When Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 50 years ago, the intended federal role was limited but clear: ensuring equal opportunity. As a result, public education has been in the hands of the state and local government. State governments have the major responsibility in public education with its respect to curriculum, teacher training and certification (2). Thus, creating problems within a unified failing infrastructure; as a result failing the students it intended to help, failing taxpayers out of their intended public good, and ultimate hurting our economy. The U.S. government tried rectifying the failed education infrastructure by implanting polices such as No Child Left Behind and Race to The Top. No Child Left Behind requires all public schools receiving federal funding to administer a statewide standardized test annually to all students. This means that all students take the same test under the same conditions. The policy also mandated that by 2014, every school would have 100 percent proficiency in reading and math. Of America’s approximately 100,000 public schools are officially failures. Race to the Top was a $4.35 billion …show more content…
In many Asian countries, an up-to-date relevant curriculum that is reviewed by the equivalent of our Department of Education every few years. Additionally, these countries focus highly on educational spending; education spending comes in second to defense spending. By efficiently and effectively spending funds, they are able to emphasize on values, profession advancement, and help teachers identity their strengths. Each teacher is given over 100 hours of professional development to focuses on their passion in music, arts, mathematics, sciences, and language; therefore, personal growth during their career development. By allowing the teacher to find their strength and passions, they are able to attract and retain teachers as teachers. Teachers are paid comparable to what they would receive in the private sector and marketplace. The government is able to retain teachers by offering career pathways that allow a teacher become a head of at their perspective subjects, vice principal, principals, and district managers – should they choose. Teachers can progress to achieve more. The possibility of becoming specialists in highly-specialized work is achievable. Overall, creating and making the quality of teachers is exponentially richer, due to training, career advancement, and