Education in America has came a long way from where education initially started. We use to see education as contributing solely to the well being of an economy, and now we also see it as developing new ways and things that can make the world better. Education in the United States is an equal opportunity we all have. Every child has access to schooling and universal access to education at all levels. So why is it that the United states school system is failing to produce individuals who cannot solve problems or compete in the economy we have?
This is school isn’t it? Some students find that school is a burden, but have any of them thought that school may not be a bad thing nor may not be a burden after all? This is a school system that kids have to go through, but ironically a system most kids take for granted. Education is important and valued highly in society today. Also, education is necessary to be successful in life.
This need for a new system is known, but one that can perfectly balance the needs of society while still caring for each individual is close to impossible with the given resources. Education has fallen short in developing students outside of societal needs, and this is largely due to society’s outlook on everything. People in today’s society measure one’s success often by the their material wealth and their standing in society’s class rank. This will cause children to strive for higher paying jobs and seek opportunities that look good to others, instead of searching for opportunities to fulfill themselves. This focus on material goods falls under social mobility, the first of David Larabee’s three goals for education.
This feeling of lack of freedom comes from tons of work to do and also from feeling that the work they complete is not amusing or interesting. This aspect is a massive problem for everyone! If students are unable to enjoy learning, what will become of our future? In the United States, the goal of the public education system is supposed to prepare students for college, citizenship, and future workplaces. As well as teaching them how to become critical thinkers and teach them the accommodations for future workplaces.
Over the years, public schools in the US are required to provide quality education for every child, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. However, critics of the public education system argue that the majority of the children lack equal learning opportunities and access to quality schools (Nelson, Palonsky & McCarthy, 2010). Some critics argue that the public education system prolong poverty among low-income families as the rich are provided with better learning facilities (Granger, 2008). The physical surroundings of wealthy neighborhoods house innovative and safer school facilities that offer better learning environments. Students from low-income families, especially the ethnic minority families lower quality public schools in impoverished neighborhoods.
The structure of the education system causes an individual to become stuck and unable to learn skills useful to their character. The boredom that results from the busy work pressed upon the kids, has caused for a one way mind set. Gatto states how the education system has embedded the notion in a child's mind that the only way to succeed is to achieve the perfect grade. The human mind is unable to accept this idea because it is natural to rebel and express individuality. Which cannot be proclaimed through the design of the education system that forces unnecessary busy work on young minds.
Often times I ask myself why I even come to school? Does our education system actually help us learn, or is it mere memorization of facts. I’ve come to this realization where “not-so-hard-working” students can obtain greater rewards than students who are more diligent. Most papers today are not original. With many open sources such as SparkNotes, Wikipedia, and Google, hardly anything that students create requires much effort.
America is a great country with a lot of opportunities and success, but one area that needs development is the education system. There are three applicable changes that can be made so America’s education system can be better and more efficient. America’s education system is moderately outdated; the basic format of the education system was contrived when America was an agricultural society, and so students had to have summers off to help their families work on the farms, but since America has become more of a suburban nation, the need for the average three month summer vacation is obsolete. A good alternative to the nine month school system would be the year round school system. Another problem with the education system derives from the lack
Furthermore, even in a country such as the US, a study regarding education among children with respect to economic conditions found a correlation between a student’s cognitive performance and poverty. Proponents of the free education movement often refer to such examples to illustrate how free education would allow these students to excel in an environment where education is of the utmost quality, however even if such were the case two major problems arise. The very first being the fact that even though education would be supplied for free institutions that do say may not possibly be in reach to rural poverty-ridden areas; a problem that necessarily isn’t a consequence of free education itself but a problem nonetheless, but one that will persist irrelevant of the pursual of such a system and as such requires perhaps an infrastructure development program. In addition, while that may be the case free education does fail to tackle all the factors that stem from poverty that disable a child to attain education to his/her fullest capabilities. This is best illustrated by an example: while “free” education may enable a child in poverty to “learn” for free, they may due to a lack of access to food or medicine suffer through a disease that ultimately prevents them in fully utilizing such a form of
The Majority of education and academic system nowadays claim what they do is to educate, to develop and to make students more creative. However, that is not what happens in reality. We like to believe that school is the way to nurture the mind and to make students think. Yet, at the end of the day, all students can think of is about how to pass the exam. School, which is falsely perceived as a place to grow new talents, is single-handedly stifling the creativity.