball as Americans. Kang himself does follows the same stereotype by cheering for an Asian player even though he is Korean and Ichiro is Japanese. Kang regrets this decision to cheer Ichiro because it made him an unreliable source because he was falling into the stereotypes that he is trying to write against.