Theodore Larkin

Professor Rick Rubinson

Sociology of Education
9/10/13
A Nation at Risk: The Crisis in Education
As a U.S. citizen, one can easily be deceived into thinking that our educational
system is top-notch, yielding industrious, thriving individuals as we lead the way in a
progressively scientific world. These false assumptions are not completely unfounded as
the U.S. spends more on education than any other nation and is home to the most
confident students in the world; however, our performance on the global scale is merely
average when compared to other leading nations, making reform a necessity. Educational
movements such as former president Bushs No Child Left Behind project and President
Obamas Race to the Top project have failed to significantly change our educational
statistics. The Waiting for Superman documentary and the commentaries by Robert
Samuelson, George Will, and Etienne LeGrande explain how the future of our education
system needs to motivate all students, regardless of their ethnicity, parental marriage
status, location or economic situation, to learn and experience the eye opening wonders
of the world around them.
George Will, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, focuses on the relationship
between African American home life and education in his article published in the
Washington Post: For black children, daunting divides in achievement and family life.
One tragic imbroglio mentioned in his article that sets itself apart from other current
American issues is that: 70% of African American children are born out of wedlock.

Will goes on to explain that that only 35% of African American children share a home
with two parents, partially describing why, while only 24% of Caucasian 8th graders
watch greater than four hours of television per day, 59% of their black classmates do.
According to an article written by Patrick F. Fagan, Out-of-wedlock birth has been
shown to decrease the health of newborns, increase newborns chances of dying, retard
children's cognitive development, decrease educational achievement, decrease job
attainment, increase behavior problems, lower impulse control, warp social development;
and increase the crime rate in their community. Will then goes on to shares a report from
the Educational Testing Service about "The Black-White Achievement Gap: When
Progress Stopped," written by Paul E. Barton and Richard J. Coley states that: By age 4,
the average child in a professional family hears about 20 million more words than the
average child in a working-class family and about 35 million more than the average child
in a welfare family. Will concludes that About 90% of the difference in schools'
proficiencies are due to five factors: the number of days students are absent from school,
the number of hours students spend watching television, the number of pages read for
homework, the quantity and quality of reading material in the students' homes and, much
the most important, the presence of two parents in the home.
Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and Washington Post columnist Robert
Samuelson begins his article School Reform's Meager Results by stating that the waves of
"reform" haven't produced significant educational gains and the archetypal elucidations
don't explain our lack of progress. While the majority of the public may believe that if
students aren't motivated it is due mainly the fault of schools and teachers, however,
Samuelson suggests that the real cause of failure is decreasing student motivation.

"Students, after all, have to do the work," he says. "If they aren't motivated, even capable
teachers may fail." Motivation comes from many foundations: inquisitiveness, parental
expectations, ambition, stimulating or challenging teachers, peer pressure and the
aspirations to get into a good college. In a 2008 survey of public high school teachers,
21% judged student absenteeism a serious problem; 29 % cited "student apathy."
Similarly to Samuelson, Etienne R. LeGrands article entitled "How to motivate students
when culture attacks ambition" also focuses decline in overall student motivation over the
last few decades as the main reason schools fail. LeGrand goes on to references a few
alarming statistics: One in five students says he doesnt try as hard as he can in school
because he is worried about what others will say and only 32% of teens say their friends
believe its important to get good grades while just 20% say its important to go to one of
the best colleges. The authority of teachers and schools has been compromised due to
increased peer pressure, increases in stereotypes of school being uncool and decreased
student motivation.
Lack of incentive among adolescents occurs because more students don't enjoy
school, don't apply themselves in school and as a result don't do well in school. George
Will expressed his support of the importance of student motivation at home and school
through his 5 concluding factors: the number of days students are absent from school, the
number of hours students spend watching television, the number of pages read for
homework, the quantity and quality of reading material in the students' homes and, much
the most important, the presence of two parents in the home. A student would become
much more motivated if: he/she didnt miss school often, he/she spent less time watching
television, he/she read more books for homework, the quality of the books in his/her

home was increased, and if two parents lived in his/her home. Robert Samuelson and
Etienne LeGrand both expressed their belief in the importance of student motivation at
home and school through suggesting that the real cause of failure is the decreasing
amount student motivation. Collectively the three commentaries point to student
motivation both at school and at home as the most important issue in addressing school
reform.
The charter school movement described in Waiting for Superman is similar to all
three commentaries but is most closely related to the George Will article since it touches
upon lack of proper home life for all kids, students dropping out at young ages, the issue
of affording college or even private school, and the amount of government spending
which is not correctly being utilized on our Education system. The No Child Left Behind
movement is a federal law that mandates a number of programs aimed at improving U.S.
education in elementary, middle and high schools by increasing accountability standards.
This law focuses solely on increasing standardized test scores although it hasn't been
successful in enhancing public education, as evidenced by lack of significantly better
results in standardized testing. This form of education is severely flawed and biased in
that teachers now care only about student standardized test results instead of how much
of the content the student comprehends. The Race to the Top movement focuses on
educational reform through competition at the State level. The State winners are
supposed to act as examples for school districts throughout the country to follow. The
Race to the Top movement is slightly similar to the three commentaries as it provides
motivation for all states while the commentaries focus on motivation for all students. This
form of education is severely flawed and biased in that teachers now care only about

student standardized test results instead of how much of the content the student
comprehends.

Both No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have turned schools into factories
where kids are taught how to take tests. This removes the excitement from the learning
experience and leads to teachers not focusing on knowledge building. As expressed in the
Waiting for Superman documentary and the commentaries by Robert Samuelson, George
Will, and Etienne LeGrande the United States needs to implement a system that turns all
American schools, regardless of the students ethnicity, parental marriage status, school
location or economic situation, back into a place where kids are not only taught but are
motivated to learn and experience the eye opening wonders of the world around them and
the beauty of how and why things work.