Oh, America, we're so proud of you. You finally got the nerve to bother to try to fix your broken education system for the first time in years. The best part is that this isn't some half hearted attempt at saving face like No Child Left Behind was. That's great.
Anyway, the point is that America is finally taking a chance with educational reform. Before we get into specifics on how crappy these new ideas are, the US deserves a round of applause; for good or bad, the fact that the we are taking chances is a good sign, and hopefully, this risk taking will pay off in the future.
The highlights of recent educational reform: L.A. loves Charter Schools, Baltimore just beat out Finland for being 'the shiz', and Online Universities are saving children in Africa. Yes, education and reasoning just found out a way to end world hunger. You're welcome.
Let's start out with L.A. Charter schools, shall we? Basically, Los Angeles is changing many of it's schools into charter schools(Education Week). Charter schools in other areas are getting a bad rap in other areas however. This is mainly because while they use a larger amount of money than a normal public school, students are not getting a higher quality education, based upon a University study in Michigan. Then again, this study was baed in Detroit, so violence and corruption could have skewed the results. Just kidding. In any case, the fact that charter schools have been getting substatially larger amount of money than public schools and yet only 1 in 9 have shown to be more effective than average is not a promising statistic. But, they are trying something new, so I support it anyway.
Baltimore is amazing(Huffington Post). Apparently, Baltimore schools have increased enrollment, decreased the number of dropouts, and increased student achievment. This also came from a school district which was struggling not long ago. One notable thing that they do is get parents and the surrounding community involved in the schools. Wow. That's surprising. Who would have thought that when parents care about their child's education, things can change. Astounding. We should do that for Averill Park- OHWAITWEDID. Yeah, after the superintendent decided that the best way to close a budget gap is to terminate the arts. Way to go genius.
And now we get to the highlight of this post, solving world hunger! Cheese for everyone! Not really (BBC). Actually, what so amazing is that online education is becoming increasingly popular and accessible. So yes, some African farmers are, and have been, getting the most recent irrigation techniques, allowing for more food production, (sort of) solving world hunger. Open University, based in the UK, has allowed over 2.5 hundred thousand students with education. On their own time. Lectures and other bits of teaching nonsense are available for free via the iTunes U service. This system is being compared to the American community college system, which is designed to give more people with the option of being able to get a degree. Some are even proposing that this could be used in a similar way, with student getting their first two college years online, then persuing an advanced degree elsewhere. Honestly, this sounds like an awesome idea. This could certainly decrease college debts, seeing as many courses are available for free. I also think that this could be used for students who travel very far, allowing them to take couses on longer vacations while being able to stay at home. While I don't think that this will ever replace any college, online education has the potential to be a very useful tool.
Sources:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/03/21/26detroit.h30.html?tkn=SLTF%2FHT8Vwv3CzSl7c4UWVoW18tAcWo%2Bl%2Bbh&cmp=clp-edweek
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-donaldson/baltimore-leading-educati_b_838187.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12766562
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