5 Ways to Improve Basic Education

by Shannon Wills

If there is one asset that stands us good at all times, it is education. It opens the door to opportunities and paves the way to success in nearly every sphere of life. The majority of people agree that it is important for children to receive the right kind of education early on, so that the foundation for their future is well laid. But in spite of all the efforts that are being taken to improve education at its roots, there are problems that crop up every now and then and upset the applecart. In general however, there are a few aspects that determine the quality of education a child receives, and they are:

• The calibre of teachers: The best way to develop an interest for even your worst subject is to have a really fantastic teacher handle your class. When the right person teaches you the subject, you feel a passion that you never felt before and learning becomes much easier and less of a chore. When the teacher is lackadaisical and remote, the entire class suffers too, and the subject becomes more of a drag. To improve education, it is imperative to hire teachers who not only know the subject, but also how to teach it in an interesting way that is easily understood by their students.

• The attitude of fellow students: A naturally brilliant child tends to slack off when there is no real competition from the rest of the class. He or she is satisfied with scoring grades that are higher than the rest of the class and never really strives to achieve their best. Students who are naturally talented are tested and pushed to do their best only when there is tough competition from their peers, so if children are perceived to be much more capable than they seem to be, it is up to their teachers to egg them on to perform to their best.

• The standard set by the school: Some schools set high academic standards and offer their students incentives to reach certain goals. Others however, focus on other activities and leave it to the children to do what they can academically without really encouraging them to do their best. When schools set the bar high, they tempt students who are naturally brilliant and hard workers to aim higher and achieve much more.

• The attitude towards education at home: When parents don’t set much store by education as the foundation for success in later life, the children follow suit. They go to school because they must, but beyond that, they are not too interested in lessons and exams. While education authorities cannot change parental attitude, they can identify promising children and encourage them to do their best at school by making them aware of all the opportunities that await bright achievers.

• Initial academic performance: Think of a record being set in a sports event, say long jump. Now would a champ who has set a world record want to do less the next time round? That’s how it is with educational achievement too – when you do well in your early years, you’ve set a standard for yourself, one that you hope to equal or beat in all the years to come. So encouraging children to live up to their potential in their early years could give them the much needed boost to perform well later in their life, when it matters the most.


This guest post is contributed by Shannon Wills, she writes on the topic of Online Engineering Degrees. She welcomes your comments at her email id: shannonwills23@gmail.com.