The Race to the Top

1. Running head: OPPOSING VIEW POINT IN EDUCATION 1
Opposing View Point in Education
Dena Bucher
EDU/101
February 21, 2015
Shanna Birkholz-Vasquez

2. OPPOSING VIEW POINT IN EDUCATION 2
Opposing View Point in Education
The Race to the Top program awards grants and money to states on competitive basis
charging the worst performing schools and recruiting and rewarding qualified teachers. It cost
the United States Department of Education $435 billion to motivate and make changes in state
and local district K-12 education. Funding received by the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009. The act awarded points for performance-based standards for teachers
and principals, complying with Common Core standards, and removing caps on charter schools.
It also gave it the ability to turn around the lowest-performing schools.
The quality of education has declined since the mid 1960’s. Drops in SAT scores show a
gap in general knowledge. This based on the deterioration in the quality of education. With anti-
traditional school reforms, lowering standards and under demanding course work; schools are
questioning themselves and the future of education. Teachers cannot guess what information a
student will need in the future. Therefore the quality of education is in question.
Teaching is going forward but despite today’s free-form education, the philosophy was
not built on the “latest” and “greatest” but is based on something from the 1960’s. A progressive
philosophy, that gives the freedom to the student and the “support” of the teacher. What was
surprising was that most parents never bothered to find out if this type of “anti-traditional”
school really worked
Our standards much higher now than they were in the 1990’s, we have set the standards
lower, allowing the student to “take it easy” with no consequence. We are not giving the student
the education they deserve. We became complacent and were too worried that their self-esteem

3. OPPOSING VIEW POINT IN EDUCATION 3
would be bruised opposed to a good education. Spending too much time making sure the slower
learning did not think they were failures. Students need to be challenged wand will respond if it
is in their best interest.
Low standards plague the very best schools, because a lot of good schools across the
country have light curriculums, they don’t have high dropout rates leaving parents with false
ideas, even though the kids are well prepared for college but they are not challenged enough.
Colleges are stronger institutions structurally; many public high school administrators
have allowed teenagers pick and choose their education. With no requirements and few
encouragements for students to tackle rigorous material, difficult classes have been replaced with
more fun popular subjects like film-making, mystery novels, and other courses that had the
appeal of little homework ... minimal demands on analytical skills, and some connection to
popular culture. "What they know least are the books, ideas, events, and authors taught only in
school. .... It only becomes fun after we have had to memorize something
Acquiring standards that students need to attend, to succeed in college –giving them the
ability to compete in the global economy. Building data systems that measure student growth and
success and that inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction
Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially
where they are needed most, turning around the lowest-achieving schools.