The US Education System is Broken.

[Phoenix_]

To whom it may concern,

 

Education requires a revolution. Simple statement, right? But no, something that sounds so simple requires so much work. Breaking a system that's been left unchanged for more than a century and a half is something that requires so much more. Today, students are taught about the events that happened and things that were discovered in the past. Some subjects taught that were created in the past are important, don't get me wrong... but wouldn't it be right to teach about what's happening now and what could happen in the future? Think about it, many people say that one can't move on from the past if they can't live in the now, so why teach students of only the past. Sure, math is important to almost every job, but why teach calculus to someone who wants to go to culinary school? Some say the reason students are taught history is so that history doesn't repeat itself, but think about it, isn't history repeating itself if students are taught the same curriculum year after year? And why teach students information they'll just forget about after a final exam at the end of the year compared to something that they'll need later on in their life, like how to pay taxes, how to interview for a job, or how to do everyday tasks that some people don't know how to do because they never learned how to? In 20 years, I'm gonna be focused on who to vote for in the election, paying my taxes, and raising a family, not how that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Students need to be taught how to live and function in the real world, not how the world functioned and lived in the past because society has moved on from those ways of life and into a new era of technology. Some people are extremely intelligent but don't get the grades that make them seem that way because they don't understand how it's being taught, don't test well, or are completely over flooded by homework, instead of being given more time to study for a test they may do a little better on if they didn't have to focus on those 50 math problems that took 2 hours away from their night that could have been spent reviewing? Why even bother studying if the students are just going to be told what to think, preparing them for adulthood for manipulated media. Statistics show that the United States has the 14th best education system in the world the way that it is. Countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Finland rank in the Top 5 best education systems in the world. With shorter school days and a more individualized approach, that's how those systems are so successful. Providing more individualized learning would make education more successful and have more students want to work together and succeed, not drop out and do nothing with their lives.

 

Thank you.

[Herpz]

I think the stuff that they teach us in school is pretty important but they could cut down on the amount of homework that they give. They teach us history and math so we can have better opportunities in different careers. For example they teach us US history so we can be in touch with how our country came to be if you ever wanted to go into a government job. I don't know how we are supposed to learn about how to taxes and stuff like that but they might have a class or something that you can take in your school.

[Vy]

@BluePhoenix

 

Today, students are taught about the events that happened and things that were discovered in the past. Some subjects taught that were created in the past are important, don't get me wrong... but wouldn't it be right to teach about what's happening now and what could happen in the future?

What exactly do you refer by this? You should give a couple of examples. If you're talking about History, well, the entire point of history is to study past events. If you're talking about sciences, then how will you understand current discoveries and so on, without knowing the basics?

 

Sure, math is important to almost every job, but why teach calculus to someone who wants to go to culinary school?

How do you know that he wants to go to culinary school? How do you tell? What if he changes his mind? Also, the stuff that they teach is incredibly basic and you stand to gain more than just the calculus skills. You learn how to learn.

 

like how to pay taxes, how to interview for a job, or how to do everyday tasks that some people don't know how to do because they never learned how to?

I still find it funny how the US education system never has any lessons on how to do taxes. In regards to interviews though, what are you going to teach? People are different and expect different things. You can go to meetings, events or something that talk about interviews to learn about it. Again, what basic tasks are you referring to?

 

I'm gonna be focused on who to vote for in the election, paying my taxes, and raising a family, not how that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

Yes. YOU are going to be focused on that, but what about the other guy who went on to study bio chemistry or biosciences?

 

Students need to be taught how to live and function in the real world, not how the world functioned and lived in the past because society has moved on from those ways of life and into a new era of technology.

You think that society changed, though many aspects remain the same or they're mixed in from previous ones. Teaching someone how to 'live and function in the real world' is also pretty tricky. Mind giving an example of what that should look like or what you expect?

 

Some people are extremely intelligent but don't get the grades that make them seem that way because they don't understand how it's being taught, don't test well, or are completely over flooded by homework, instead of being given more time to study for a test they may do a little better on if they didn't have to focus on those 50 math problems that took 2 hours away from their night that could have been spent reviewing?

First of all, everyone's different so the teaching methods won't suit everyone's needs. That is simply the reality of it. Secondly, math homework is pretty important. If you think you'll know how to do stuff without pouring effort into problem solving - you're way wrong.

 

Why even bother studying if the students are just going to be told what to think, preparing them for adulthood for manipulated media.

Examples of this happening? (This one I am simply geniously curious about)

 

I honestly cannot believe what you said after this.

Statistics show that the United States has the 14th best education system in the world the way that it is. Countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Finland rank in the Top 5 best education systems in the world

 

With shorter school days and a more individualized approach, that's how those systems are so successful. Providing more individualized learning would make education more successful and have more students want to work together and succeed, not drop out and do nothing with their lives.

Maybe asides Finland, all the others are very rigid in the way they teach, are very focused on collectivism (society first), have a ton of homework (much more than what you get in the US).

 

The Japanese school day starts at 8:30 am and ends at 3:00 pm. Pretty much the same as the US. I won't bother looking up the others (I can assure you they aren't shorter though), but the South Korea highschool day is around 16 hours.

 

You're going through a phase that mostly everyone went through, when everyone thinks the school system is shit. Now, that is partially true, though changing it to be 'good' is nearly impossible and not due to time or money related problems.

 

In the future, please separate your wall of text into paragraphs. You should also read about what a paragraph consists of (you had nearly no examples in texts and very few arguments)

 

@Herz

 

I think the stuff that they teach us in school is pretty important but they could cut down on the amount of homework that they give.

Quite the opposite. They should give more homework and from earlier grades so you're used to it. Cutting back on something wouldn't actually make people happy by the way, they'd simply want less and less until there's none left. You should encourage after school work though you should change the way it's graded.

[Caution]

It is very broken if they aren't teaching people about paragraphs anymore.

[Korean Ninja]

@BluePhoenix You have absolutely no idea how the South Korean education system works do you?

[WavY]

 

This sums it up pretty much on how we need change the schools in America. And, this dude brings up a lot of problems and is pretty inspirational.

[nick]

you do realize the south korean educational system makes students go to school 9am-10pm, and get taught most of the stuff that we do. and then people in their last year have more hours depending on the school.

[roux]

It's not only about what you learn, but what they teach you. Unless you go directly working on construction, woods or mines, having the ability to learn is pretty damn useful. ALSO, schools are very general. If you have NO idea of where you're going, discovering many subjects may actually help you to get a general idea of what you like and what you don't like.

For instance, after wanting to study medicine to become a surgeon, I realized how of a pain in the ass it would be for me to learn all those science class' content. I discovered another passion in politics and in my Nation in my history/MOC class.

 

I can't say school is perfect. A great friend of mine, as good as me in school got a skull fracture and leukemia which made him lose over 3 years worth of elementary school. The guy was a super bright and is still in front of everyone. Elementary school years are crutial, and he still managed to catch us all without doing extra work. There's alot of BS that could be cut up and optimized.

[Mandeemoo007]

It seems that my high school is a rarity based off of what has been said here. My school has tech classes, personal finance related classes are required to graduate, etc. My school has a family class and many of the things you said your school doesn't have. Also the way I look at learning is that in life you want to be a knowledgeable person, and what that means to me is that you know a little bit about everything, whether its music or biology. But that's just my outlook.

[SkinnyDips]

Its also sad that the teacher selection is horrible. Probably around 70 percent of the teachers I have sit on their lazy ass, and teaching right out of a stupid book. I also here teachers say "you really need to learn this, cause you have a test coming up" This should not be the reason to learn something.