Some of the futurists are predicting that our youth will be unprepared in science and math to compete successfully in the global economy by 2010 unless we make some drastic changes to education now.
This is just one of the reasons why today’s schools are implementing instructional coaches in the classroom, one of the fastest growing trends in education. The reason is because schools are faced with greater accountability than ever before and many school districts are seeking new methods of supporting professional development among teachers to strengthen teaching practice and improve student learning.
Districts are using coaches to help implement reform and focusing on particular critical areas such as math, science and reading. These new methods are intended to support broad implementation of best practices in classrooms.
Other trends in education have started at the grass roots level in places like Sunset Park, New York. In that community alone, more than 15,000 kids drop out of school every year.
Joyce Mattera is the founder of one charity organization called Children of the City which she started in 1981 to reach out to help kids. Volunteers and began visiting children weekly to assess their needs and invite them to various community programs, helping them via academic support, life skills training and family counseling. Board members have helped the organization raise funds for this last year’s Christmas gifts for more than 800 children.
Create Success is one program being used at Children of the City that is constantly being evaluated for needs and even better success. It is fast becoming a model sought after by other agencies.
High priority is placed on student’s academic success with intense tutoring and daily personal homework help. They also provide students with counseling, and advocacy within the social systems such as courts, plus age-appropriate group and individual mentoring.
Trends will shape the future of educators and students globally. The future of America’s education system, for example, according to futurist James Canton, is that “the quality of public education, in crisis today, will either propel or crash the future aspirations of the American workforce.” It is also predicted that education is failing to prepare high-tech workers.
There is also a rise in the Hispanic population in this country. Many of the kids in Brooklyn, New York, for instance, come from Hispanic families who cannot afford help when their kids are not doing well at school.
Thanks to the Internet there is hope for the future of our education system. By the year 2040 the Internet should be available to people of all nations. By then futurists like Canton predict immediate, portable, transferable, in-demand knowledge sources on a scale equivalent to the Library of Congress. It’s eighth among the top ten trends of the new innovation economy.
By: Kristin DeAnn Gabriel
Posts Tagged ‘Education In America’
Future Trends for Education in America
January 26th, 2010What’s Wrong with Education in America?
October 30th, 2009
Why is education so bad in America compared to other countries? I’m sick and tired of reading and hearing about all the bad things in the American educational system. As a former teacher of both college and high school mathematics, I find my insides turning every time I read a report on how we are failing our children. But are we failing, or are there other factors which need to be addressed? Let’s take a look at these.
The educational debate has been raging for decades already, and every month or so someone comes up with the supposed solution to our educational ills. These soi disant experts rally their call and come up with new programs which will remedy our maladjusted programs. The “new math” is one example of these innovative constructs which only served to further bewilder an already confused educational curriculum.
The truth of the matter is that education can never improve when the very customers are against such, when they don’t see any connection with reality, and when they can’t find any reason why they need to learn the fodder we force on them. We need to make our children self-sufficient. We need to show them how to thrive and prosper. Our educational programs need to show students how to make it in the world, and yes, this means showing them how to thrive financially. It does no good to tell them that they need to learn history and geometry and English literature so that they can ultimately graduate high school, get into college, and then hopefully find a job. This type of persuasive speech can neither fool nor motivate our savvy kids of today, and it certainly will not get them to taking to the books and getting A’s.
As Napolean Hill mentioned in his classic Think and Grow Rich, if the Carnegie philosophy about accumulating wealth were taught in schools, the time spent in school could be cut in half. This should not be construed to mean that education should be all about learning to make money and such lofty ideals as being literate and well-read are not important; it’s just that what good is being lettered if you can’t make it in the world?—and yes, making it in the world means being able to make money and provide for your family.
The underlying theme of my educational philosophy, and one seen in all my teachings, writings, and ebooks, is that of the shortcut approach. No need to spend countless time trying to learn something. Get right to the meat and go straight for the jugular. My shortcut mathematical methods give one a huge advantage in that they permit one to master mathematics with a minimum amount of time invested. The rest of the time could be spent learning how to make money and how to thrive financially.
Once students are a on firm footing with school and don’t dread the daily routine of having stale fodder crammed down their already stuffed throats, they can approach school and their studies with a much healthier attitude. Look at it this way. Suppose you were a gym enthusiast and really liked to have a great build. You hated the time you had to invest to maintain your current physique. Suppose someone offered you a way to maintain that build with a program that took one-third to one-half the time. Would you still want to do your longer, already stale program, or would you like to jump on board the new one? I think the answer is self-evident.
The same is true with education in America. We need to show our kids the good shortcuts that will lead to academic success, increased self-esteem, and a healthier attitude toward school and learning. If we don’t, we’ll just get more of the same old innovative programs that come along promising to cure our educational ills. Much like resistant bacteria though, our savvy kids will just thwart any attempts to be overcome by the “new medicine” that the administrators and other educational gurus throw at them. Rather than breed new strains of bacteria, why don’t we work with our kids before they themselves mutate. After all, we don’t need any more mutations.
See more at Shortcut Math Ebooks
By: Joe Pagano
