Molly McCaghy

Mr. Eisele

Honors ELA 10

26 October 2016

Dear President,

I would like to bring to your attention the issues regarding public schooling education today in our nation and possible ways you could help to improve it. For many people, public schooling is seen as a neighborhood school that is open to all children in the community. As powerful as that image may be, there are also other important things that define public school education. Public education means a tuition-free schooling program that can educate each child in it and provide every child with an opportunity to be successful. I feel as years have passed by that public schooling has been disregarded and viewed as unimportant compared to other occurring issues in our society today. But without quality education and a good learning environment, where are the future leaders and entrepreneurs of America?

Compared to previous generations, public schooling education has become worse. In my opinion, this issue could be resolved through investing more time and money into reforming public education. Today in our nation we have many very poor urban schools that have bad policies and education systems that are leading to negative things. Because of substandard schooling environments, students are unable to pursue a successful career. A public schooling program close to me that has been dealing with various issues is Detroit. Not all public schooling programs are given the same opportunities. There are many kids in Detroit wanting to learn and create a better life for themselves but are unable to do so because of the circumstances given at their schools. Public schooling exists to help people get an education that they are deserving of for free. A strong schooling program helps high school students become successful. In an inferior public school system like Detroit, how are the children attending that school supposed to learn when their schools are falling apart and their teachers don’t even show up to work? “Detroit Public Schools’ students recently won the award of the worst math scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ 40-year history. Couple the disheartening standardized test scores with the nation’s lowest graduation rate, according to NPR, and you have a public school system that has utterly failed its students.” It is not the students that are failing school but rather the school that is failing the children. Leaving them unable to get an education they deserve which leaves them jobless. Kids attending these schools are given no other options for education especially if they have no money to attend a private school. this is the only opportunity they are given to learn and when they learning environment they are surrounded by is destroyed, how are they supposed to be successful in both high school and their adulthood?

Another growing issue for public schooling education is, classroom sizes being too large. With large class sizes it’s hard for teachers to spend more individual time with students and help them with what they are struggling with. In large classes teachers don’t have time to help out each and every student and what they’re struggling with. Others may find that large class sizes are beneficial because with more students you can get more perspectives on what you’re learning. “Small classes seem to have less of an effect on achievement levels in the higher grades. Small classes alone don’t raise student achievement levels-they need to be paired with effective teaching and appropriate learning activities to make a difference.” While there may be beneficial factors to large class sizes, I found that there are more negative effects to them rather than positive. “Small classes do have a positive effect on student attitudes and tend to improve classroom management as well as teacher morale. A Gates Foundation study in which high school dropouts were surveyed found that most students said they would have been more likely to stay in school if they had had small classes, better teachers and more relevant instruction.” Small classrooms help kids to speak more fluently about their thoughts and answers that they found. I can personally say that often times I don’t share my thoughts aloud for the fear of being wrong or judged for being wrong. With a smaller classroom there’s less you have to worry about and it may help you to make more personal connections with your classmates allowing it to be easier for you to share out to the class. When in a smaller class, teachers are given the opportunity to make lesson plans based on where the kids in their class are at. Doing so is more effective and will allow kids to learn without struggling as much as they would in a larger class that is maybe ahead of where they’re at in the curriculum. By putting more time and money into Public Schooling programs that need it and creating smaller class sizes we will be able to see more positive outcomes from children in generations to come.