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Politics & Current Affairs

We need an educational reform

My idea of a newly reformed educational system in America. The concept of a redesigned I.Q. and SAT tests to acknowledge the multiple intelligences.
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We are fed a vision of hope and positivity. If the aftermath of the positivity shatters then our dreams are destroyed. We can put up where we left off but we can’t move forward. To move ahead forward we need to acknowledge our mistakes and envision our future. This is nothing wrong with dreaming. The greatest inventions known to man were made from a dream and a direct vision. Cornel West said “there is a difference from a stare and a vision.” A stare is a long glance has no conscious thought behind it. A vision has the direct path to an idea where the blueprint is laid. The blueprint is the outline of the vision and it is the person’s challenge to make that idea come to life. We are living in a time of creative downfall. The education system doesn’t nurture creativity in the schools. Sure they are art classes and music classes but they don’t appeal to the masses. The SAT test doesn’t have a section where you can draw or paint on it and get a score. The systems of intelligence are boxing in our intellect to fit two certain criteria : Mathematical Processing and Verbal Reasoning. What is that going to do for the auditory learner or the kinesthetic learner? I recently wrote an essay discussing my frustration with the education system. People always point to the students on why they are failing and not of the failure is directed at the teacher. The teacher needs to be criticized as well. The education system needs stricter requirements for the teachers who teach students. I think they need a lesson in the theory of multiple intelligences by Howard Gardner. Howard Gardner a Harvard psychologist in 1983, defined the concept of intelligence and that the current system doesn’t display all of the abilities humans have. This theory should be taught because of the importance that students need the best schooling possible. The international community like India are surpasses the United States in I.Q. scores. The 25% of the highest I.Q. scores in India is more than all of the United States. How is the superpower of the world and the world’s richest country falling behind in education? The answer is because the cultural background is completely different. When Asian students excel in mathematics it is because they don’t give up when the question is difficult. In the national best selling Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he discusses why Asian students are academically better than others. It is because they know that an education is the key to success. The driven parents that gave their children the tools to succeed in school. They also have the foundation correct like no TV before all of their homework is complete. Maybe if we thought and acted differently on how to educate our children we could make dramatic progress.

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