Palanca Katrina Palanca Professor Ariav EN 110 7 November 2011 Extreme Makeover: School Edition Twenty-five percent of Americans

that start high school do not graduate. In 2008, the U.S. high school graduation rate was lower than the rates of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Ireland, Germany, and Denmark (Cookson, 2011). Despite

the fact that the unemployment rate for individuals without a high school diploma is three-and-ahalf times the rate of those with a college degree, millions still choose to drop out. Why? The number one reason, according to a study conducted by Civic Enterprises, is because classes were not interesting (Rotermund, 2007). If the youth are the future of this nation, shouldnt changes be made to improve their educational well-being? It would be unwise to passively watch as graduation rates in the United States continue to decline. By adjusting teaching tools and methods, increasing teachers salaries, and putting high school students on specialized career paths, we can ensure that todays youth are reaching their fullest potential. Once this is established, we can make certain that the most proficient individuals are entering the workforce and are using those skills for the betterment of society. Unfortunately, current teaching methods in the United States promote repetition of the same topics year after year, rather than the natural buildup of concepts to amass to a greater understanding of complex theories. Let us take math for example. Chapter 1 of the College Algebra 4/E published by Pearson consists of the following topics: the real-number system, integer exponents, scientific notation, order of operations, and the basics of equation solving

Palanca (Harcourt School Publishers). As a college student currently taking Intermediate Algebra MA115, I can attest to the fact that we spent about one month on the above-mentioned topics. Now in the McDougal Littell Math Course 1 textbook, used in the 5th grade, Chapter 1

introduces students to the order of operations, integers, and classification of numbers. Chapter 12 of the same book discusses how to solve equations and graph functions. In other words, I am relearning the same concepts in my 13th year of education as I did in my 5th year of education. How is this efficient or effective learning? In Japan, where students highly outscore their American counterparts in standardized math tests, textbooks are much smaller and lighter because they contain fewer topics per grade level. Instead of rushing through the textbook, like many of my teachers did, instructors in Japan are trained to carefully build topics on each other to promote mastery rather than superficial short-term learning (Jackson, 2011). To further illustrate this point, Japanese classrooms seem to move at a slower, more relaxed pace as compared to American classrooms. According to researcher Wilbur Dutton, Only teachers in Japan were ever observed to spend an entire fortyminute lesson on one or two problems. I believe that it is this immersion into a subject that leads to a true understanding of a concept. Like learning how to swim or how to ride a bike, once a skill is truly learned, one can never forget itand achieving such a feat takes a good teacher. Notice I said good teacher, not knowledgeable teacherfor teaching is more than knowing the subject at hand; it is knowing how to teach the subject. I, for example, used to love math and science. Concepts that my classmates found difficult to understand, I comprehended. I found it rewarding to find the correct solution to a complex algebraic equation, or to be able to determine the formula that will solve a practical word problem. Then, during my senior year of high school, the fire that fueled my passion for math died with the introduction of a newly-hired

Palanca calculus instructor Ill call Mr. Kim. He was a very intelligent man, and one-on-one, he brilliantly solved calculus problems that took up the writing space of two chalkboards. Mr. Kim, however, barely spoke English. In what seemed to be the administrations hurried decision to hire a calculus instructor, Mr. Kim had just moved to Guam from Korea a week before the first day of classes. As he lectured new lessons, my classmates and I stared blankly at the chalkboard, trying vainly to follow along. Though I would attempt to learn the material independently by reading the textbook, I could not understand the complex theories of

calculus without joint verbal explanations. I felt frustrated and helpless, and I ultimately gave up on the subject I used to find exhilarating. Eventually, Mr. Kim caved in; he allowed us to work in groups while taking exams. If he did not take such actions, every student would have failed. I may have received an A in the class at the end of the year, but I learned nothing. Because my transcripts stated that I had taken Calculus in high school, the University of Portland placed me in college-level Calculus my freshman year. I felt somewhat nervous when I entered the classroom, but I figured that I could hopefully learn in this course what I was supposed to learn my senior year. The professor was merciless. During the first ten minutes of class, she skimmed through what was supposed to be a review of what we learned in high school. During the review, she quickly bounced through topics that I had not even heard of, and after the ten-minute review, I was left in a state of confusion. She said if we did not master all of these concepts by now, it would be best to start at a lower level of math. I knew I had to drop the class. This case may be a bit extreme, but it surely demonstrates how a lack of proficiency in pedagogy can affect a students like or dislike for a subject, which will in turn affect the students performance in the class, and can ultimately affect his or her career choice. Considering

