Education in America

Education is important to how a child progresses through life and what they can achieve. It provides us knowledge of the world around us, and allows us to form our own opinions on things in life. Most people get their education by going to school and learning about a variety of subjects that will later help them thrive in the real world. However, not all schools are able to effectively educate their students and provide them with the knowledge they need. This country’s education system especially has a problem where schools are not able to educate their students effectively.

One of the main problems with our education system is the lack of respect for teachers. Teachers are not being paid enough. According to the article, “Too many teachers in the US are struggling to get by. Here’s what we can do to help,” in 1994, the average college graduate with an education degree earned 2 percent less than the average college graduate. By 2015, that percentage has increased, with people with an education degree now making 12 percent less than the average college graduate (Garn). Teachers should be paid a lot more than they are right now. Teachers are the reason why people are able to become doctors, lawyers, physicians, surgeons, etc. They give you the knowledge that you need to go to college and pursue whatever dream that you have. Without teachers, many people wouldn’t be where they are today, which is why we should have way more respect for teachers. On top of that, people’s perceptions of teachers are becoming increasingly negative. A lot of teachers are perceived as being the part of the problem with the education system. This puts a lot of great teachers in a bad light. Teachers who try their best to educate students are now being perceived as bad because of this generalization that teachers are making the education system worse. We need to have more respect for our teachers.

Another issue with our education system is dropouts. The U.S. has the highest college dropout rates. We still don’t know how to handle dropouts. According to “Educator: In Finland, I realized how 'mean-spirited’ the U.S. education system really is,” in Finland, they have programs that are designed to encourage dropouts back into education, which is why they have a national 5 percent dropout rate (Strauss). Our country doesn’t have any dropout programs like they do in Finland, which makes it much harder for us to handle this issue. We first need to address why there are so many dropouts in this country. High schools don’t prepare students well enough for college. According to “Are high schools preparing students to be college- and career-ready?,” only 8 percent of high school graduates complete a full college and career-prep course of study. Students are not being informed well enough on how to prepare for college (Santelises). This lack of information also leads to students having a serious amount of debt after college because they were never taught well enough on how to prepare for college, manage their money, and end up in debt because of it. All schools should provide a mandatory college and career-prep course of study. This will give them the information that they need for college, which will in turn, decrease the dropout rates since more college students will be well-informed on what they need to do, and how to do it, to get by in college. By taking the time to inform students all they need to know about college, we can improve this dropout crisis.

One of the most important parts in educating students is how long they have to actually retain the knowledge that is being given to them. According to “3 Issues That Are Hurting the American Education System,” thirty states require schools to have 180 days . Korea has the highest required number of school days, at 225, and they consistently rank at the top of developed nations in subjects like math and science. Our students stay in school for over a month less than Korean students (Lynch). It is clear that having the students spend more time in school will greatly improve their performance, as it gives them more time to retain all the information that they’re receiving. We should make our school years longer. If we make our school years longer, many of my peers would benefit from the change, since they would actually have time to fully understand what they’re being taught. Instead of spending a day on a lesson that not everyone will understand in a single day, teachers would be able to spend more time on that lesson and make sure that everyone understands. By making our school years longer, we are giving students enough time to fully grasp all of the knowledge that they need, which will further improve our education system.

Education determines how a child can progress through life and its many challenges. Our education system has many problems which will prevent children from being able to reach their full potential and become successful. Teachers need to be more respected, and one way that we can make sure that they’re more respected is by increasing their wages. We have to come up with a solution for dropouts, maybe develop one like Finland’s or experiment with other options. We need to increase the amount of day that students spend in school, maybe by shortening breaks or just adding more days. There are many other issues that still need to resolved, and we will only be able to fix these issues by taking to the time and effort to improve students’ experiences in school and getting them the education that they deserve. By improving our education system, we will ensure that every child, or at least most children in this country, will be able to reach their full potential by getting that education that they need to thrive in this world.

Works Cited

65354, et al. “3 Issues That Are Hurting the American Educational System.” The Edvocate, 26 May 2016, www.theedadvocate.org/3-issues-that-are-hurting-the-american-educational-system/.

“Are High Schools Preparing Students to Be College- and Career-Ready?” The Hechinger Report, The Hechinger Report, 6 Apr. 2016, hechingerreport.org/are-high-schools-preparing-students-to-be-college-and-career-ready/.

Garn, Gregg, and Gregg Garn. “Too Many Teachers in the US Are Struggling to Get by. Here's What We Can Do to Help.” Ideas.ted.com, Ideas.ted.com, 15 Oct. 2018, ideas.ted.com/too-many-teachers-in-the-us-are-struggling-to-get-by-heres-what-we-can-do-to-help/.

Strauss, Valerie. “Educator: In Finland, I Realized How 'Mean-Spirited' the U.S. Education System Really Is.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 26 Nov. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/education/2018/11/26/educator-finland-i-realized-how-mean-spirited-us-education-system-really-is/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.75685c3817bf.