The Problem with Education {Better Plans or Better People?}

by Laura Gurley on March 27, 2012

What are the problems with our current education system?  Is it too much testing, or not enough?  Is it a lack of funding or an excess of paperwork or too many required workshops on those professional development workdays? Is it the over-zealous, but out-of-touch, government or the central office?

Do we need better plans and more workshops to make our education system more effective and productive? Or does the answer lie in something else entirely?

Take a minute to watch the following clip from a leadership seminar for educators, and let us know what you think. The speaker is Todd Whitaker, with Eye on Education, a fantastic resource for professional development.

{Subscribers need to click through to the site to view the above video.}

Thoughts, teachers? Do you think the answer for a better educational system is in better plans or better people? Have you been frustrated with your school system’s ever-changing programs? Examples?

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  • SarahB

    I believe that people & programs are both problems in our education system today.  Yes, we need good, effective teachers who care about our children, but we also need realistic programs that are made by people who actually spend time in our classrooms.  Many of the education programs are being designed by people who, entirely too often, have spent little to no time actually teaching, and many of those who have taught have been out of the classroom for years.  Most of the programs expect all students to perform at relatively similar levels & “encourage” the multiple intelligences; not all students are good at the book work required in our classrooms but are EXTREMELY talented in other areas and should not be discounted because they are not good at book work that is often useless to their lives or the careers that they wish to pursue.

    • lauraparkerblog

      Sarah– you are so on target with this comment, I think!

      I agree that so often we have people designing programs that are too far removed from the realities of the classroom, and the sweeping statements about what everyone should be able to do can cause a lot of damage, too. I hear you. Thanks for writing, in.

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