Opposing Viewpoints The Quality of Public Education Has Not Declined

Opposing Viewpoints
The Quality of Public Education Has Not Declined
IN this article Gerald W. Bracey explains how there is no recent crisis in the American education program. Bracey shares that there are some people that will never be happy in a matter that sounds almost immature.
Bracey reflects on the past twenty years of America and found that “… Some of our most prominent business leaders and politicians have sounded the same alarm about the nation’s public schools.” (Gerald W. Bracey) He feels that this alarm repetitive and pointless. I think that it is interesting to question the idea of change to our education program when it is promoted by so many people. I feel that his writing comes off as angry when referring to the common opinion. Bracey explains that support for the changes in the education systems is generally based on the relationship of the country’s economy to “How well or poorly students bubbled in answer sheets on standardized tests.”(Gerald W. Bracey). He seems to be mocking the business leaders and politicians that he had referred to before. I feel I can understand why he feels so upset about the rash changes that people are pushing for but I feel that the negative approach that was taken makes me more resistant when seeing his point. He gets upset by the ideas that the blame of the economic down turns are always placed on the education systems, but then never receive the owed reward during the improvement.
At this point in the reading I found myself frustrated by his one-sided approach. I felt that he was coming off as stubborn in his writing. As the article continued Bracey changed his attitude. Bracey seemed to lower his attack on the rest of the world and explain more information openly. He started by saying “I don’t mean to suggest, of course, that American’s public schools are perfect.” (Gerald W. Bracey). Bracey embraced the fact that the American education system isn’t perfect allowing me to see more eye to eye with his information. It made his point seem more realistic. Starting off with the idea that there are changes that needed to be made to the program seemed unrealistic and child like, but when he expanded on his theory, it became more realistic. Bracey explains that although the system has problems the people that are demanding change are looking at the wrong spots. They are blaming the economic trends on schools. He basically calls the educational program the scapegoat of American economy. I understand that Bracey is trying to point out the rashness behind these ideas. There should be change that is made but not in the way that is trendy now.
The test scores that are generally used to rate the systems are skimmed and not fully understood. He seems to feel that people are taking these numbers as small picture. They only focus on one selected idea while ignoring the rest of the information that’s surrounding it. Bracey explained that it is easy to see our mathematics sore was 29th, and ignore that our competitiveness is ranked 2nd. The place in mathematics isn’t the only factor to be looked at while determining the change that our country should act on. Bracey went even further and shared that only seven countries have a direct relationship between their test scores and competitiveness. People judge our country on small things as if to only point out the negatives. They fail to notice that our country is doing incredibly well.
Our country supports an education system that supports creative ways of thinking. We expand on different styles that promote modern ideas. Although we don’t have the highest test scores Bracey doesn’t think it’s the end of the world, “Innovation is itself a complicated affair, but my guess is that it is not linked to test scores, if anything, too much testing discourages innovative thinking.”(Gerald W. Bracey). He is supportive in the country and is showing the good things that often get over looked. I feel that his ideas are logical but no one is interested in happy things, people only like to hear problems and new ideas for the future.

Bracey, Gerald W. "The Quality of Public Education Has Not Declined." Opposing Viewpoints: Education. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 10 Feb. 2010 .