US Education
I haven’t posted on this blog for a while, and I’ll try to take it in a direction of getting people to think about some issues in more depth, rather than listen to hollow arguments constantly put out by mass media and politician’s staff. And the first thing I would like to do is discuss education in the United States.
First of all, how a country that is as rich and powerful as the United States has such a crushing problem with education. Moreover, pressing problems persist not only in one level of education – it is across all educational institutions. Let’s state clearly before further pondering on the subject, that education is not a business. Every school is not like a for-profit or a non-for-profit company that operates to churn out a good or a service. Education is a necessity of a civil society to sustain itself and moreover, it is the foundation of a democratic republic, which the United States is. It is not something that should be cut or should be disregarded. Education should be started early and without asking a child whether he wants to take a certain subject or not – it should be started out strong and sustained throughout the first 20 or so years of a human’s life so that person can be a comprehensive part of our society as well as a resource upon which the nation can rely.
*As a side not, I’d like to state that by the word “nation” I mean everyone living in the borders of a country that reaps benefits of the government’s functions and others’ contributions.
Although it sounds like it’s the democratic and the just thing to do to for all to give children choices of their classes, it is actually harmful. Schools, of course, love the system of giving students a choice of levels such as intro, advanced, AP, etc in High School because then they have higher average GPA to show when bidding for their few bucks from the government. However, it ultimately hurts the nation as a whole. When a student is given a choice of an easier class and a higher grade point average, or a harder class with more homework and potentially a lower GPA, their choice is obvious. The students need a good GPA to get into a good college of their choice, they also want good grades for scholarships and of course for self esteem.
However, even though a Chinese teen with a C average in advanced physics and molecular biology may sound like he is doing worse than our Jimmy in Averageville, USA with a 3.8 / 4 GPA but in Intro to Natural Sciences and Beginner’s Algebra, the Chinese teen still will know more and will in the end contribute a lot more for his society than Jimmy. See the picture? A recent article by CNN titled Why would-be engineers end up as English majors asked a very good question. And so, why do students go from being engineers to being English majors? Because English is easy. It is essays and BS discussions that usually end up getting you through. Engineering requires high knowledge of math and science prior to entering college, and that is what the American education system lacks.
The problem is not in colleges, or in children, it is in the parents and those that run the country. They want indicators so they get reelected or not hassled by their children for giving them a hard time. Well, stop being afraid. If you stop focusing on grades as driving factors that schools MUST use to get their share of federal and state funding, then teachers will begin to push their student. Grades will drop, but the knowledge base will increase. It is about more than just indicators, it is about unquantifiable results of education. You cannot make rules and grids showing student performance. Education is an investment into developing logical thought and a base of knowledge through which genius is developed. College freshmen students find it hard to go into world level universities that expect higher performance out of students who do not posses the basics to begin to understand that material!
So, if you are truly concerned with the poor levels of education in American and especially the ability of America’s future leaders to compete globally – call on your Congressmen to take action that is not driven by money or grades. Education is a REQUIREMENT for a civil society, not a privilege.
