American Students In the Global Economy

American students may not be globally competent if our education system is falling short from other countries. To educate the American students for the future global economy, we need to ensure the education of the future leaders, and give the students a "world-class" education. Given them a better education will give the students the ability to compete in the 21st century and global economy. We need to teach students other cultures, multiple languages, and several skills so they will know how to interact with people from other countries.

American students are sticking to one language as soon as they began school. From Kindergarten to the 12th grade students are only one language English. They are not learning of global issues or other languages. Even if studies show that kids learn a new or second language easily while the are in elementary school. The education system is not applying this information. They are not including a new language into their year course.

The global economy is giving jobs to those who can communicate, compete and collaborate with the rest of the world. According to the US Department of Commerce one in five jobs today is tied to international trade. American companies are finding greater gain in other countries, so they are moving to succeed in those countries.

If the small companies are moving forward and engage in a global economy we also need to move our students there as well. The Asia Society's Partnership for Global Learning has advanced a series of initiatives to support globally-focused learning in K-12 education. They developed an online curriculum resources to promote global competence and helped raised achievement for undeserved students. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act can be the lever we need to ensure that every student in the U.S. is prepared to engaged in a global economy. This act plans to:

• Benchmark our education system and standards against other countries.
• Encourage and prepare educators to teach the international dimensions of their subjects.
• Build national capacity in world languages from preschool through college.
• Expand federal programs that give U.S. students and teachers the opportunity to engage with the rest of the world.

American is trying to prepare its students to be globally savvy to compete in a global economy. But if this act doesn't follow American students may not be globally competent if our education system is falling short from other countries.

The Great Debate

The "No Child Left Behind" act illustrates different views. Out of the 100 per cent of people asked about the law 34 per cent of people say that the law "has made schools better". 26 per cent say that " it has made the schools worse". 32 per cent say that it hasn't made a difference at all. Lastly 8 per cent of the people "don't know" how the law has impacted the schools.

What is working about the law and what isn't? People that agree with this law cite and agree with "that no child will be left behind, or that struggling students will be brought up to the level of their peers..." and this is why they acclaim the law. Supporters of the law say "that under the law student get more individual attention". Supporters of this law look at improving test scores and think they are escalating because of the law. Supporters say that the law "improves teacher's performance", "and sets standards for new teachers".

Then there are those who say that the law" has made schools worse". These people don't agree with the "excessive focus on the testing", or that teachers only "teach the test" and nothing else. People think the law is altruistic because" the standards are being lowered".

Survey Results

The question for the survey was: Do you think that America has a good education system? This question was asked because most people believe that we have one of the best educational systems in the world. I expected that most people would answer that, yes we do have a good educational system in the U.S. and mostly everyone did.

I gave the survey around REACH time to people around the hallways. I gave the survey to 15 people of different grade levels. 11 people out of the 15 participants answered that yes, America has a good educational system. This answers were arbitrary. The four remaining participants answered that we do not have a good educational system. Most of the 11 people were freshmen and sophomores.

The results came out this way because it was mainly lower class men. Lower class men might think that we have a good system because they haven't researched or are not aware of the educational system and how it has been working out for everyone. If the survey was given to teachers the results might of been very different. The teacher's answers would of been more interesting because they know the educational system better than anyone. The results were not surprising to me because I expected what the results were going to be.

Based on the survey I would probably write about the educational system in the U.S. and write what is working about it and what isn't working at all. Also include what countries have the best systems and what they are doing to keep the students engrossed in learning. What is working for them?