Palanca the fact that teachers set the foundation for future engineers, lawyers, doctors, architects and

other successful individuals, it makes sense that teachers should be paid more. It is ironic that the very teachers who taught these individuals about a subject matter make only about $40,000 annually, while such engineers and doctors proceed to make a six-digit salary. To draw more people into the education field, make the field more competitive, and therefore increase the quality of teachers in our school system, I believe teachers should receive a salary increase. We all intuitively know the importance of a good teacher and the difference that teacher makes in our lives. In high school, there is always that one teacher that everyone dreads taking that one hard, difficult, mean, strict, ruthless, whatever-you-want-to-call-it teacher. During my senior year of high school, there was Ms. Castro. The baggy-eyed sleep-deprived seniors ominously warned the juniors about her English Composition class. She will tear your paper apart, they said. Everyone dreaded Ms. Castro, and I was no exception. I meticulously worked on the first essay I turned into her, and in my opinion, it was a pretty darn good one. There was no way she could give me less than an A. I actually looked forward to receiving my paper. To my unpleasant surprise, I received my paper full of red markings where constructive criticism corrections were made. I was shocked, but I went home, took her advice, and corrected my paper. An essay was due each day we had class, and I started to learn that writing is a muscle that is strengthened by exercise and practice. As the semester progressed, there were less and less red markings on my paper, and Ms. Castro actually started commending my writing. Ms. Castro is the person that allowed me to be confident in my writing. This confidence in my skill is one of the main reasons I chose to change my major from Biology to Communications. I am now pursuing a career in journalism.

Palanca Would I have continued to pursue a career in medicine if I had more teachers like Ms. Castro in my math and science classes? Perhaps. The only thing I am certain about is that Ms. Castro greatly affected my life by allowing me to reach a level of writing that I did not know I was capable of. In retrospect, she spent countless hours outside the classroom reading and

grading thousands of pages of papers for her students. She could have taken the easy way out and simply skimmed through essays to give grades, but she did not. Instead, she took the time to carefully analyze each sentence and each paragraph, gave her suggestions on how to improve sentence structures and paragraph placement, and returned papers to her students for further correction. She did all of this for almost minimal pay. There needs to be more Ms. Castros in the educational system. While increasing teachers salary might not bring about immediate change, it will surely attract more qualified individuals and make the field of education more competitive. Rather than increase every teachers salary instantly, former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee hopes to create a higher-paid teaching track, where people on the track would have less job security and a bigger performance pay component. In exchange, the participants of this program would earn more money (CNN). This initiative will work to speed up the process of integrating better teachers into the school system. Though teachers play a major role in the success of students, initiatives must be taken to give students greater control of their futures. To do this, the educational system needs to start placing students on specialized career paths during their second year of high school to expose students to a potential major. Rather than wasting time and money paying expensive college tuition trying to find ones interests, students should gain that exposure in high school. That way, the student has a clearer idea of what field he or she might pursue a degree in. As the number of

Palanca students who enter college undeclared increases, Katie Goetz of The Enquirer says, If undeclared was a major, it would be the most common major. This unarguably shows that students are not gaining the hands-on experience that they need to determine which career is suitable for them, and they often enter college unaware and unsure of their goals. Such specialized careers paths might be as elaborate as incorporating a wider variety of classes into a high school curriculum, or as simple as strengthening internship programs or offering such programs for high school credit. A student who has an interest in writing, for example, should be able to explore that interest during the last two or three years of high school, instead of being required to take classes that are not interestingthe number one reason for dropping out of high school. One might argue that taking classes that do not seem interesting at first allows students to be more well-rounded (hence the creation of a core curriculum in many schools). While I strongly agree, I believe that the first two years of high school provides an ample amount of time to complete core classes. In France, such a system is already in place. At 15 years old, most students are in Form

