6 Hot Button Issues To Explore Before Getting Your Teaching Certification

 If you’re thinking of enrolling in graduate school, particularly for education, it will benefit you to understand the hot button topics in education today. Knowing and understanding these issues will only serve to make you a better educator in the future. Here are six of the issues facing educators and students today:

1. School Uniforms

For years, school uniforms have been worn almost exclusively in private schools. There is a push to expand this into public schools, much to the chagrin of students. It is thought that school uniforms can help to eliminate bullying, remove distractions caused by classmates’ clothing and serve to unite the student body. Fashion has often served to separate the privileged and under-privileged; many think that school uniforms can help to bridge this divide.

2. Inclusion

In many schools, children who receive special education services are included in the general education classroom. All but those students with the most of profound disabilities are placed in a classroom with average students, receiving assistance as needed. While this approach has proved beneficial to students, general and special ed teachers alike may struggle with the lack of proper planning that takes place in some school districts.

3. Student Safety

Turn on the nightly news and it’s easy to see why student safety is a concern among educators and parents. From students bringing weapons to schools to bullying, student safety is a very real issue in today’s districts. The question is: how do we ensure our children’s safety once they have entered the doors of the school building? No parent wants to worry about their child when they are supposed to be in a safe place.

4. NCLB

If you aren’t already familiar with the No Child Left Behind Act, it would behoove you to study it, inside and out. Thanks to NCLB, many school districts have concentrated their efforts on reading and math to ensure that students pass standardized tests which, in turn, results in more funding for the school districts. Classes like art, music and foreign language have taken a backseat to these subjects, often being cut from programs altogether.

5. Homework

For many students, homework is the bane of their existence. For parents, there exists a feeling that school work belongs in the classroom and hours of after school work are not fair to their children. In the eyes of teachers, there isn’t enough time in the day to reach every child, or ensure that every student is learning what needs to be learned, without giving them homework. Homework has long been a way of measuring children’s understanding of a particular subject.

6. School Budgets

School budgets are a hot button topic throughout the community. Cash-strapped citizens have been voting no for school levies during elections at a higher rate than ever before. When levies aren’t passed, students may have to pay to play sports, be placed in classrooms with a higher student to teacher ratio and even find some programs cut completely. Many members of the community don’t want to see more of their paycheck taken, but they don’t want to see school’s programming eliminated. The key is to figure out how voters can be convinced to pass levies in the midst of a recession.

If you are going to school for your master’s degree in education, you should learn more about these hot button issues that schools are facing today. Knowing the issues facing educators will only serve to make you a better teacher and, who knows: you may have the solution to one of these six issues.

Nicole Morgan is a career counselor, and blogs for accreditedonlinembaguides.org where you can find information about online mba aacsb programs.