The Foundation of Problems within U.S. Education

To people who have spent even a modicum of time within the U.S. education system, it is apparent to see that there is a top down hierarchy that has been established. Politicians pass laws for U.S. Education, which is then enforced by administration, which is then enforced by teachers, which finally lands on students being the bottom rung of the ladder. As a consequence of this hierarchy, teachers and students can end up feeling like they have no control over what goes on in their classrooms. In response to this, our group has created a campaign to bring awareness and promote activism within these bottom rungs of the educational ladder. Through this campaign, we aim to give students and teachers in Ohio a more effective voice by giving them more awareness of educational issues, as well as providing means in which they can participate in activism on these issues.

The campaign will utilize a two step process in order to accomplish the goal of amplifying student and teacher voices: awareness into activism. In order to promote awareness, we will publish a newsletter to highlight specific issues that are affecting the education system in Ohio. These newsletters will be published 2 or 3 times during the semester. Alongside this, we will also be using twitter to promote articles and issues that arise. With the awareness we’ve drawn, we aim to focus it into activism. We will be hosting and co-sponsoring events that will help affect change and be vehicles for activism in education.

The issues we will focus on are the outdated practices in the classroom, educational policies that are in the process of being ratified or have already passed, and the factors that are leading to teacher burnout. These are the issues that we find to be the most pertinent to bringing about change on a larger scale. By spreading awareness on these issues, we will thus be able to inspire a desire to bring change. We will then use that desire and direct towards events that we have planned.

In conclusion, the problem we see is that of a bureaucratic system that has gotten too heavy at the top and has begun to squeeze the bottom of the system. By bringing awareness to the issues, and using it to inspire activism, we will be able to steer the conversation towards solving the issues that affect the voiceless in our education system. Thus, giving teachers and students the strength and opportunity to relieve the burden that has been placed on them.

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Written by Ben Siefke