3the final year at collge. It is at this point where students must make a choice regarding some of the subjects they wish to study, and the direction they would like their curriculum to take. French students may, for example, choose to attend agriculture agricultural lyces, which offer technical and vocational courses. Others may undergo apprenticeships that can prepare them for all types of vocational qualification. Still others may continue on a route of education that will lead to higher levels of learning for more specialized careers (Euro Education 2004). All of this is done at age 16. Instead of being thrust into the world at age 18, overwhelmed with a college debt that reaches tens of thousands of dollars, and stressed over the uncertainty of a major, starting the

Palanca process in high school will save students the trouble. Furthermore, this will save money on tuition and reduce countless hours of credit that may become futile if one decides to change majors late in the game. Overall, the United States educational system needs to be restructured completely. The negative stigma associated with going to school needs to be replaced with a newfound passion

for learning. Let us make going to school an activity that the youth looks forward to, not one that is dreadful and dragging. If we succeed in making learning more fun and interesting, I can guarantee that the rewards will not only be reaped by individuals, but by society as a whole. America is filled with such bright individualsuntapped resources that are just waiting to be discovered. Lets start drilling. Lets start digging. Lets start learning.

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Works Cited " STRUCTURE OF EDUCATION SYSTEM IN FRANCE." STUDY IN EUROPE IN ENGLISH BACHELORS AND MASTERS DEGREE PROGRAMS IN ARTS, BUSINESS, ECONOMICS, ENGINEERING, MBA, SCIENCE . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. <http://www.euroeducation.net/prof/franco.htm>. CNN. "'High school dropout crisis' continues in U.S., study says - CNN." Featured Articles from CNN. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. <http://articles.cnn.com/2009-0505/us/dropout.rate.study_1_dropouts-enrollment-graduations?_s=PM:US>. Cookson, John. "How U.S. graduation rates compare with the rest of the world Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs." Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. <http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/03/how-u-s-graduationrates-compare-with-the-rest-of-the-world/>. Dutton, Wilbur . "Arithmetic Education in Tokyo Primary Schools." ERIC Worlds largest digital library of education literature. N.p., 1 Feb. 1977. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICEx tSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ152292&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ152 292>. Goetz, Kristina. "College quiz 101: What's your major?." Enquirer.Com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. <http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/08/13/loc_undecided13.html>. "Grade 5." Harcourt School Publishers. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. <http://www.harcourtschool.com/menus/science/grade5_nl.html>. Jackson, Bill. "Why Other Countries Do Better in Math - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.." THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.. N.p., n.d. Web. 6

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Nov. 2011. <http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/why-other-countries-do-better-inmath-520.php>. Piansay, Eming. ""American Teacher": Overworked, Underpaid, and Under Seige - New America Media." New America Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://newamericamedia.org/2011/05/american-teacher-overworked-underpaidandready-to-quit.php>. Rotermnund, Susan . "Why Students Drop Out of High School." California Dropout Research Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2007. <www.hewlett.org/uploads/files/CDRP_WhyStudentsDropOutofHighSchool.pdf>. Turnuklu , Elif B. , and Sibel Yesildere . "The Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Mathematics: Preservice Primary Mathematics Teachers' Perspectives in Turkey." K-12 Prep math. N.p., 1 Oct. 2007. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <www.k12prep.math.ttu.edu/journal/contentknowledge/yesildere01/article.pdf>. Vernille, Kristy. "Why are U.S. Mathematics students falling behind their international peers?." Math UMD. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. <wwwusers.math.umd.edu/~dac/650/vernillepaper.html>. Yglesias, Matthew. "Why You Can't Just Raise Teacher Pay | ThinkProgress." ThinkProgress. N.p., 30 Sept. 2011. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/09/30/332917/why-you-cant-just-raise-teacherpay/>.