Blog 8

Familiarize yourself with the topic
     I've decided on the American education system and why it needs to be changed. I don't know too much about the topic, however, I regulary read articles on this topic, and the (minimal) coverage it gets on the news. I know that in terms of why students are unsuccessful in school, there are a variety of factors that contribute to that, not just the teacher. What is going on at home plays a huge role in how a child does at school, know matter how great their teacher is. To put the blame solely on teachers is so unfair, and most importantly, a flawed idea. However, many people hold this to be true. The tenor system is another factor that needs attention in the public school system. Another big factor in why our education sucks is because of the ineffective way we evaluate teachers. There is also the factor of our curriculum and it being a bit outdated compared to other countries around the world.

Identify a research question
      Why is a first-world nation such as the United States ranked #25 in its education system compared to the rest of the world? How can we change this?

Mapping it out
       There are volumes upon volumes upon volumes of books and journal articles I could skim through in regards to this topic. First, I would do my resarch by skimming through books in the library database as well as scholarly and journal articles. I want to stay away from the internet as much as possible, since there is so much biased information out there regarding this topic. I would look out for biases in the books and journal articles I read. The idea is to gather information from  least- to -not  biased sources I can find. It would also be great to interview a public school teacher, and the parent of a public elementary school student.