Education

Picture today’s educational system…it’s not perfect—in fact, I imagine most of us can agree it is far, far from perfect. And not surprisingly as the underlying principles of the US schooling system haven’t experienced any significant changes in at least 100 years. There are obvious differences such as technology, and with the constant discovery of new information, curriculums frequently exhibit minor adjustments and additions. However, change itself is still essentially foreign to the educational system. Not only have the principles remained rather unchanged, the same standard that more money is equal to higher level education is still in place, which I find completely unreasonable. Not to mention the gaping achievement gap between race which has failed to narrow in any significant way in the past 50 years. In 1964, an average of 87 percent of white students in the 12th grade scored higher than the average black student in the same grade in both math and reading. Today, an average of 79.5 percent of white students in the 12th grade score higher than the average black student in the same grade. To put that data into perspective, the achievement gap has closed by a slim 7.5 percent in the past 54 years. Researchers believe that it will take nearly two and a half centuries for the gap to close; a change that not a single person in this room will witness...not even a change that our children or even our children’s children will get to witness…

Another flaw in education today is the borderline intolerance of “failure.. Parents and educators lean toward a very negative view of failure which then poorly effects students because they are left with little room for growth that is sparked by failure. Yes, failing entire classes is less than ideal; however, failures throughout the course, whether it be an assignment or a test, are very necessary as trial and error is a major key in learning and creating a sense of self in students. But this great tool for study doesn’t benefit many students as they are easily discouraged and distressed by failing in the classroom setting.

In addition, there are currently 3.6 million expected high school graduates for 2018. A great part of these graduates already have an idea of which career path they will be taking in college or if they are not planning on attending a college or university and will go straight into the workforce. That said, many of these students are pre-aware of the requirements they will be held accountable for meeting prior to whichever path they are taking. So why are scholars making such broad requirements for all students? Six million open job positions exist in the US as of right now, all with varying requirements and distinct performance tasks. It is increasingly unnecessary for each and every student to have such a well-rounded education in today’s world. While the idea of a well-rounded education sounds much more appealing, schools are spending excessive amounts of time producing modern day renaissance men and women instead of educating all students on important basics that are important to real world situations such as math, english, and small amounts of science and social studies while leaving more time for specialization in other subjects that are more valuable to individual students.

However, it’s highly unreasonable to blame all these problems on one specific person or group as the education system is a system and the social rule system theory states that most of human activity is organized into socially produced and reproduced systems of rules, these rules are tangible and universal throughout human society. Or more simply put, the majority of human activities are organized into certain systems in which there are spoken rules and also unspoken rules that determine the manner in which activity is carried out and who succeeds in that system. An example of this would be a rich, white, male student because this student would be most likely to succeed in the education system by default. That said, the blame for the imperfect education in the US falls on everyone within the system as every person enables the social rules to be implemented repeatedly, only making the principles more concrete.

Don’t be discouraged, however. Vast amounts of change have occurred in many other parts of American culture. In the past hundred years Americans have been to the moon, ended segregation, elected their first black president into office, identified seven different sexualities, declared sixty-three separate genders, and so much more. Yet, the educational system has yet to make any drastic changes. I think it’s time to start asking ourselves why.