Education starts in the home. "You need a parent who at least cares enough to read the notices sent home and go through the process" (Weil) to help their child succeed. It has been proven that students that have parents that are involved in there learning are more likely to succeed. The lack of parental involvement is the root of our educational problems, and the best administrators and teachers cannot fill this void, nor will political pressure or taxpayer dollars. Students reflect our society and families. Until parents assume their share of responsibility for the education of their children, we will remain mired in academic mediocrity. Children would be better served if parents would take time on a consistent basis to review homework and discuss daily lessons thereby reinforcing the value of learning. When parents play a dynamic part in their students learning, their children achieve better achievements as learners, despite status, ethnic background, or education level of the parents. The more parents are involved, the more secure and engaged their children are as students and the Better their achievements.
As the student population in American schools becomes increasingly diverse, educators must respond with school reform efforts that meet the needs of all students. Teacher education programs are responsible for preparing future teachers to promote meaningful, engaged learning for all students, regardless of their race, gender, ethnic heritage, or cultural background. "Principal Mansell reports that her single-sex classes produce … scores... She … acknowledges that her data are compromised, as her highest-performing teachers … have chosen single-sex." (Weil) A good educator would understand that there are differences in how girls and boys learn. Teachers need to be able to meet the individual needs of their students. It is the responsibility of the educational system to provide good teachers that can assess and meet the needs of students. Separating students by sex will not change the fact that all students are different and have different needs. It is the educator's responsibility to teach the curriculum to the students, and present it in a way that will work for the students in that particular class. If a student is having a problem understanding a topic, it is not the student's fault rather that the teacher has not presented the information in a way that works for the student. In this case the teacher needs to spend some one on one time with the student or the student can receive help outside of the classroom in an after school program
After school programs encourage better conduct and the enhanced academic performance of the participants. There is connection between student academic performance and afterschool programs. Kids who are engaged and have opportunities to extend their time in school through clubs and activities generally do better in school because they want to come to school, and they feel like they are a part of the community. Tax dollars should be used to increase daily afterschool programs and to make them available for all kids. This would give the students a place to catch up on information they may have missed in class or provide a place for students that do not receive get help at home to receive the out of the classroom aid they need. Children enrolled in a variety of afterschool programs obtain new skills and turn out to be more confident learners as a consequence of their participation in the programs which intern is involvement with the school.
Our school system has its problems and there are many solutions that are being proposed. It is well know that with the majority of boys and girls learn differently. However one-sex classrooms are not the solution to our educational problems. Money shouldn't be spent to move from one flawed system to another. Rather the funding should be applied to programs that get parents involved in there children's education and to educate teachers in better ways to teach boys and girls. There is never going to be one fit all solution that will be able to properly educate all students and that is why the one on one that after school programs can provide is so necessary to keep learning challenged students from falling through the cracks. Education reform is necessary and is happening, and the funding needs to be put into programs that will provide the most success. "Even if one could prove that sending a kid off to his or her own school based … gender did a little bit better job of raising the academic skills …, there's also the issue of trying to create tolerant citizens in a democracy." (Weil) Our educational system needs to move forward and make good decisions and one-sex classrooms are a huge step back to something that may resemble medieval times.
