There once was a time (albeit a very LONG time ago) when the U.S.’s schools were great. They were the envy of other countries. Now? They are getting to the point of laughable. Why? Just look around. The public school teachers are decent (there’s no reason for better teachers to teach at public schools with the minuscule amount teachers are getting these days) the lesson plans sound like a brainwashing procedure instead of a, well, lesson plan.

So how can we improve our schooling to get the U.S. up to par with the better educated countries out there? Here’s some ideas:

• Same teachers: kids tend to learn better when they have the same teachers. Change is good; but having the same set of good teachers (teacher quality determined by student and parent polls along with test scores and student grades) for at least three years. This way the teacher won’t have to spend as much time getting to know the students and the particular student needs.
• Right teachers: to get the right teachers, the average teacher’s salary should be raised. Like I stated before, the teacher’s quality should be determined by student and parent polls, test scores, and grades. Students and parents would review a teacher at the end of each quarter of the school year, and then give the teacher a grade. If the teacher receives high grades, the teacher gets better pay. Lower grades receive a lower wage. Test scores also play a decent role; if the poll scores are high but the test scores are low, the wage is lowered a little. If all of a teacher’s class has low grades, low test scores, and the teacher was given low scores, they are fired. This way, only the best teachers get the job. Tax credit can pay for a teacher’s salary.
• Student incentives: today students aren’t very interested in schoolwork. They just don’t have motivation, and when their parents don’t care either, then they just don’t try. What we need is to give them incentives to get passing grades. What teachers are doing now are giving progress reports to people who get D’s and F’s and not giving them to anyone with A’s, B’s, or C’s. This is not a good idea because instead of encouraging people to get good grades, they are pulling down the people who are struggling. Instead of giving punishments, we need incentives like more library time, or a pass to go to the computer lab for one period. There could always be an ongoing class there, a teacher teaching a fun computer-oriented lesson.
• Discipline: nowadays the classrooms are like a zoo. Pretty much everyone in the classrooms are talking and passing notes, and a few actually care about their education. Discipline should be sharper, but only during class times. Students should be allowed to socialize between classes but not during lectures or class time at all.
• Online Assignments: teachers should seize the fact that the current school-age generation is so computer oriented by having extra credit assignments online. Teachers should also make sure all lesson plans, worksheets, study guides, and supplementary websites with related information and media. (For example, if a class was studying biology, then the teacher would put some supplementary links on his or her website for the students to learn more.)

These ideas are all created to force a well written and creative lesson plan out of teachers, to keep their standards high, and to add incentives for kids to learn. With these ideas, the whole way students learn could be changed, making the future all that much brighter.

-Rika