Sarah DeGraaf

Sarah DeGraaf
Mikael L. Pelz
Perspectives in Education Reform
January 14, 2017

The Greatest Problem Facing Public Education

There are so many different opinions over what is wrong with public education

but there is one underlying truth that unites these opinions, that there is, in fact, truly a

problem with public education. When looking at the number of public schools that set

students up for failure rather than success, it is impossible to deny that public schools

have not been engineering the results we would hope to see. It is also impossible to

deny that education reform has been present in the past three decades. Since the

publishing of A Nation at Risk, widespread concern for American public education was

sparked and reform has been in the air.

I think one of the greatest problems facing public education reform is that there

are so many varying opinions. It is not that no one is trying to reform education, but that

the different approaches to reform have conflicted and prevented positive results. Ideas

have not been compromised or united, but until they are we will not see a movement

that is going to result in any positive changes in the public education system in America.

Perhaps for anything to change in public education, the institution itself needs to

be reformed. As Chubb and Moe proposed in Politics, Markets, and Americas

Schools, the one best system that has been seen as the only way to govern public

education needs to be abolished (Chubb, 1990). We need to put the control of public

education back into the hands of local entities. There needs to be a shift away from
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federal control imposing standards and policies and a shift towards local parental

influence and more authority and voice for teachers. Until this shift is seen, there will

only continue to be disagreement and stability. Drastic change will not happen if the

institution does not undergo a major turn.

When considering what problems need to be approached and how to approach

them, it is important to determine what our goals are and what we value about public

education. Our goals and values of education will determine which turn public

education reform should take. One problem with the federal government having

nationwide control over education standards is that each state, district, and community,

is going to have different ideas of what a school should be for their community. When

control is held locally, much of this disagreement that is seen on a nationwide level is no

longer an issue. Generally there is much more agreement and more similar interests

from people living in close proximity than would be found if you asked the whole nation

what its values were. If control over schools is local, than the values of that community

will be reflected.

The need for an institutional reform stems from the ideas that local entities are

the ones who should determine educational standards and policies. Policy makers need

to be people who are involved in classrooms. They need to be people who are close to

education and they need to be people who understand what that particular community

wants and needs.

Charter schools have been one attempt at education reform, an attempt to put

education back into the hands of local control and take it out of the hands of a larger
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institution. Charter schools use public money but run independently, under their own

control rather than that of the federal government. They are still held accountable by

taking all the standards that the states public schools take.

It seems that charter schools can be a response to failing public schools. Some

states have allowed failing public schools to be converted into charter schools. Although

there is debate over the effectiveness of charter schools, they have been a prime

example of parents and communities taking back control in the hope that the schools

will be able to reflect back that communitys values. Charter schools have been a way to

give schools the flexibility and openness to try new approaches to education that would

not be permitted to be implemented in public facilities. Some of the additional benefits

of charter schools are that they promote a culture where everyone can succeed, they

view a students education holistically, and they strive to teach character in addition to

curriculum.

In addition to charter schools, other mechanisms to reform the education

institution have been seen. Vouchers and tax credits have enabled low-income students

in failing public schools by giving them public money to attend private schools. This

approach is much more of a temporary and immediate Band-Aid to help students rather

than a solution to a much larger problem, but it has helped a number of students to

have a greater chance of educational success.

Although charter schools, vouchers, and tax credits have provided some out for

students in a failing system, the system still remains. Until the American public

education system sees a dramatic change in the way that the institution itself is
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governed, it will only continue to propose failing ideas for reform that will be shut down

by an institution that urges for stability (Guggenheim, 2010).

 Sarah DeGraaf

Citations:

Guggenheim, D. (Director). (2010). Waiting for Superman [Motion picture].

Moe, Terry M. "The Root of the Problem." Politics. Markets, and America's Schools. By
John E. Chubb. Print. 1990.