The petition
Thomas Jefferson once said that a Democracy cannot function without a well educated population. District U-46 is not providing adequate education nor an adequate environment for its students.
While there are many great teachers, there are still a large number of teachers who are incompetent and not meeting the needs of their students. We need teachers that are not only qualified, but are able to teach what they know.
Mathematics classes, while teaching "math", fail to teach the practical use of math in everyday life. Why should we, as students, be required to take a math class if we will never use this math in our life? At the very least, we need greater choice to choose what classes we would like to take or at least reform of the curriculum so that it better focuses on practical usage.
Foreign language is another area that is in dire need of restructuring. At Elgin High, for example, the offered languages are Latin, German, French, and Spanish. Spanish's importance is not in question, this cannot be said about the others. Latin is no longer used in conversation and many of the Latin classrooms are near empty. Latin class should be replaced by a Latin/Greek root class. French is only the 11th, German only the 10th most spoken languages. Economically these countries don't play the large role they used to either. Japanese is more widely spoken and Japan is economically more important and so Japanese should replace Frence. Also Mandarin Chinese should be offered. Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world and its popularity is soaring. Mandarin will soon be the most used language on the internet. Additionally, China economic importance is larger than France, Germany, and Japan combined. Mandarin Chinese needs to be taught to our students. We need to teach our students languages that will benefit their future.
U-46 and the American education system needs to rid itself of the nostalgia that is mortgaging the future of its students. We need to teach students more effectively, teach them what they need to know, and stop limiting students ability to choose.
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