Potential Roadblocks

When considering the change that must occur to create new standards in schools nationwide, I see two main challenges.
1. Changing both the school day and year.
My reform proposes we change the current school day and year in order to teach students year wrong and longer during the day, which will increase their educational skills dramatically. However, I am not suggesting this be a slow process. We must implement more school time right away in order to correct our students underperforming scores in all subjects. This will be extremely difficult due to the fact that our nation has grown accustomed to have a summer break, weekends off, and on average an eight hour school day. I fear that many students and parents will initially reject the idea of changing the school day and year, partly because of their traditional schooling experiences and the time that will be required for all students. However, after the initial step to lengthen the school year and day I believe students will grow comfortable with going to school more, due to the achievement that they will see through more school time.
2. Challenging students academically
The second facet my reform proposes is change concerning schools current curriculums. I believe we have to challenge students in all courses and provide both college level and advanced placement classes for students to take, if we ultimately want to see them succeed after high school. However, I fear that parents and some students will be discouraged by this attempt due to their current problems with passing high school. Majority of students in the United States, mainly in urban-areas, are enrolled in classes that are not challenging enough and are designed for students to pass with the bare minimum of knowledge and skill in English, Math, Science, and History. Even with these courses designed for students to pass, students continue to fail them and ultimately dropout or graduate with no future opportunities. The reason I fear some will be opposed to changing schools curriculums because students that are already failing “easy” classes would assume even harder classes would increase the failures of students. However, this is not the case. For example, North Lawndale College Prep, a charter school located in North Lawndale, requires students to take rigorous classes that demand students to give their best in each and every class. Even though majority of students at North Lawndale College Prep begin with poor grades and skills in English, Math, Science, and History, they achieve academic success due to the challenging courses they are enrolled in and ultimately graduate high school with plans of continuing their education in college (North Lawndale College Prep). With examples such as, North Lawndale College Prep, the reasons to implement challenging curriculums in schools nationwide are clear and obvious. Students achieve more when pushed to do their very best and eventually find success through their hard work.

This is North Lawndale College Prep, a great example of how a challenging curriculum and school environment can enable students to achieve success.


For more information on North Lawndale College Prep and the success of this form or schooling log onto www.nlcphs.org