Education reforms Essay

Education reforms are procedures that bring systematic changes in the education sector in a society or community. Education reforms date back in the time of the Roman Empire during Christianity due to the need to teach the roman about Christianity. The modern reforms were preceded by the neo classical education that was similar to the classical education in m any way. The need for modern reforms is backed by many reasons, which include the economic reasons, different philosophies in the education, different aims of education and the essence of educating all the people unlike in the past when education was meant to be for the well up families. Reforms in the modern education have been of paramount importance, this is because the classical education system answered the question about when where, what, who, and how, and leaving the questions of which and why, more so, the classical education preferred the use of the ancient languages like the Latin and Greek thereby deprecating the local languages and this produced odd effects in the social arena. The child study program that was introduced by Jacques Rousseau that meant to educate the children as they developed to adult hood was very important though it was rarely implemented but enabled the later thinkers. He advocated for the removal of the children from the society and utilize their potential and curiosity by teaching them through experience instead of intellectually. In countries like Prussia, Spain, Soviet Union, Germany and France, the education reforms were of great important since education is used to install a symbol of national unity, culture and maintain a national language. This resulted to many children being taught the national language in their early childhood and the immigrants were also forced to learn these language so that they would be easily be assimilated into these nations. Education reforms have been carried out to attain many different objectives, but in general most reforms are directed to address the problems within the society, this general view has enabled these reforms to be implemented, some of the societal problems being addressed are problems of poverty, class and gender. These changes are proposed by thinkers and are then implemented through the society change institutions like the education of certain class of individuals in the society; ruling class, immigrant class or the ruling class. Education reforms have been seen as an avenue to achieve democracy. This is because when the general public is educated, it is likely to make wise informed decisions in all aspects in life (economic and social aspects) and therefore guarantee high levels of democratic governance that can only be achieved through education. Educational reforms for democratization have been recorded in Plato and US during the reign of Thomas Jefferson. Social economic problems have been associated with lack of proper education therefore resulting to the need for education reforms. It has been observed that education reforms have had good yields of creation of wealth and improving the social welfare. In 1950 in Kerala, India, the improvement in the health standards of the women was associated with the increase in the education levels of women due to the educational reforms. In Iran the increase in level of income and efficiency in farming methods had a correlation with the education reforms. Good educational reforms such as the libertarian that allowed the parents or guardians to select the best schools for their children has enabled the children to excel in their academic performance due to the increased competition among the schools. The competition has compelled the schools to offer better education and improve the standards in schools. The increased demand for parents to take the responsibility of their children learning through home education has been accepted in many countries since the parents can monitor their children closely rather than taking them to the public schools whose performance is questionable. There has also been the introduction of online learning where by a student can study online ether at home or at the office. These reforms have yielded good results since students is able to monitor himself and plan his/ her work after considering the tasks he / she should accomplish. The introduction of the adult education has earned better fruits than offering the adults with opportunities. This is usually implemented better by having a public library fully equipped with academic resources for use. Other reforms that have had good results include the involvement of the students in the learning activities through participation in classrooms. The students are used by the board of governors and the school authorities to know the changes that are essence. Some of the problems that have resulted due to the education reforms is the introduction of the public schools, these schools are supported by the locals through the levies they pay. This means that the schools have different learning facilities depending with the financial endowment of the locals and the ability to pay the taxes. The schools within the poverty ridden areas are likely to be failing. This has resulted to division in the performance of schools in different states when weighed on a common scale. This is a great mistake since their should be equality in funding of all schools in all states so that all the children have equal opportunities. Another problem is the no child left behind policy; this ensures that all children pass the federal exams without which the schools will lose its federal funding. This further forces the teaching staff to teach the students the exams, what is likely to be tested, and the students are left with the purpose of memorizing rather than understating what is taught. This action goes against all the fundamental principles of teaching. Another problem with the public education program is that the teachers only teach what they know, and since the teaching fraternity is dominated by the white with rare cases of colored that found their way to America through the illegal immigration, slave trade or brain drain, this means that the teachers cannot teach or answer question about the non white cultures or traditions The education reforms have had very positive impact to the student from the disadvantage families, those living below the poverty line and may be have single parent’s whiles others have emotional, physical or mental disabilities. These kinds of children have diminished expectation and were given less attention in classrooms, but with the reforms, they have experienced different kind of classrooms whereby they interact with others and compete in performing complex tasks The reforms have been characterized with clear cut goal and objectives to be achieved that are communicated to the parents, teachers, and the students who must come to an agreement on how viable and sustainable is the reform. The reforms must provide a school culture that provides an atmosphere for learning whilst linking all the cultures of all students and backgrounds. Proper management of the reforms is essential, this involves considering all the internal and external environment, the expected results should be listed and control measures put in place in case the objectives are not attained. The kind oaf reforms that should be encouraged are the once that have been evaluated keenly and found to have a positive net effect, this is because some reforms are likely not to meet the expectation. Formal procedure for reforms should begin by identification, formulation, appraisal, implementation, completion and the evaluation.