`Government Common Assignment
What are the three branches of government? When did the Civil War begin? Who was our sixteenth president? Most people can’t answer these questions and many more about our history. This has to do with the way our education system runs its history subject in public schools. In today’s society our public schools are focused more on standardized testing than with what our subjects and information our students are learning. This is a downfall in our society, which causes the people who try to run our country fail. This is why many of the political members that try to control our nation, either mess it up or something worse. It is this reason why many people doubt or lose trust in our political system. In this paper I’m going to talk about how our public schools are failing, and how we need to learn how to fix this. The national assessment of educational Progress test students in grades four, eight, and 12 on several broad subject areas every few years (Williams, 2014). Just 20, percent of fourth graders, 17 percent of eighth graders, and 12 percent of 12th-graders were at grade-level proficiency in American history in the 2010 exams (Williams, 2014). Most of the students don’t learn American history, they learn very little about founding fathers (Williams, 2014). They fail to learn why America is an exceptional country and nation (Williams, 2014). If Americans knew and understood our founding principles and values, special interest groups, and politicians couldn’t run through our liberties (Williams, 2014). The concept of public education is on a national trial, because it’s being entangled by the many people that are undergoing a huge economic, social, and political transformation (Can we keep it, 1992). Reformers hoped to bring almost every child through the school district; this is supported by state grants and taxes (Can we keep it, 1992). The only way for public schools to be able to afford to do this was for everyone to have to pay taxes to help support them (Can we keep it, 1992). The basic reason that the founders turned to the idea of public education was to build common commitments to their new political ideas (Can we keep it, 1992). The main reason that they decided that public school was better than private school, had to do with the future of the next generation (Can we keep it, 1992). This was mainly a political based move; they wanted the next generation to be more self-governing (Can we keep it, 1992). Unlike many myths that are believed, “public education was not intended to give parents more control over their children’s education, it wasn’t to promote the individuals needs or interests of children, not to prepare for a better job, and not to get into college” (Can you keep it, 1992). Even in the beginning, the political, religious, educational and intellectual leaders all had very different diverse goals (Can you keep it, 1992). As parents, teachers, students, public, and everyone else; our expectations about public schools have been met such as admitting anyone who comes to their doors, provide learning experience for anyone with a handicap, and to provide an equal opportunity to anyone no matter what language they speak (Can you keep it, 1992). The republican government then decided to be efficient and they installed the No Child Left behind Act over a decade ago (Alexander, 2012). They wanted to enact a plan that would improve our nation’s schools; this is where their goal of No Child Left Behind act came from (Alexander, 2012). The downfall to this plan was that they added way to many Washington rules and laws to the act (Alexander, 2012). Most of these should have been left to the parents, communities, and classroom teachers (Alexander, 2012). This act proved to be unrealistic and problematic, which shocked America because they think that all men are created equal and that anything is possible (Alexander, 2012). But data from the last ten years has proven that the