Reflection #8

In 1983, America was received a report about their schools with a declining shift in testing scores. Comparing the scores of the United States with other countries or Nations, America was embarrassingly sinking low. One of the initiatives America took to better this situation was the demand for schools to add more schools courses to their curriculum. These extra courses would be a requirement for students to graduate. The courses also required not only students, but teachers as well to study for more tests than they were already required to take. I think i actually experienced this situation in high school. When I was in high school for my first year the students had six classes a day and dismissal was at 2:20. During my second year of high school up to my twelfth grade year in high school the day grew one hour longer and two extra classes during the day. So we went from six periods a day to eight periods a day. The only thing I didn't understand about these extra classes given was that they were classes that I thought how can these classes help us to get a better score on tests. They were classes like gardening, and cleaning the school. The second wave the No Child Left Behind act which became a law. Because of this new law schools would now be focused better on the child's needs to start life after high school. Children would now be prepared for whatever field they wish to be apart of after high school. At this point most graduates were not attending college. Because of this wave, it is now necessary for even teachers to be hired unless they go to college and get higher degrees. In this way even teachers are more educated in order to help and teach the students more accurately. The third wave came about during the late 1980s. This wave would better the learning environment that students were being taught in. The schools were sinking low with old buildings, Oh remember these days, nasty cafeterias, rat infested cafeterias, ceilings, auditorium, and classrooms. I can remember when the high school about ten blocks away from my high school was on the news because a possum not a rat a possum fell out from the ceiling in the middle of a classroom while class was being held. Some equipments used to learn were even in bad conditions. Because of these major problems in the learning environment Bill Gates and Melinda Gates created a foundation to help out the schools to help and not only better the environment where students learn but where teachers teach.