Fixing the system

There is no debating that the education system in the US is not preparing a large majority of kids for success and employment in America. What are the solutions for solving this problem? While I am no economist, so I cannot speak from the business and economic side of things, I can speak from the view of the teacher who is entrenched within this system. Here are my fixes for education:

1. Increase the professionalism of teachers. This can be done in a couple of ways: increase competition for teacher education programs, require that all teachers have at least an undergraduate degree in the field that they will be teaching at the middle and high school grades, increase teacher pay and increase teacher accountability once they are in the classroom. When teaching is not seen as a last resort or a temporary position for those who failed out of law school or med school, then the professionalism and regard for the teacher will be increased in our nation's eyes.

2. Increase problem solving assessments rather than multiple choice-recall assessments like the current AIMS model. If students are asked to demonstrate their critical thinking skills, then teachers will need to amend their teaching practices to "teach to the new test", which are much preferrable life skills. Students will never be asked to solve another multiple choice test once they leave the school halls, so why "prepare" them for this?

3. Differentiate schools. I do not think that all schools should have the same purpose, nor serve the same populations. Like the French school system, students should choose the areas of interest for them and then attend the schools at the middle and high school grades that intensely prepare them for work in the field of their interests: the arts, mathematics and science, literature, mechanics, business, politics. When students get choice and direction in their education, I feel that they will be more committed to their studies and see the relevance of their studies to the future direction of their lives. (This would require all schools to have rigorous standards and accountability, to ensure that certain subject schools were not far superior or inferior in regards to their delivery of instruction and student preparation).