Education from 1980-2000

     Public education has taken many turns over the last two centuries but it seems that we just keep ending up in the same place. The fight in the 19th century was for education to teach the students to be prepared to join the work force, and now in the 20th century, we have evolved right back to that same point. Why is it that corporate America thinks that they need to have a hand in how education is managed? If it is to be a free public education then the student should have a right to decide if they want to learn the things necessary to join the corporate team or gain an education that will prepare them for another field such as theater. Over the last two centuries, it has become apparent that the main goal of tax supported public schools was to get students ready for the workforce. We have seen two major reforms over the last two centuries that involved trying to model public schools after corporations and the marketplace. These reforms have been led by public officials, educators, and business leaders in the name of improving schools. Their main goal was to produce graduates that could form a literate workforce to help the companies compete in the global marketplace. I also ask how we are to compete if all the children are allowed to study is the basic mathematics, science, and language arts? Is there not more to business than these basic subjects? If we do not have need of business classes, theater arts, music, and vocational classes such as automotive skills, then how is the economy going to expand. We need some of the elective classes that are being cut out in order to increase the time for learning the subjects that are so heavily tested nowadays. Teachers are judged on performance of these tests but are not given the opportunity to voice what or how these subjects should be taught and tested on. We have to rely on people who are not experts in education. The main ingredient missing in this takeover of education by corporate leaders, is the teaching and learning. The biggest irony  of corporate influence over the last two centuries is that in the 19th century, the influence was for  more vocational courses and less academic courses. The idea was to provide the skills necessary for students to be able to leave school and join the work force as productive employees and citizens. The push in corporate influence in the 20th century has been the opposite of the 19th century. Now there is a push for more academic courses and almost complete removal of all the vocational courses in most schools. Now all we do is spend our time teaching to the test. There has not been solid evidence that all this testing will lead to productive workers in the global marketplace today. Does all this testing, required curriculum, and the pay to perform for teachers really get teachers to teach better or students to learn better? Are we developing literate, active, and morally sensitive citizens with all this reform in education? Can we really get students to become independently thinking citizens that want to go out and become workers in the corporate workplace?