The Effect Community Involvement Can Have for Public School Systems

The+Effect+Community+Involvement+Can+Have+for+Public+School+Systems

Ben Robinson, Reporter

Many of our present public school systems are less than adequate for the up and coming generation and current students. For example, the lack of government funding, buildings are in poor conditions, there is a consistent need for new teachers, and there are lower test scores and graduation rates. There needs to be some sort of change, revision, or alteration to our classrooms to make them better.

Some more issues that are brought up when discussing inadequate schools and our insufficient education system are things such as remote learning, overcrowded schools, and lack of teacher innovation including outdated teaching methods.

With remote learning came many opportunities to improve our system. However, the way that most of them were set up was very lackadaisical and they were made half-heartedly. It doesn’t really teach you the way it should. This, by itself, causes lower tests scores and inferior grades. If we actually took the time to create a proper and functioning system, then this way of teaching could be quite efficient and beneficial.

When schools become overcrowded, the already insufficient funds become even more futile. There are not enough supplies and materials for the excess students. Classroom sizes are physically too small for the overcrowded classrooms and additions need to be made to accommodate the student-to-teacher ratio. Research done by UC/ACCORD during a study stated, “Overcrowding reduces students’ ability to pay attention and increases school violence. In such schools, students achieve less; rates of teacher and student absenteeism are higher than at schools that do not have these problems.” A 2012 study done by SAGE Open states, “As school budgets decrease and the numbers of students increase, it is critical that school districts continue to invest in efforts that will keep class sizes from becoming too large.” These studies prove that overcrowding in schools and individual classrooms is absolutely detrimental to the students’ experiences and their learning.

Another common and unfortunate issue is the lack of teacher involvement. The teachers get paid less than many other jobs that require less effort. This simple cause, affects teachers’ desires to be and stay involved in their student’s learning. Some teachers choose to give simple lessons and lectures that they found on the internet. This way of teaching rarely works to help students actually learn. Teachers need to be able to design lessons for their individual classes and the students in them.

There could be a remedy for all these problems that may or may not be completely foolproof. The solution? It’s to have more community involvement in our schools. While it may not be the community’s technical responsibility or job to provide help or assistance to schools, this may be one way to improve our school and learning system.

Communities could provide more funds if properly collected and distributed. However, the schools would need to use the money responsibly and for things that are actually needed. More funds could possibly solve the problems of buildings being in substandard condition, teacher pay being insufficient, which could lead to better grades for students through more teacher involvement. If communities get involved, especially students’ families, their children’s grades may go up and they might try harder because their family members are more involved in their school lives. Communities truly could have a huge impact on our education system and individual schools.