Accessing the importance of education by analyzing the cost efficiency and the effectiveness of the teacher's curriculum is the major concern of citizens and parents have regarding the state of the American educational system. As long as the funding for education, be it private or public, comes out of the pocket of taxpayers and parents, the financial side of providing a quality education will remain the focal point of policy, debate, and School Board meetings across the country. We live in a society where everyone is interested in getting the most for their money. Why should it be any different with education? Public schools today hold meetings with the community to discuss how public funding will be put to use to aid in the education of the students. The degree in which the public is involved and informed regarding the funding of our education system proves how important education is to the public.
The benchmark of a quality educational has drifted away from the ability to read as a mark of achievement. In these more contemporary times, the absorption of other skills and knowledge are being used to judge the effectiveness of our educational system. While students travel through all of the levels of schooling, they are inundated with numerous standardized tests, the frequency of which has only increased since the induction of No Child Left Behind. These tests that are used to assess the quality and effectiveness of compulsory education send a clear message that it is important for schools to follow and keep up with certain educational standards. It also highlights the degree to which the public and the government are interested in educational standards and benchmarks.
If I were to judge the monitorial method or another cross-age tutoring program today, I would still be interested in the same outcomes that they were judged by many years ago. I believe education is still predominantly judged by the standards of the cost to deliver the lessons and by how well the students are able to learn what they are being taught. Educational standards are now focused less on the ability to read and more on mathematics and the sciences. The ability to read is still very important, but it is something that must be mastered before a child can advance beyond a certain grade in school. Reading has become a standard of a grade and not of the entire educational system. Children no longer learn how to do basic mathematics and simple reading and then go out into the world at a young age to find a job or to work on their parents' farm. The standards have become much higher and children remain in school much longer than they did earlier in the century.
An alternative way to judge the quality of an educational system is by evaluating where students move on to after they graduate. The number of students going on to higher education and occupations graduates go into is a great way to analyze the education that they received. It would also help to judge how effective a program is for preparing the students from survival in the business world. The amount of students that would go onto higher lever jobs and higher education can be a fair way to judge of the effectiveness of the teaching methods, but it should not be the only litmus test.