I'm frustrated by the lack of commitment and funding that so many school boards have for the school systems today. Just this week, our local school board announced that they would be cutting a number of teaching and support staff positions. How much longer can this occur. It is the same story around the United States. Funding for schools is dropping, and with many schools having declining enrollment, it is even worse. When will schools take responsibility for the declining levels of education in students today. More and more students are unprepared for college level courses, let alone graduate level courses. Many find themselves dropping out in the first year because they didn't expect the level of competition. Without this level of education, colleges will only be producing mediocre students, unprepared for the work world. How can be continue to be producing the worlds great thinkers when all high school are encouraging is mediocrity. When classes continue to be cut in courses because there is a need to save money, it is the students, and hence the future of the US, that suffer because the school would rather concern itself over how to name an athletic field than work towards keeping classes in school.
What prompted this for me was the recent elimination of a media literacy course. In today's world, students' lives are filled with media in one way or another-Internet, advertisements, magazines, music, etc. Many students are unaware of the incredible impact that these modes of communication have on the younger generations. Without understanding things like the bias in news, or the perils of marketing on teenagers, or the effect that television has on a child's development, students will not be able to discern credible modes of media and the effects in general it has in today's world. Can today's students be in a world where things like the media are allowed to influence every decision they make. Courses like these are vital to helping students grow and learn in a society that increasingly falls father and father behind other nations. School boards want to see teachers take responsibility for their work, and they should, but not before they take responsibility for the administration of the school building. Members of the community need to hold the administration of schools accountable for these items, and concern themselves more with the education of students than the how the sports team did on the game Tuesday night. Where are our priorities America?