Education now vs education then.


In the commentary "Let our children inherit an old-fashioned education," written by Allen Weeks ,Special to the Austin American Statesman, Weeks worries that education today is not the same as it was when you and I were attending school. This article is directed towards parents of youth in todays school sysytem. Weeks argues that since the budget cuts of 2011,caused by faulty projections rather than a true fiscal emergency, many schools are lacking key programs and the fews schools that have been able to retain some of these programs are too far for low income students to reach due to lack of transportation.

Weeks obviously valued his own educational upbringing and seems to put emphasis on the fact that he had a trade to fall back on. Being a teacher and a parent of a first and second grader, Weeks offers his valuable opinions on standarized testing in Texas, showing that the state of Texas is currently overtesting its students. Weeks provides evidence that high schoolers now must pass 15 state-mandated tests to graduate as opposed to most other states which only require 0-3. These tests are overwhelming and offsetting over half the freshman and sophmores who didnt pass their first five tests and are already on to the next five. He makes the point that with all the time spent learning test taking strategies it takes away from actual engaged learning.

Weeks gives tangible ways to solve the needs for our children to succeed academically. He claims that we need to give back the 5.4 billion that was "stolen" from Texas students in 2011, being that we have an $8.8 billion budget surplus and almost $9 billion in the states "Rainy Day Fund." He feels we need to restore these funds immediately.

I agree with his argument being that I am a mother of a student in grade school and I feel that we need to focus more on the development of the children and their learning skills rather than put so much emphasis on taking so many tests. I also strongly agree with his statement that we need a generation of critical thinkers and not accompished test takers.


http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/weeks-let-our-children-inherit-an-old-fashioned-ed/nWWbh/