If students want to learn about education topics not normally taught in University classes, they can join the recently established Future Educational Leaders of America.
FELA was started this past summer by junior Matt Mazur. Leading the organization with him are junior Mandy Mazzola, the vice president, and junior Nicholas Puhala, the treasurer.
The organization is open to all students of any major. Puhala is a film production major.
“This is going to be a learning experience for me too,” Puhala said.
During meetings, members will talk about issues such as No Child Left Behind, which is an education reform bill, and the decline in American education. Mazur thinks that although the government puts a lot of money into education, the results don’t reflect.
“If you look at the current level of funding in the United States, it’s incredibly high,” Mazur said. “If you look at a government system that’s pouring so much money into anything, the fact that the outcomes are so poor is just irresponsible.”
Mazur said No Child Left Behind is an “explosive” topic, but understands both sides of the issue. He said while it drew attention to low educational achievement, he doesn’t like how schools are graded and funding incentives.
“I think No Child Left Behind is one of the reasons I wanted to start this organization and why Mandy was so willing to participate,” Mazur said.
Among the issues with the American educational system, Mazur thinks the achievement gap is the biggest issue. He feels that minorities, English language learners and special education students should be achieving the same as higher income white students.
Mazur had known Mazzola and Puhala before he started the organization and asked them to help him.
“Matt’s in almost every one of my classes and we work really well together,” Mazzola said. “He asked me if I would join and I said yes.”
Although they each have a separate role within the organization, Mazur feels their responsibilities are flexible.
“Being that it’s a brand new organization, the roles of what each person needs to do are sort of blending right now,” he said.
Mazur wanted to start the organization because he feels the American educational system needs to be improved and wanted to teach undergraduates about issues not talked about in classes.
“I kind of took a look at what our curriculum was like and what I was interested in and kind of found holes in the curriculum,” Mazur said.
For the future of the organization, Mazur hopes to get University alumni to speak to members. He thinks this will give members a good opportunity to network with educators.
“We may be looking at doing some mentoring between current teachers or retired teachers and current students,” he said.
