Education In America

Todays post will focus on the failings of the public and private education systems. The first point I'd like to make is that this system is broken. Not just in the fact that more than half the students that graduate don't use any of their degrees. Not just that from one county to the next you are taught drastically different curriculum's, but that students mostly don't even care to learn the simple ideas we are teaching them. I've attended a number of Community college courses, from basic AA material, to focusing on Theater and stage technician. The classes I took regarding theater were good, but the teachers I had for the basic AA material were increasingly distracted and uncaring. One teacher's class i dropped because he didn't even bother to produce a syllabus, and liked to change assignments after assigning them. Not to mention as an English teacher teaching critical thinking, he spent much more time on the concepts of wisdom and random thought, then on actually thinking critically. Now i like the idea of teaching people wisdom, but that was not the point of the actual class, and is a waste of students time, who are actually looking for a critical thinking class.

The second point I'd like to make is how we don't really teach students anything they can truly use in life. What good is teaching someone advanced math or history if they just end up as a customer service tech in some dead end job? Also we waste the chance to really teach children new ideas, often kids take the point of view of their parents or guardians, often to their own detriment. We would be much better served to teach kids second or third languages while they are still learning their main one. Not only is the human brain more susceptible to learning languages while it is young, but children would be able to learn the rules for multiple languages at once. What I propose is a system where, by the age of 12 you have a good idea of skills you are able to learn well, and what you can't. Trade schools should replace the normal high school. And if you are good at learning, with plans grander than a simple trade, then those would be sent on to college prep, then college. This would allow those who have absolutely no interest in college and simply go because " its the thing to do after high school," and would give those who wish to learn the time to learn , and not spend their college years wasting time dealing with people who have no interest in their futures. It would also relieve those students who are tired of hearing from their teachers how showing up for class will make you a better student, since those attending these classes would be their for the right reasons. Also this would mean more people have a job, and one that pays better than simply working at Taco Bell or Target.

All in all I think we need to revamp our education system, so that we can produce brighter minds, with real hope for the future of our country. For if we continue in this fashion, soon you will see a difference between one country and the next. Already Japan leads in innovation of new technology. China has more Honor roll students than the entire student population of the United States. India more and more outsources our IT jobs, and we do nothing to compete with this. Now obviously there are countries out there that have worse education systems than ours, but no by much.