How to Fix America's Education: Empower Teachers

The biggest challenge teachers face in the classroom is their own lack of power. Teachers have become powerless in the student-centered classroom--the paradigm of American education that has replaced "traditional" methods, which existed since the one-room schoolhouse to the 1970s. Student-centered learning has only fostered self-centeredness and certain false sense-of-entitlements in the students; it has not facilitated the learning process in the classroom. Student-centered learning is a "democratic" ideal that presumes every student can learn; it ignores the reality, however, that in a Darwinian world certain students will excel, but most are apt to be left behind.

By "empowering" students, the student-centered learning model has degraded the control and influence of the teacher. Students lack respect for the teacher; students question the teacher's authority; and students don't care to obey the teacher's rules. There are no real consequences in a student-centered learning environment, thus learning altogether has been abrogated.

What needs to be done to fix American education is to give the teacher control of his/her own classroom once again. Empower teachers and treat them as the professionals that they are. Trust in their instincts, abilities, and desire to teach. Let them evaluate students as they see fit. Let them teach without fear of rebuke from parents or administrators. Let them inspire students! If society valued teachers, students would actually respect them too. But because teachers aren't highly regarded, they've lost their influence over students.