Are American Schools Considered to Be Subject-Centered or Student-Centered?

Are American Schools Considered to Be Subject-Centered or Student-Centered?
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Are American Schools Considered to Be Subject-Centered or Student-Centered?
The design of schools is a factor that influences how learners gain new knowledge. There is a lack of a simple approach in coming up with a productive learning environment (Wasserberg, 2017). There has always been discussion about ways to improve learning, and this entails rethinking the content taught in the classroom, how it is delivered, and the assessment approaches. The main perspectives regarding learning environments are based on whether they are subject centered, student-centered, community-focused, or assessment centered (Wasserberg, 2017). Over the years, American schools have evolved to become subject centered rather than student centered.
Subject Centered
After studying the history of American education, it is clear that the current education system has a distinct subject-centered focus (Hugus & Tkatchov, n.d). This means that the institutions often focus on teaching students about the subject matter. Even though young students can remember complex concepts that are taught in class, the information has to be presented in a developmentally appropriate manner. The knowledge-centered approach also focuses on the design of the curriculum (Wasserberg, 2017). Over the years, educators have often discussed the benefits of a student-centered approach. It is also a common practice in private or charter schools. For instance, different states rely on a subject-based system. It is characterized by large classes, common core curriculum, and teachers whose work is comparable to assembly-in workers since they all adopt the same approach in learning, particularly in the context of public schools.
Secondly, the main focus of a subject-centered system is curriculum development rather than human development (Wasserberg, 2017). Emphasis is on ensuring student uniformity by developing high standards. This relies on what the society believes students should be able to do or know at a specific grade level checkpoint. Teachers are informed about how or what to teach. The main focus is to standardize students, which ensures that all students are similar though the use of a core curriculum (PBS NewsHour, 2015). Teachers often rely on testing as a way of determining how the students are performing. The teachers often have huge classes with a large number of learners from different backgrounds and levels of knowledge. This makes it harder for the teacher to get a personal interaction with the student so that they can get to know them more. Besides that, parents are not involved in the process even though they often help the child with homework assigned by the teacher. Teachers spend most of their time to ensure that the learners will complete the curriculum (Downey & Gibbs, 2010). The focus is on what the learners cannot do or what they do not know. The learners are expected to follow what the teacher advises. Instead, students often study hard so that they can pass tests, which in most instances, is temporary and shallow.
Third, the subject-centered design often focuses on a single subject at a time, and it helps students build on the knowledge they already have. In a subject-centered classroom, the teacher influences the entire learning process. American schools use a top-down approach where knowledge is passed from the teacher to learners via learning contents, ideals, attitudes, transmits, and shares knowledge. In this regard, this is a reason why schools exposure is vital for students and helps them learn new things (Downey & Gibbs, 2010). Subject-centered design is comparable to mass production. The teachers often go to college to get a degree so that they are experts in specific subjects. The teachers are tasked with communicating the knowledge and ideas of particular subjects in verbal form since they can easily interpret the available textbooks. These resources often break down information into sub-processes and skills which are measurable.
A subject-centered design is advantageous to the teacher. It means the teacher can guide the learning process using a teaching plan. The teacher determines the content of what they are teaching. This ensures that the students will get new knowledge throughout the learning process. The teachers also come up with their specific teaching aids based on the student’s background, which ensures that the lesson is more interesting and compelling (Hugus & Tkatchov, n.d). For instance, if a teacher wants to teach students how to fly a plane, then they will start with the basics before moving on to complex materials. This step-by-step approach makes the learning process efficient. The teacher has to be aware of what stage the learner is at all times. This is important, especially when evaluating and testing the students (Downey & Gibbs, 2010).
Lastly, since the learning process is subject-centered, the rate of gaining new knowledge is apparent, and this means that testing can occur at the appropriate time. Based on the student’s achievements and test scores, the teacher can then justify and quantify the student’s accomplishments. Scores are also critical to motivate students to perform better in the future (Brown et al. 2017). The current system prioritizes a higher GPA and scores as a means to determine the schools the student can attend or even the subjects or courses they can handle. If a student has a high score in math, and sciences, they will often be encouraged to take science courses or get into a career in the science field.
Student Centered
On the other hand, a conflicting perspective regarding American schools is that they use a student-centered approach instead of a subject centered perspective. This is based on a body of evidence that posits that learners rely on their knowledge to construct new ideas which they believe and know impacts them and how they interpret unique experiences. In many instances, the student’s current understanding is vital to support further learning (Kesici & Çavuş, 2019). Effective instruction often starts with what the student brings to the setting; i...