Is the American Education System in Trouble Essay

Is the American Education System in Trouble - Essay Example Literacy's worth has changed and America has apparently become a "dropout nation". In answer to this dilemma, fingers are pointing to several aspects of America's education system; there are incompetent educators, obsolete curriculum, overcrowded schools and lack of funding for the system. It is an unending blame game where there is no winner and all are losers. Frank Salvato (2006) vividly mentions in an online article that: "It is ironic that liberal institutions of learning complete with accelerated courses in the humanities, sociology and ethics, are increasingly producing graduates who have no ethics, no understanding of morality and no mastery of the skills that can reasonably be described as the basics of education". Here, Salvato is clearly pointing to how dismal students are being taught even in the so called well established academes. Many have been calling out for an overhaul in the system to refocus its aim to teach or educate students on what is important and relevant. Old curriculum's and traditional teaching methods tend to be boring for students nowadays. Boredom leads to disinterest, which is one of the common reasons high school students drop out of their schools. The most obvious reason for dropping out of high school is poverty and poor academic performance. But even in suburban areas in America where money is not a big issue, parents and school authorities are finding it hard to keep kids at school. Often than not, students are not motivated to go back to school. Some dropouts choose to go direct to work and earn money instead of "wasting" time learning things they can learn themselves. Dropping out of high school has become so common especially since the law gives anyone who is 16 years old (or 18 years old in some states) the right to discontinue his/her education given that they have valid reason to do so. In fact, according to a recent PR News Today (2006) online article, 3,000 American students drop out of school for every school day and that most of them are poor readers. Moreover, only half of the high school graduates continue on to finish their college degrees. What most people tend to overlook is that dropping out of high school means minimum wage jobs and slim chances of going up the ladder. It's an almost certain way of being in a degenerative cycle, where dropouts rear children who choose to drop out of school eventually too. It is certainly a challenge for the school administrators, parents, and the society at large to make students realize that staying in school is the most important step they could take to improve their financial capacity in the future. In an online article by the Oprah Winfrey Show (2006) website, it was stressed that American students used to be among the best in the world about 20 years ago. Presently however, American students are lagging in academic rankings and even ranking behind poorer and smaller countries like Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and India. There are also an increasing number of high school graduates who later find college level education hard to cope with. Their high school curriculum evidently did not train them to be apt to that level. Even more disappointing is that some who graduated top of their classes perform miserably in their college years. What happens if the American education system continues to fail The country and its

Managing Organisations and People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Organisations and People - Essay Example In essence, Ansoff's model of strategic growth is used by Chase in the efforts of enabling the Tyrrell Crisp business to grow. The acknowledgement of Mr Chase that consumer is ready to pay more for traditional products because of the exceptional ingredient are also a concept that can be noted in this model. His packaging which was meant for the locals and therefore designed to suit their needs was equally of importance. This goes along with the Ansoff's model such that the redesigning of the packaging shows that or aims at the existing customers in a new market. This eventually reflects the qualities of Ansoff's model of new products being sold in existing market and new products sold in new markets. In this regards the concept of market penetration is crucial. This is a strategy Chase uses to penetrate the market a market that is apparently not saturated. He does this by attracting new customers for the product and ensuring that the existing ones are adequately furnished by the product and are satisfied. Mr. Chase attains this by aggressively doing the marketing for the product and selling it directly to t he consumers cutting off the link of the distributors who he considers not enthusiastic. In terms of market penetration, Chase uses the strategy to ensure that he makes his sales to the stores. It is to this effect that it can be deducted that distributors if not well managed or well laid out can lead to the detriment of the company rather than the flourishing of the company. Another concept that Mr. Chase use which is a concept in the Ansoff's model is that of diversification. He intends to diversify into other products including cereal bars, biscuits and muesli. Diversification enables the company not to rely heavily on one product. This enables the company to easily overcome any disaster which may be associated with a single product. In this sense diversification according to this model involves the introduction of new products. For long term survival of a company diversification is essential since reliance on one product can lead to uncertainty of the company's future. The behavior approach was researched on in the 1940s since the researchers wanted to find out the source of effective leadership. They considered behaviors of individuals since there was a belief that behaviors could be observed in an objective manner and measured (Allen: 1997). They equally believed that behaviors could be measured. In this regards a researcher Kurt Lewin 1938 gave information that led to the basis of behavior approach of leadership. In this he identified a range of leadership behaviors including democratic style, autocratic style and laissez-faire style. However there is no particular style that has been identified as the most effective in leadership and thus many managers and leaders use a mixer of this styles where appropriate or where the styles suite them. By reflecting the mode of leadership manifested by Chase it shows that Mr. Chase use various types of leadership skills to ensure that his company's products reach various destined locations. This approach th erefore enabled the company to penetrate the Market. The behavior approach of leadership has the views in relation to motivation and can be categorized into two views known as theory X and theory Y. these