Excellence in Education
The concept of excellence in education is one that, on the surface, seems to be unquestionable. After all, who would not accede that students within our schools should, in fact, excel? Certainly teachers, parents, and administrators can agree on excellence as an aim to shoot for. The interpretation of the term "excellence" is, however, less obvious. How do we regard excellence? Is it the college bound student with a broad liberal arts education? Is it the student who graduates high school trained in a specific trade? Many in the field of education cannot come to an agreement on how our schools can best achieve excellence for and from our students. One of the many authorities who have contributed a model for what schools should be is Robert L. Ebel. According to Ebel, knowledge is the single most significant and most important goal in the education of children. In his article "What are schools for?" Ebel answers "that schools are for learning, and that what ought to be learned mostly is useful knowledge" (3). He builds this declaration in answer to trends in education that focus upon other aspects of learning in schools. Ebel states in the beginning of his article, that he does not assume schools
Another authority on the subject of excellence in schools is Diane Ravitch. Like Ebel, Ravitch, has suggested that schools must retain their traditional goals, while varying in method. In her article "A Good School", Ravitch mentions Ron Edmonds, of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who provides an outline of what makes an effective school: Glenn, Beverly Cafee. "Include parents and teachers in reform." Social Policy. Winter 1992, v 22, p 30. Second only to academic goals, is vocational goals. Like Kincheloe, Goodlad disapproves of vocational education as it had evolved in recent years. He instead, calls for vocational programs that teach students the main concepts needed to succeed in the workplace. Rather than narrow, specific skills, Goodlad's goals include "learn to make decisions based on an awareness and knowledge of career options" and "develop positive attitudes toward work" (52). Goodlad does not stop at just vocational and academic goals, but he goes on to list such goals as "social, civic, and cultural goals" that were eagerly rejected by Ebel, as well as something he refers to as "personal goals". Edmonds identified schools where academic achievement seemed to be independent of pupils' social class, and he concluded that such schools had an outstanding principal, high expectations for all children, an orderly atmosphere, a regular testing program, and an emphasis on academic learning (55). Alterations made to accommodate integration would, according to Kincheloe, have a completely positive effect on an American education system that most experts accede is in a severe crisis. In addition to the broad reform programs indicated by the theorists considered in this paper, as well as others, the profession of teaching also seems to be in need of some improvement to better allow teachers to successfully acclimatize to the changing times. As Beverly Caffee Glenn Points out, "the most long-lasting and beneficial reforms in teaching would involve structural and social changes in the profession itself" (2). She feels that more emphasis should be placed on classroom teaching in order to keep the best teachers in the classroom, as opposed to the current trend that encourages the top teachers to "move up the ladder" into administrative work.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2814
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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