America Needs The American Education System

Education in America is one of the most important issues that face our nation. If the education in America is not thought of one of most serious issues we face, our nation as a whole will fall. There are many debates and they seemly extend to all walks of life. The debates range from the decline in education, school vouchers, and the no child left behind law. As a nation, the United States is ranked above others. We must search for that solution to all of the pro’s and con’s in education. The solution should allow all walks of life to excel in the education realm. After all, the children of today will be the leaders of tomorrow.

America used to thrive on its education system and that is why it became one of the greatest nations in the world. Education is the backbone of our country, and we must give high priority to improve its current condition. Unfortunately, in the past couple of decades, the education system has been regressing. It has been on the decline and not as effective. The quality of education in a country has an influence on GDP growth, social cohesion and social well being in general. In order to improve the quality of education in the U.S., the following must be taken into consideration: the structure of our education system must be reanalyzed, we must compare and contrast our education system to systems of other countries with higher rankings, and finally, there must be a solution.

Nowadays the United States is not known for their educational system. Countries like South Korea, Japan, and Singapore have surpassed the United States buy large margins, in terms of educational success. While other countries are constantly revolutionising their education system, the United States’ education system has not changed in decades, leaving the U.S. unsuccessful. The U.S. continues to fall behind these same countries that are thriving. Due to the fact that the U.S. education system not developing as time went on, leaving them now with a multitude of flaws. The gap between the educated and non-educated, along with the length of how long students are in elementary and high school, are two consequential problems in the United States’ educational system that need to be addressed.

The American education system needs to change techniques in order to successfully prepare students for success in today’s world. American students are reportedly averaging some of the lowest test scores on the PISA test. This is mentioned in Amanda Ripley’s book the Smartest Kids in the World when it’s stated “Failure in American schools was demoralizing…American kids could not handle routine failure” (pg.72 par.4). This statement is a clear sign that the techniques used in the American education system to promote academic success in students need amending. There is definitely a change that needs to happen within the American educational system this is the only way to ensure that American students will be equipped with the tools they require

Despite Congress’ failure to institute meaningful education reform following the Revolutionary War, a few American leaders began voicing support for a more extensive and structured public education system. One of the loudest voices was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson argued that democracy required all the citizens of a populace to have sufficient education so that they could be well informed and vote accordingly. Jefferson did not, however, want to infringe on the rights of parents or local communities to educate their children. Instead, he proposed that everyone could be educated in the way they saw fit as long as they passed certain national examinations. ((Jurgen Herbst, “Nineteenth-Century Schools between Community and State: The Cases of Prussia

After the implementation of the “No Child Left Behind Act” high risk standardized testing has become a pressure cooker of corruption in the United States due to often unrealistic expectations, abundant incentives, and harsh punishments placed upon educators and administrators, overall resulting in the essential need for reform. The concept that every student’s academic ability can be assessed by a single universal exam is a misguided notion.

The use of standardized examinations have long been debated in American society. In fact, the last several years have seen an immense shift from the prioritization of standardized testing to more holistic measurements of student achievement. Despite this shift, many school districts across the nation and college/university entrance requirements still place a significant, if not pivotal, emphasis on test-taking and standardized exam results. Throughout this paper, I will explore 1) the history of standardized testing, 2) arguments for and against its practice, as well as 3) situate the consequences of its use in one of the three philosophical goals of schooling. All of this will subsequently paint an investigation into the purpose of schooling in American society.

Over the last two decades America’s educational system has been descending on the national ranking chart. According to Rankingamerica.com, countries like South Korea and Japan are leading the charts in education while the U.S is rank number fourteen. There are many attributes that play a part of this destruction, but the overuse of the unforgiving arrangement of standardized testing has a strong presence. Though, standardized testing has been around since the 1800’s but the tests that are implemented today are no match for educators or students.

Since the release of the annual report by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in December of 2010, many in the government and community are searching for ways to reform the American education system to give American students a greater opportunity to succeed. According to the report, one cannot ignore the fact that American students are not testing as high academically as other nations in the world (Duncan, 2010). There are many contributing elements that have brought America to her knees in the education system, however, the obsession with standardized testing is found to be more of a stumbling block than a stepping stone in the education system. To understand how to rectify the problem, we must look at all the facts

Thomas Jefferson recognized the necessity for education as a form of national improvement. Like roads and canals, schools would unite and improve the nation, but this improvement is greater than roads. Jefferson writes in 1786,

The idea of education has advanced throughout history, constantly shifting by societal ideals and human evolvement. This change is especially prominent during the 1800s and continues to alter to this very day with education policies. Public education first began during the Industrial Revolution. During this crucial time in history, many children were required to get an education in order to learn the trades of the growing economy and business as opposed to getting hurt in from hazardous machinery. These skills were limited reading, writing, and math. Ultimately, from this concept, public education was founded and from then, our society has grown into a well-educated community in which every individual has a role into making an impressive,

Since the beginning of global standardized testing, American students have been less than impressive. Numerous other countries consistently score higher than students in the United States. While comparing the test scores from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), two major cross-national studies of students’ scholastic performance, it is true that the United States is nowhere near the top, and is instead merely mediocre. An exhaustive list of reasons could be compiled in attempting to explain this phenomenon, but at its core the problem is not that complicated. The prominent issues that cause American students to lag behind are a result of the nation’s multiple separate education systems, parenting, the curriculum or specifically how it is taught.

In an intelligence-based economy, education is important to national prosperity and individual success. Huge achievement gaps and opportunities must shrink to non-existence, and every student must receive a well education that prepares them for college and careers in the world as it is today. Comparing the United States education system to other countries shows that the United States scored lower than nineteen other counties and education systems in reading in the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment. Germany and Poland in particular are two countries that have now surpassed the United States. During the same study, scores showed that twenty-nine nations outperformed the United States by a large amount in mathematics, and in science, there have been twenty-two education systems that scored higher than the United States (Heitin).

We need to teach kids to everyday skills and knowledge so that they will be better equipped to face real world challenges. This country focuses a little too much on standardized testing compared to the emphasis on the developmental growth of a child. Focusing on these curriculums will cater to any level of knowledge a child has. An example of this are CPR classes when a child is in high school. My high school made me take these classes. I can say that knowledge like this is very important for a child to learn. We shouldn't stick to the basics when it comes to education in our schools. Rather, we should try to get kids familiar with other educational

“Our educational goal [is] the production of caring, competent, loving, lovable people” . The students found in the schools across the United State are the future of America. They are the doctors, teachers, business people, lawyers and many other roles, that will be out in the workforce in the years to come. What they learn in school will impact them immensely; it is the responsibility of a teacher to give students the best education in order to ensure the common good of the future. It is essential for students to not only learn content matter, but also the skills to enable them to participate in a democracy. Due to standardized testing, the emphasis of education has become on score and rankings rather than learning. A standardized test does not look at the whole student, the scores provided are on a very narrow aspect of education. In the classroom, there are countless ways for teachers to assess the student as a whole person not as just a score. Standardized tests scores should not be the sole criteria for determining a student’s academic achievement.