School sucks.

And I am not complaining as a student who has way too much stress or has way

too much homework. However, from a more analytical standpoint, it is the way America’s school

systems are structured that I truly despise. First, much of education is tethered towards teaching

students useless information. Concerning the curriculum, teachers are forced to teach much of

the content found in standardized tests as students riddle themselves with stress and pricey

textbooks and preparation courses to conquer said tests, like the SATs. Yet, the teachers have

no say whatsoever because if a student were to succeed in this school system in which America

is based upon, where many colleges will value the aspect of how well one does on a

standardized test, these poor teachers are forced to teach the content found in nationwide

issued standardized tests. And while such content may be useful towards some students, it

definitely is not needed for everyone. Just asking my parents for help on my homework and

them not knowing a single clue of it shows the petty information teachers are teaching students.

Why should a person devoted to becoming a car mechanic need to know about the history of

India? Or why should a botanist need to know about the many literary devices that books have

to offer? It does not make sense to take time away from people’s passion to teach them

information that they are inevitably never going to use. While some argue that it is to create a

basis of information for that individual, the basis of information should be different for everyone

depending on what they plan to do. Students planning to go into Computer Science should be

required to take various forms of mathematics, but then why should someone planning to go

into film career, acting or directing, be forced to take the same mathematic courses.

Constraining all students to take the same courses limits the time for them to follow their true

passions. In addition, they may dislike the course, which is cause for a lack of motivation, my

second point. Motivation is extremely important when it comes to a student’s education.

Research has proven that students inclined to learn a specific subject are more likely to retain
and easily access the information for application. Their curiosity for a topic which drives this

force of motivation is blocked the impeding school system. By imposing Common Core, or just

normal academic classes for that matter, in which every student is mandated to learn the same

subjects and ideas, it removes freedom and time away from each student to learn what they

want and forces them to learn, without the motivation and drive, subjects they dislike. The last

issue revolves around the fact that schools in America are way too overcrowded. This is more

specific towards colleges/universities where many classes can reach upwards to 50 students to

1 teacher. Although this can apply to even high schools, where there exists large

student:teacher ratios. Such high numbers cause for lack of relationships between students and

teachers along with the teacher being unable to deal with each student individually. Universities

with smaller ratios of students:teachers outperform those with larger ratios. Take for instance

one of the highest performing University in the world, California Institute of Technology. Their

student:teacher ratio is a mere 7:1. In addition, places such as Finland, who are advocating for

a smaller ratio are out performing our own education systems in America. The fact that one

teacher has to educate a multitude of students makes it hard for that one individual to meet the

needs of every single student. That’s why many of the lower student:teacher ratio schools are

outperforming those with a higher one. And while tending one teacher for a large amount of

students may be cost saving for the school, it certainly is not allowing for a student to grow and

exceed their limits. While a common misconception is that teachers are to blame for all these

school system problems, it is the higher ups, the bosses of the bosses in the system who are to

blame. Teachers are mere relayers that have to follow what the school system tells them what

to do because it’s how they make their money to survive. Students and teachers as a whole are

trapped in this siphoning system that takes away from the passion of many.
NEW IDEAS

-get rid of basis of knowledge weakest argument

-utilize standardized testing and classroom ratio argument more

-implement personal experiences regarding standardized testing and classroom sizes

-add on perhaps freedom to do what you want, not tethered by restrictions as per say in PHS

School is a very controversial topic. Having it affect nearly every person under the age of 18, it

is imperative that education boards start looking into the issues concerning this very system. As

a student of the American School system, I find two main problems that with solutions, can

easily work towards benefitting the positives of the system. First, standardized tests are a mess.

I think most students can agree to this statement, and I’m ensured of this when I hear the

groans of my fellow students and even teachers once the word PARCC is said. While my

experience with PARCC has been a surplus of technical difficulties, there lies a deeper issue

with all standardized tests. These so called test for knowledge and understanding of certain

topics are skewed due to the various external factors that exist including anxiety, stress, and

even money. The amount of impact it has towards a student’s academic future in college

causes severe anxiety and test-stress among students, as my brother had and most likely many

parents see in their own high school children. Not to mention that high costing preparatory

classes along with SAT prep text books add on to factor a student’s final result, allowing those

who can afford it to receive an unfair advantage. If unable to buy said books and prep-classes,

the student is then at a disadvantage due to not being able to gain the certain knowledge one

learns from the preparatory factors. This causes an inaccuracy in the results because if a test

were tell the truth in whole, then the only factor should be the knowledge a student possess. I

believe doing away with standardized testings opens up the world to students. No longer will
they be tied to the stress from SATs, and if a College wants to see your general knowledge of

certain subjects, then I believe that Colleges should be the one administering their own

standardized test, as an admission test would do. It doesn’t make sense for a student to take

such a test in high school if they are already riddled with the various exams conducted by their

own subjects that affect their overall GPA, which is a good depiction of one’s general knowledge

in each and every subject. Second, student-teacher ratios are an important factor when it comes

to education in class. Overpopulated schools should look towards the highest performing

schools. Universities such as Harvard and Princeton boast student teacher ratios lower than

7:1. It’s no wonder that they perform so well academically. The teacher is able to cater towards

every student’s needs and is able to build a relationship that leads to a student feeling more

comfortable to interact with. As a student of who is enrolled in a class that has only 8 other

students in it, I can sense the marginal difference than being part of a twenty-eight student

class. I feel more attained to participate due to the lesser amount of people and it encourages

more quality discussion amongst your peers versus when in a large classroom it may be easy to

hide beneath the shadows of everyone else, as I have often done before. With reduction of

class size, there has to be more funds to accommodate more teachers. Teacher have the most

important jobs in a child’s life and need more recognition for the work they do. Perhaps a

different type of scheduling, implementation of online classrooms, or even night classes to

modern day schools could serve as solutions to encourage a smaller size class. While those

might not work, something needs to change about the system. We have the world of advancing

technology at our fingertips, and it seems that the school system is still tethered to the ideals

that existed at its birth, but it must grow on to become better and must cater towards this time

period and progress because after all, students are our future and what they learn today will

carry on with them into the future.