Education, what is it?

Hernando High is striving to become at least a C school. With FCAT already finished for the year the outcome of our hard work or lack of hard work, is already set in stone. How much of the school’s grade is directly related to the students? How much of the school’s grade is directly related to the teachers and the school board? In order to achieve a positive grade one must first realize the problems that students and schools in general face on a day to day basis.
A hundred and fifty years ago FCAT was unheard of; children let education engulf their lives in hopes that they would not have to grow up to be a factory worker and could leave slum life behind. Those who had no education strived to obtain some. The school bus was never around, so our grandparents can be found reminiscing about the 5 mile trek to school and back regardless of the weather. A little over a century ago, education was a privilege; in fact some children could end up working on a farm their whole lives.
This is not the case in the United States today. Children must attend some form of formal education whether it is public, private schools, or home based. Children must be educated. How can a modern classroom with students being late to class, uninterested, and unmotivated compare to the school rooms of previous generations where students must sit straight, listen to the teacher, and follow directions or face being punished? Would having to pay for their education make students take pride in their school and classroom?
As the government sends out expectations for schools but limits the funds, schools end up in a crisis. This situation is one that Hernando High knows all too well. In order to become sustainable and to keep up with the prosperous schools, the failing school must perform well on the FCAT and other state or national tests.
We have fallen off the mountain of education, with no net to catch us. For every time we fall, the climb to the elusive “A” school will become more challenging. Hernando High has a few obvious enemies, such as state requirements, lack of funding, student opinion and attitude, and just how much we care to become one of the schools that every student wishes to attend and teachers go beyond the basics to inspire and make an impact upon students.