The Pros And Cons Of American Schools

Did you know that about 30 years ago, America was the leader in high school diplomas’ quantity and quality? Now, it is the 36th. Over the years, American educational system has encountered several reforms. Physically, it evolved from small one room log houses to big buildings to online schools. Changes were also made in the curriculums, and the teacher and student involvement inside and outside class. However, several critics argue whether the reforms are beneficial.

There are many levels of schools in America: grade school, college, and technical school. Grade school includes kindergarten up to 12th grade. Then 4 years of college bachelor’s degree or two years of community college or technical schools. This is the American educational path.

Some of the disadvantages are that whichever school you go to, you still have to pay taxes towards public schools.

Types of schooling in America are private and public schools. Private schools are privately run schools that provide most of their own funding and require a tuition. Even though they are private schools, their students get provided with public transportation such as busses. Private schools have to teach the required syllabus in their school. They can add something such as religion to their main idea. Public schools are schools that are run by the state governments and get their funding from there. They are provided with state transportation.

There also semi-public and private schools, such as STEM schools and charter schools. Metro Middle School is a STEM school. STEM schools follow the STEM program. They are semi-public, because they get a lot of funding from corporations. Charter schools are schools that are created by teachers, parents or organizations under the terms of charter by a local/national authority. They are private schools that get funded by public dollars and investor

They aren’t the schools that everybody in the world wants to end up going to. That title would go to the Finnish people of Scandinavia. In this paragraph we will compare American schools to Finland schools.

In reality Finnish schools have much better quality of teachers. Their teachers have to have a Masters degree in order to teach. In America some college graduates can become teachers without even having a Masters degree. In Finland, the government covers 98% of the educational costs. The Finlanders have higher taxes on the wealthy, while we aspire to make taxation(as in federal taxation) equal to all. Finnish teachers create their own curriculum, whereas in America they are imposed by the state.

Overall American education has come a long way, and it also has a long way to go. The many advantages and disadvantages are well balanced. The reforms that took place in the depression times had to do a lot with the economic state of the nation which is to be expected. The quality and quantity of our education depends upon the teachers and funding as well as children. Equal funding will enrich and improve students grades. As we discussed the 3 types of schooling have many different ideas and believes on how education should progress. With guidance and patience every student can become gifted. Americans contribute more to the global market that the Finnish do, but in the right direction American schools can eclipse the greatness