How to Fix the American School System
by Some thoughts on what’s wrong with schools and maybe how to fix those problems.
School, school, school. At least 60% of everything I have ever written seems to be about school. As for what’s on this site, it has to be over 80%. None of these writings seem to have come to any real point and/or answer. That’s what I’ll attempt to do now. Which brings us to today’s quote.
“Good questions outrank easy answers.”
-Unknown
It seems to me that there are only two kinds of students in school. The incredibly smart and the incredibly stupid. If you’re smart you take a lot of bookwork classes and work your way up to higher level classes. If you’re stupid you take “blow off” classes like P.E., weights, are and agriculture.
But what of the path for the average student? The student who wants to go to college to get a good job, not the fanciest degree possible.
I took Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II for my first three years of High School. I could’ve been done with math or taken, say Algebra III. After all I’m good at Algebra. But after having to take classes like Family Living, Child Development and Housing, I’m left with very few choices. It seems to be either “dumb” classes or “smart” classes. I don’t care much for taking my physical fitness worries to school and I don’t care for agriculture. I’ve already taken many art classes to avoid taking those very things. So what am I left with? Trigonometry and Spanish II.
I took Spanish I my Freshman year out of curiosity and didn’t take much of a liking to it, so I discontinued taking it. In my senior year I am left but no choice to take Spanish II.
So, there are all these classes I DON’T want to take. But what DO I want to take? Creative writing, upper level English classes, journalism, Greek mythology, upper level psychology, just any two of those would make me happy. The purpose of choosing which classes to take in High School is to have a choice. To have a path to go on. High school isn’t just about general knowledge that’s what elementary, middle and jr. high schools are for. That’s 9 years to gain general knowledge. The last four needs to be about shaping a future and realizing dream potential.
Now, when I said I’m going to come up with a real answer for school I wasn’t kidding. This is far from over. Not enough class choices isn’t the only problem with schools. It’s also the teaching.
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Post CommentPaul
On July 17, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Great article you’ve written there “mark/ethan”?
If you care about it, you may want to edit it for typos, but even as it stands I like it.
I disagree on one part of your analysis. You are looking at the American school system as though it is supposed to actually work. I mean to say, you sound like a disappointed customer because the product you bought “as seen on TV” doesn’t do what they said it would do….
Speaking of television and products, you may want to seriously consider what you and millions of others have been told about what school is. It has been packaged and sold to be an institution of education.
What is school really? Ask yourself? Clearly it fails to cover the basic needs of over 90% of the population. So, what is being taught at this institution.
You hit the nail on the head when you said, “Teach your children not to question and to blindly obey.” That is exactly what school is designed to do. To turn out the next generation of “Sheeple”. Follow authority and don’t you dare form an original thought. Workers and solders are the main product of public schools.
The population is being dumbed down and it is far from a mere error. This is a planned occurance aimed at destroying our country from the inside out.
Socialism is the “synthesis” that is about to occur as our country has been sold out from under us.
Don’t stop learning kiddo, you just might be the last one capable of rallying the troops.