A Problem Critical to the Education in the 21st Century Essay

In the 21st century I believe that inequitable opportunity is the most critical education problem. Inequitable opportunity impacts people of different racial backgrounds in various ways. It limits the knowledge a student receives, the rate at which they learn, funds available to the school, the students ability to succeed in the workforce upon graduating, it even affects the knowledge or lack of knowledge a student learns at home. Though this may affect the teaching staff in ways, minorities from a lower income family are the ones impacted most. These students often fail because they are not prepared for success. Students from a lower social class have fewer resources available to them; therefore they do not make it to the top. Schools in poverty stricken areas receive less funding, and this severely impacts the students. The school is unable to provide students with up to date technology, and the resources needed to compete with their peers from more privileged backgrounds. The school will not be able to provide ESL classes for Latino students. Students will more than likely drop out; the ones who actually manage to graduate will probably be less qualified to perform essential job duties. These students will not be as knowledgeable because they may be using outdated texts, and they are not able to learn how to fully utilize technology needed to survive in today’s workforce. Schools that are in a low income neighborhood do not have modern buildings, the school buildings are very out dated. The air conditioning and heating may not be working properly creating a very uncomfortable learning environment. This may discourage students from wanting to go to school and it definitely does not attract quality faculty. Another issue that impacts the student severely is the lack of parent participation in the education process. This is crucial to the development of the child from a very early age; it is imperative that a parent be involved in preparing their child for life, as well as reinforcing things learned at school. Education starts at home and moves to the public arena where social interaction, behavior skills and knowledge are enhanced. Poor parent participation may be the result of work schedules, transportation issues, language barriers, or suitable clothing. Once again children from low- income families suffer the most. Both parents may have to work just to pay the bills, and in some situations there is just one parent, forcing some students to help care of siblings at after school when they should be focusing on homework or studying. As the child ages less attention will be paid to the individual as class size increases, the number of teachers increase with diverse classes, and overall s ize of the school grows. At this point the child will need extra help completing assignments and requiring encouragement to continue the education process consistently and for the duration through some college. The parent is not exempt from the learning process because of inadequacy or exempt because of poor education. As briefly mentioned earlier, in this setting the teaching staff is likely to be under qualified, once again this impacts the student. By the teaching staff not being qualified the type of skill the students will learn will not be up to par. Classroom Managers should also be aware of how they are engaging their students. They should have high expectations of all of their students. There seems to be a lot of racial stereotyping in minority communities. Teachers should know that all Asian students aren’t smart and that all African American students inferior learners. If teachers establish a high expectation of learning from all of their students and expect all of their students to do well then those expectations will be seen by the student. Students are then able to work at their highest potential and are not limited; a teacher should believe that all students are capable of learning at a higher level. The teacher of the 21st Century need to be more culturally responsible and they need to be more aware of what is going on in the classroom. Educators need to be trained in a way that is going to be more beneficial to the educational process as a whole. For example if a teacher has a classroom where the majority of the students are not being successful then that teacher and/ or teaching techniques should be reevaluated. The classroom is not a place where a student is just given work to perform and the teacher is detached, the classroom of the 21st century needs to be an interactive classroom where teachers and students comes together to share ideas, and engage each other in the learning process. Unless a Teacher can step out of the conventional box and begin to assess themselves and what they actually bring to the classroom, it will not evolve. Teachers should interact with students on a more personal level in the classroom and get to know their students as individuals; some children can get lost in the classroom for a number of reasons; including personal problems at home, and learning disabilities. By being involved more with the student’s teachers are better to adapt to a student that is having problems because they are unable to read well, or a student that is simply having problems seeing the board. Without establishing some type of a relationship with the children it is very hard for a teacher to recognize the problems students are having and how to effectively deal with these problems. Just because a student is unable to keep up with fashion, technology receives free lunch does not mean that this student does not have the ability or the will to learn. There are successful people that grew up in poverty, and have gained success through hard work and education. Everyone should have the same opportunity to receive quality education. Students are taught that education is the key to success, so how can one succeed when the education is not equal to their peers, the ones they will be competing against for their spot in the future. Education is the poor man’s dream to a better life. With minorities and Latinos making up a large amount of students in school the effects of inequitable opportunities has a larger impact on them. Students who come from an inferior social-economic level are just as motivated as students who come from a higher social class. You have Latinos who hardly speak English and are attending schools that are incapable of accommodating them; therefore they do not earn a degree and are forced to take a low paying job. â€Å"Status† may have an impact on a student in a social environment, but in the educational system this should not be a factor. The students from a lower social class are being prepared for failure, while the students from a higher social class are being prepared for success. In the 21st century I believe that inequitable opportunity is the most critical education problem. Recognizing the problem is the first step, however we as a society need to find solution on how to better level the playing field in the educational comm unity in order to make schools work for everyone. One thing we can to is to not only encourage proper funding for schools in low income areas but to also make sure that this funding get appropriated to do what is needed in order to make sure that the children have a proper learning environment. Bills and referendums continue to be passed in education s in order to make sure that schools are up to par but sometimes this money does not get to the prosper schools. Some schools get new buildings and a/c systems while other schools just get paint. We need to come together to demand to our elected officials that something be done about the conditions of certain schools. We need to make sure that these school schools have the materials that they need in order for them to produce successful students. Books need to be provided to every student not only in class but also at home as a reference for homework and studying. Computers need to be provided in these schools so that the students don’t fall behind on technology and become inferior to their peers. We elect these officials and we need to demand that they begin to look out for the betterment of our schools. We should go online and see how they are voting on the issues that affect us. If they are not pushing the type of educational reform that we need in our communities and in our school then we need to elect someone who will. Parents need to become more involved in their students learning. We must understand that a lot of parents are working, and most low income households are being led by a single parent; we need to find a way to get these parents involved to help their children so that they don’t continue to fall behind. Even if it’s just educating them on the process of following up with their elected officials and making sure they vote and their vote counted and is heard. Opening up the schools for parent participation and PTO and PTA meeting on a weekend rather than on a school night would make it easier for parents to become more involved. Also, schools could try social networking, and sending up dates to parents Facebook or Twitter pages to keep them up on what’s going on in the schools. This is a new era and the American household has changed and the educational sytem needs to keep up in order to keep these parents involved and up to date on what’s going in their child’s school. Teacher also need to be developed in the classroom and become more responsible for what is going on and have high expectations for all of their students. This will ensure that all student as are working to their best ability to learn. This can be done by giving existing teachers additional training and giving new teachers the training they need to be successful in the 21st century classroom.