Educational excellence
In the year 1989, the American government set some millennium goals. Some goals were also set in the education sector all aimed at promoting education in the nation as a whole. The gaols set ranged from basic education to tertiary education where the government aimed to improve literacy among its citizens by at least 90% (report, 2000). Some of the goals were achieved as targeted while some had to take longer than expected. This led to division of the goal achievement into two categories: the fully met goals by new millennium and the post millennium goals (report, 2000).
Some of the achieved millennium goals was the educational literary among the young children. Though the government aimed at achieving full enrolment of children ready to school by this targeted year, the number tremendously improved as compared to the 1980s and 1990s. By the end of the year 1999, the number of the enrolled children was about 0.9 million pupils which was less than the anticipated 1.6 million pupils (National, 1998).
All in all, the all the eight educational goals set as millennium goals were not achieved in time. This led to a further elimination of the funding that the project. The anticipated goals were then dead and long forgotten by the year 2002. In spite of this, some noticeable progress has been made in the educational sector of the United States (National, 1998).
Some of the progress recorded in the recent past has been improvement in the adult literacy sector. The sector has set some goals that aim at improving adult education from the basic level to completion of secondary education. This hassled to establishment of many educational institutions for adults where they learn according to their levels (Irwin, 1994). The education sector in the U.S has also incorporated adult examination which has encouraged many adult to continue schooling without having to be in the same classrooms with their children.
Another noticeable improvement has been in the primary or basic education sector. A number of learning institutions have been set up so as to accommodate the ever increasing number of children who enrol for education each year. The government has in response to this move resulted in allocating more funds to education sector of the country. This move has resulted in increased allocation to education in the county level (Irwin, 1994).
Contrary to the goals set by the government in the millennium goals, the illicit drug use instead raised from about 23% to about 37%. The quality of education on the trainers (teachers) has also recorded a drop from 66% to 63% by the end of 1999. This led to a drop in the educational quality nationally. To counter this, the government resulted in training more teachers and using a higher criterion of analysing the quality of teachers so as to have quality work force which can produce high quality work.
As a form of enforcement by law, the government enacted an Act of the parliament that was later signed into law by President Clinton. The law enforced adherence to the contents of the educational millennium goals and that is why the contents are still active until to date though the actual plan was abandoned in the year 2002 (report, 2000).
Examining the achievement of the millennium goals in a local school, some progress geared towards achievement of the goals has been recorded. The school is in State of Illinois and among the much recorded improvement is in the number of children starting to school at the right time. The schooling age of children has now become moderated irrespective of whether the children are foreigner or not.
Another major improvement has been in the fight against drug use among the learners. The number of drug users’ cases among the learners has drastically dropped and is even much lower compared to the national statistics on drug use among the learners.
The last but not least improvement has been in the quality of teachers in the school. The number of fully trained high quality personnel in this sector in the school has increased. In fact, virtually all teachers in the school have at least a degree from a recognized institution. This has also translated in improved numbers of learners completing their secondary education successfully.
Some weaknesses though have been noticed in the current system and school of focus. The main problem comes in handy with indiscipline among the learners. It has been of great concern to note that the level of discipline has deteriorated in the school. All I would recommend for the board of the school is to come up with strict measures on indiscipline cases. These measures should be followed strictly without discrimination or recognition of the learner’s background. The second recommendation i would make for this case would be use of different disciplinary measures other than strokes. Use of counselling can also play an important role to stop the indiscipline.
Comparing this school with another found in Los Angeles, there exists a great difference. The most noticeable difference is in case of discipline. Though I view my school in Illinois to have indiscipline, total indiscipline appears to being that school in Los Angeles. This also has translated to poor education levels (National, 1998). Comparing with another school in California the California school has minimal discipline cases resulting in conducive environment which are better than in Illinois. California also attracts highly qualified staff due to its standards leading to better educational performance than Illinois. This does not mean that there exists no challenges in California or all problems are in Los Angeles, all I wanted to show was a comparison.
In conclusion, education in the U.S has greatly improved but not all the millennium goals in the education sector have been made. In spite of the current economic crisis, it would be advisable for the government to review the goals once again and try to fund projects leading to their realization so as to reduce regional imbalance that has been depicted by the sample study.
References
Irwin, M. 1994. Literacy in motion: A guide to inclusive literacy education. North York, Ontario: Roeher Institute.
National Educational Goals Panel. 1998. Ready Schools. Washington, DC: Author.
Report of the Ready for School Goal Team. 2000. School Readiness in North Carolina Strategies for Defining, measuring, and Promoting Success. North Carolina Office of Education Reform.
