The product of education is people, not statistics or profitability. Community awareness of the shortfalls created by government involvement has proven to be very low. Most patrons have great faith in the government to provide contemporary stability but have yet to fully understand that educators must be the controlling factor in curriculum design and evaluation practices at all levels of instruction.
 

Questionable ideologies and misguided concepts based on political jargon have created abridged scholastic goals reducing our children’s ability to apply basic concepts upon entering the workforce. Although the aim of “No Child Left Behind” has great merit and success, poor government oversight and misdirected development of evaluation standards compounded by fiscal reward turned the programs aim in the wrong direction. Government standardization methods have blocked the educational field into a corner by placing more focus on preparing for exams which measure more so a student’s ability to memorize definition and facts over cognition and skill. The greatest failure of these types of programs is that success is measured by raw statistics and how much money is awarded.

Governmental oversight has become overwhelming in many cases and is limiting outside of the box learning by reducing innovative instructional practices. Most mandated control factors need to be broadened to allow latitude for interjection of learning strategies that provide students with knowledge gained from the experience of learning even when the teaching technique is not measurable by government mandated assessment goals. Without this latitude students will continue to become disinterested in learning and graduation rates will continue to decline.

Focusing on educational experiences increases the learner’s general perspective by establishing a conclusive and usable knowledge base. The applicability of the lesson (how to use the knowledge in real life) is of greater value. Government standardization policies remind us to think about whether we want our children to be able to apply learned principles or follow the government plan and only be able to define them. We should not limit instructional adaptabilities needed by teachers to enhance applicability while focusing solely on fact based knowledge.

Educators needs to be given the latitude to provide learners with stimulating lessons that inspire aspirations for attending college as well as vocational fields of study that exceed generalized education. Modernization and globalism require all educational fields to promote a broader technical understanding of foundational subject matters. Educators are the most important profession in our nation. Give them the tools to succeed.