Vincent Cobb, III
THE EDUCATION CRISIS:
IT’S MORE THAN THE MONEY!
The educational crisis in the United States has reached an all time high, contributing to disparities between whites and people of color in areas of academic performance, college admission and income. Poor resources, inadequate facilities, unqualified instructors, and mediocre skill sets mix to create a myriad of problems that make inner city schools unfit for instructing our future leaders. My research focuses on the intrinsic problems of academic challenges that cause inner city youth to fall behind and what makes international students successful. The case is even worse when you contrast inner city student academic performance with the performance of students overseas. Previous studies have shown that international students out-perform American high school students by a 75% margin and that they dominate in nearly every aspect of college level and academia. International students have built up especially strong reputations in the areas of math and science - disciplines that American students typically shy away from. This research explores the possibility of what makes effective education and makes international students perform at such advanced levels in areas where the average American student struggles. Several factors have been proposed to explain this disparity in educational interest, including study habits and methods, teacher quality, student attitudes toward education. However, while most researchers believe that money is not the sole solution to the education gap between the races, my hypothesis is that the study habits and methods of inner city students have reduced and demented their educational experience of just memorizing information and not finding relevant applications to real world issues that motivate the passion to learn. Through my research I will prove through observation, assessment and interview that international students are more successful because of their honed critical thinking skills and experience to apply information that they are taught in interesting ways whereas American born students are coached to learn information to “pass the test”. In my observation of academic progress in a 6 week simulated college prep program and interviews of 10 male students of different backgrounds will show the basic study method that each group adapts to retain new information. Findings reveal that 74% of students that come from inner city schools do not make it to college, while 87% of students from suburban schools make it through college. Findings also indicate that culture, expertise of instructors, and the organizational structure of school districts needs fine tuning to create an environment where students feel that they are being benefited by the information they are being taught or that it is later useful.
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