Introduction
The United States of America is the nation that controls the economy of the world. Consequently, the USA is the founder of equality. Despite its efforts however, the nation is currently facing problems in its education system. Ironically, the US government comes up with a new idea almost every decade that are parenthetical good but they are not as effective in practice.
The main question that comes up as a result is, who it to blame for this? In the United States of America, the government controls the education system. Due to this fact, I believe that due to its institutional inefficiencies, the American government has failed to successfully manage the education system in America.
As a result, there is a huge disparity between the education that is offered in public schools and the one offered in private school. In practice, private school education in the United States of America is of a higher quality as compared to the education offered in public schools. With regards to these factors, this paper will thus focus on the role played by the United States government in the declining quality of education that is offered in public schools.
Failure of Public Education in America
In the United States of America, many people believe that the lack of results in the main problem that the public education in the USA is facing. This allegation is true since the standards of education in public schools are relatively lower as compared to private schools.
Therefore, many people do not place high expectations on students who attend public schools in the United States. As Chubb (1990) asserted, setting up rules and regulations in the United States is considered a bigger priority as compared to the analysis of results and coming up with measures that would ultimately improve the quality of education in public schools (6).
Thus, from this argument, it is evident that public education in the United States has failed not due to the poor performance of students but as a result of the policies that have been put in place to ensure that public schools in the United States operate in an effective and efficient manner. In the United States, the government determines the policies that will be implemented either directly or indirectly (Chubb 8). Therefore, the government is to blame for the poor performance by the students in public schools and not the students themselves.
Since the end of the Second World War, the US government has put extensive efforts in reforming the education system of the nation. Through school reform programs, the US government aimed at developing an education system that will carter for the needs of its citizens ensure its sustainability in the short run and in the long run.
However, most of the policies and measures that have been developed and implemented have failed to meet these needs. The approach that the policy makers used to develop and implement these measures has always been poor.
Measures such as school centralization, progressive education, and incorporation of ICT in education by introducing computers in the classroom were brilliant ideas. However, they were proposed and implemented with proper analysis of the educational needs of the country and the impacts that they might have on education. As a result, these and many other measures have failed to meet the needs and requirements that they had been implemented to achieve.
Despite realizing its mistakes and coming up with effective measures, the government is still utilizing the same rudimentary techniques in the school reformation process up to the present moment (Hood 7). Thus, policy development and implementation in public schools in the USA is characterized by misdiagnosis of the needs of public education and blame shifting during the times of failure.
More importantly, the government has failed to address the cultural and social trends within the classroom that have greatly deteriorated since the beginning of the 1960s. These trends have greatly affected the relationship that students have with their teachers and the relationship between the parents and the teachers.
In the contemporary world, students do not respect their teachers as they did several decades ago. Consequently, parents always blame the teachers for the poor performance by the students without the realization of the limited resources that they have to work with in the process of teaching.
Institutional Problems Facing Public Schools
The operation of public schools is usually characterized by external influences from various agencies and government bodies. As a result, the rules and regulations in public schools are rigid from external forces such as supervisors are responsible for their development and implementation. This trend reduces the power that the internal management of a school has.
Therefore, it is difficult for public schools to hire or fire teachers or any other employee as a measure of improving their performance. According to Smith (1995), it is difficult for principals to achieve high standards of performance when their staff comprise of individuals who are not fit for the job and they do not have the power nor the mandate to fire them or hire new ones (122). In most cases, such institutions will be characterized by conflicts between institution heads and their staff and among staff members.
This greatly reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of operations resulting in poor performance that is a characteristic of public schools in the USA. The government should therefore decentralize the management of public schools to give institutional heads and managers more power to run their institutions. This will greatly increase the efficiency of public education since institutional heads will have the opportunity to select a workforce that works to meet the vision, mission, goals, and objectives of public education in the USA.
The civil service system also plays a significant role in the poor performance of public schools in the United States of America. Since the beginning of the 20th century, most of the employees in public schools are unionized individuals who are employed by the government.
Due to the guarantee of tenure that such individuals have, it is difficult for them to increase their performance to meet the needs of public education. Furthermore, lack of accountability is another factor that has greatly reduced employee performance in public schools. To overcome this problem, private firms should provide employment in public education to meet their specific needs and requirements.
These firms should strive to achieve efficiency and accountability from their employees. As a result, teachers and other personnel in the public sector will improve their performance and output to meet the needs and requirements of their employers as well as the requirements of public education.
Monotony is another problem that public education is facing in the United States. Like other employees, teachers in public schools will be motivated with incentives and rewards (Hood 12). However, the government has failed to realize this need. Thus, due to lack of incentives, teachers are not motivated to work harder to improve the performance of students in public schools that has been deteriorating with time.
Thus, the government should come up with measures and systems that reward hard working teachers and public schools. This move will increase the engagement of teachers in public education and competition among public schools while striving for excellence. In the long run, this strategy will greatly improve the quality of public education.
Finally, the presence of centralized decision-making mechanism has greatly hindered the efficiency of operations in public schools. As it has been discussed, the government is the main decision maker with regards to the policies, rules, and regulations that affect public schools. Through its personnel and auxiliary bodies, the government develops rules and regulations that are to be implemented at the school level by institutional heads and their staff.
However, since they were not involved in the decision making process, school heads, and their staff are always reluctant in implementing these rules and regulations to the latter. Thus, the decision making process should be decentralized to ensure that these individuals are involved in the making of measures, rules, and policies that they are to implement. This will greatly improve the efficiency of operations in public schools hence increasing their overall performance.
Conclusion
The quality of public education has greatly declined over the last several decades. Despite the fact that many people believe that it is the students who have failed to improve their performance, this paper has identified that indeed it is the government that has failed to put in place measures that are effective in meeting the educational needs of the public.
Thus, the government needs to address issues that relate to the management of public schools to improve the quality of education hence meeting the educational needs of the greatest nation in the world.
Works Cited
Chubb, John. Politics, Markets and America’s Schools. New Jersey: Brookings Institution Press, 1990. Print.
Hood, John 1993, The Failure of American Public Education. Web.
Smith, Kevin. The Case against School Choice: Politics, Markets, and Fools. New York: M.E Sharpe, 1995. Print.