Civic Issue 1: The American Public Education System
Do children learn in America’s public education system? Is the public education system the most effective it could be, or could it be improved? Is it helping raise young Americans into becoming intelligent citizens?
Here we will be discussing the controversy of the American public education system: from the disparity of resources to the rising violence in schools to the “pandemic missing” students to sports, academics, corruption, politics, and more.
Image Credits to: https://www.kwtx.com/2023/02/10/pandemic-missing-thousands-kids-are-missing-school-where-did-they-go/
But first, how does America’s K-12 public education system work? America’s first public school opened in 1635 in Boston, and since then the system had adapted and expanded to cover the entire nation and attempts to educate all of its children.
In the USA, children are required to attend school for 9-13 years, depending on which state they live in. However, students can drop out of school earlier if they meet certain conditions decided by their state. Over 2 million students were recorded as dropout students in 2021. While I was unable to find any statistics about the dropout rates for 2022 or 2023, I assume that they were higher as the result of covid and the “pandemic missing” students.
Students can choose to go to public school, private school, or be homeschooled. However, there are highs and lows and controversies with each of these choices, which will be discussed in a later blog post.
The federal government has a budget of $1.3 trillion that they use through federal, state, local, and private funding for education. Most of this money is generated from taxes. However, this funding is hardly equitably distributed. People in “better” school districts – where houses are worth more – have to pay higher property tax percentages, while people in “worse” school districts have to pay smaller property tax percentages. While it makes sense in theory, it leads to public schools looking and performing vastly different depending on the geographic location. State governments set overall standards, such as mandated standardized tests.
Image Credits to: https://hdzxjbc.com/article/explained-what-are-standardized-tests-and-why-do-we-need-them
Public schools serve students who live in the surrounding area, this is called a school district. Within a school district, there are sometimes one or more schools depending on the number of students. The government funds certain programs – like Title I grants, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Child Nutrition Act, Head Start programs, Impact Aid, etc. in order to provide equal education to all of its students. While some of these programs work as they intended, others are plagued with political adversary.
In the next blog, we will be analyzing the “pandemic missing” students and want kind of action (or lack thereof) policymakers and school leaders are taking in order to ensure these students are receiving an education.
I think that this a very interesting topic for you to write your civic issues blog about. I have always wanted to learn more about the ins and outs of the American Education System, and I appreciate your insight into the topic. I always thought it was sort of odd how different school districts were considered “better” or “worse,” and how when people look to buy a house when they have kids, they always take the school district into account. I suppose I am wondering why the government cannot provide equal funding to all school districts, or even provide more money to the school districts who are in lesser financial areas. I think perhaps there is a slight misalign with our goals, which is to make sure everyone has an equal education. I appreciate you bringing this issue to light!