Some of them are the “land of promise” and the “land of opportunity,” but it is fair to say that this “great” nation is on the verge of collapse?

Many of us can probably recall growing up hearing the saying that our children are the future. When a child hears that they swell up with pride inside and dream that they can do anything they put their minds to. But what happens when their beautiful minds are put to waste? This is what has been happening in America today. The public school systems have been failing the future of this country and if we do not take the necessary steps to fix it, the future won’t be so bright.

There have been attempts made to improve the educational system in the United States, but with each attempt there appears to be a brick wall in the way. The film “Waiting for Superman” shows us examples of why promising educational reform attempts have gone up in flames. As seen in the film, 30 developed countries are ranked and America is ranked a measly 25st in math and 21st in science.

It is evident that the nation we live in is not in the best standing when it comes to public education, but in order to fix this, we must ask ourselves one question, what is the real problem? Why can’t one of the so-called greatest nations in the world provide quality education for the children living in it? Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of the District of Columbia public schools, made a valiant effort to tackle this situation.

Washington, D.C. boasts a whopping 19.1 percent dropout rate in America, amongst the highest in America. Rhee definitely had her hands full when it came to this one. She was attempting to reform a public school system whose children have a history of below average scores on exams. She took a radical approach and fired 241 teachers who had neither proper certification or who had received bad evaluations.

In addition to firing inadequate educators, Rhee closed 21 schools with the greatest decreases in enrollment. The firing of bad teachers seemed to be a very good start, but the closing of schools would not necessarily help our leaders of tomorrow. “Waiting for Superman” shows a system where a number of exceptional schools require students to enter a lottery system which would then randomly admit new students. The problem with this system is that students who are better qualified to make it into these schools are sometimes left out, and there are very few spots to begin with. But then who are we to keep student who are average and lower out of these schools? If the educational systems in these schools are so good, wouldn’t they be able to help all students achieve better grades? From attempts by former and current presidents to chancellors of public schools we can narrow down this educational epidemic down to one thing and that is the teaching itself.

A lot of people like to include bad neighborhoods or the environment of a child’s home as causes of their poor performance in school. Although these two do play a major role in shaping how a child learns, a teacher’s job is to get through to these kids and to be a positive role model in these children’s lives.

In the face of adversities such as violent neighborhoods and neglectful homes, all a child needs is someone to look up to, someone to teach them that through education, there is a way to a better life. Not only must they be taught these things, but they must also learn that they need to go back to those neighborhoods and help others who are in the positions that they once were.

I applaud Rhee on her evaluation and termination of teachers in D.C. and feel that we need to do these evaluations nationwide. On the road to academic success, competent teachers are the vital middlemen. We need teachers that are willing to put the children first and that are properly qualified to educate kids from all backgrounds. With policies such as tenures and not having to be officially certified, teachers today have gotten lazy and passive when it comes to educating children. Bad neighborhoods and poor household environment do play imperative roles in education of kids nationwide, but if we improve teachers in all of our schools, we could revolutionize our education systems. Sufficient education is the key to the future of our nation and if we do not deal with the issues today, tomorrow, our country will be in shambles.

Curtis Bloomfield is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].