Every day when I sit down for class, I ask myself, “Why am I not being taught subjects that are applicable to the real world?” But I’ve never been given an answer. Every day, students all around the world are going to school, and on many levels, it's a waste. We are not being taught how to make money, how to get into a healthy and trusting relationship, or how to maintain a healthy diet and this is a class that could literally save hundreds of lives. But instead of preparing students for a stable and successful life, schools everywhere are cramming us full of pointless information as well as destroying many students will to learn at all. There is an old quote, “He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches.” (-George Bernard Shaw, Maxims for Revolutionists) …show more content…
Elementary school is a good place to learn social skills, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, spelling, and writing. But as you grow up and get into the higher grades, the useful information is slowly filtered out. If children were being taught subjects that will apply to their lives we could start getting people to go to college by the time they turn fourteen. But here we are; slowing the growth of our economy, and in turn slowing the growth of our people by bombarding students with useless information. The only mandatory classes should be taxes, contraceptives, and math; but only the subjects we actually need like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Students don't need to be taught geometry, calculus or algebra. Those subjects are just advanced math that only apply to certain jobs that many people don't end up getting into. Schools don't need to teach literature as many people don't enjoy it and shakespeare doesn’t help you become a great lawyer. We should be taught basic writing skills like capitalization, periods, verbs, nouns, capitalization, and so on. That would take a semester at the most and after that everyone’s writing skills should be substantial at the very least. In fact, I'm thoroughly convinced High school only needs to be one year long; everything we need to learn can be condensed into one year. Students don't need Art, Drama, or Photography class. If you're a creative person, …show more content…
Things such as, social skills, time management, how our ancestors lived, how the entire earth was formed into what it is today, and a look into how you’ll be treated in the real world; as a responsible independent worker. While i'm not saying that some these reasons are untrue as I have already addressed them in paragraph three, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the curriculum doesn’t need to change. Yes, in a sense, school does “teach” you social skills and while there's not a class for it, you are encouraged to accept new people into your life instead of blocking everyone out. It's the same deal for time management, while it's not taught, you are encouraged to, “Use your time wisely” as all of my past and present teachers have said before. But on the other hand, you don't need to be taught how the world was formed or how we evolved into the human beings we are today; if you're going to be anything other then a scientist or something in that range, chances are you will never need that information again. That aside, yes, you are basically taught how to be responsible and independent as most of the assignments you must complete by oneself, but you are not taught how to be a worker. If schools wanted to teach you how to be a worker in the sense that you would be working in a cubicle or office when you get a job they would
Because the education system does not relate classwork or homework to the lives of students, they do not see how writing essays or solving math problems can help them in everyday life. “By the time Roadville children reach high school they write off school as having nothing to do with what they want in life, and they fear that school success will threaten their social relations with people whose company they value. This is a familiar refrain for working class children” (Attitude 119). As students begin to realize how low their potential is within school, they chose to cut school out of their life and start working. These students do not understand how they can benefit from what they are learning. “One woman talks of the importance of a ‘fitting education’ for her three children so they can ‘do better’, but looks on equanimity as her sixteen-year-old son quits school, goes to work in a garage, and plans to marry his fifteen-year-old girlfriend ‘soon’” (Attitude 118). Students are settling for less than what they can actually achieve to have, just because they see no purpose of being in school, and believe they can do better without the help of the education system. Even parents are not actually supporting and encouraging their child to stay in school. “Although Roadville parents talk about the value of school, they often act as if they don’t believe it”
Recent high school graduates are not well prepared to face society as it really is cruel, confusing, and tough. In school students are not taught skills they will need out of the classroom, what they are taught is memorization, and multiple choice test taking in which they can guess their way through or just simply cheat. In the article “For Once, Blame the Students” by the author Patrick Welsh he states that “Failure in the classroom is often tied to lack of funding, poor teachers or other skills. Here 's a thought: Maybe it 's the failed work ethic of today’s kids” (Welsh). When teachers teach a new lesson they make students take notes on their textbook and then, they give them multiple choice tests to see if they learned anything. Learning
We live in a society where we are surrounded by people telling us that school/education and being educated is the only way to succeed. However, the school system is not up to the standards we want it to uphold. There are three issues we discuss the most which are the government, the student, and the teacher. In John Taylor Gatto 's essay “Against School”, we see the inside perspective of the educational system from the view of a teacher. In “I Just Wanna Be Average”, an essay written by Mike Rose, we hear a student 's experience of being in a vocational class in the lower level class in the educational system when he was supposed to be in the higher class. Both Gatto and Rose give their opinions on how the educational system is falling apart. Today the government is only trying to get students to pass, making it hard for teachers to teach what they want. Students are affected everyday by the school system. They sit there - bored - and do not think that the teachers care, making the
Education supports everyone getting opportunities in life and being able to choose better for themselves. As Horace Mann wrote, education is the “great equalizer for all.“ However, the United States Public School system will likely never be able to equally educate its masses of students. Public school educating all fairly is a myth.There is no one entity to blame for this failure. The failure lies with each student who has been conditioned to sit passively in an un-engaging classroom. Its failure lies in some students disrespectfully distracting their classmates and frustrating their once inspired teacher or administrator. The failure lies with administration being distracted with causes of the moment and burns out from knowing that all
Clearly, all students should learn the basic things that every adult should know throughout their life. A majority of students have to go through real world situations on their own, and they though...
Somewhere in America a parent is asking their child what they learned at school today, the child will most likely say that they didn’t learn much. It is sad to say that with today’s education system, this is true. The K-12 school system has oppressed students far more than it has liberated them, and this must change if America wants to produce members of society that actually have something to contribute. Students graduate high school having learned how to play the “game” of school leaving them grossly unprepared for college. Students should leave high school with a base of knowledge and strategies they can employ to succeed in college if that is where they wish to go, but instead they come to college knowing how to line up quietly and copy
George F. Will’s “College President’s Plan: Abolish High School” conveys ideas that had never crossed my mind. He states, “For various reasons, some rooted in American history and others reflecting recent developments, education has become, for the moment, the most salient social concern and therefore the most potent political issue.” Will introduces Leon Botstein, who doesn’t actually option to abolish high school, just to change the structure of our schools in general. Botstein says that high school was created for 15- to 18-year-olds who were still children. In today’s society, those children are now young adults who are physiologically and psychologically more advanced.
Schools currently have a required curriculum, that limits a student's personal choice, by forcing him or her to take classes that are not suited to their aspirations. Typically, the standard material for most schools consists of mainly the "core" classes, like English, math, and science. Yes, it is essential to know and understand these classes to a standard level, however, these so-called "standards" have become more pressing by the year. In order to grad...
Elementary school is where most people learn how to interact with peers outside of their families. It is also where you learn how to follow leaders and the directions they provide to you. Without the basics of reading, math, and problem solving, you would not be successful in higher grades. The struggle of catching up may discourage you from trying. This can cause you to drop out or not even attempt to continue on to college. The result may limit your job options and money making capacity, which leads into the second function, economic outcomes. The more education you have, the greater chance you will find the job of your dreams. Not only with higher pay, but with less physical requirements, increased probability of a leadership position, and improved overall working conditions that can lead to enhanced health with a longer life expectancy (New York University Department of Sociology, 2013). I was lucky to have teachers in my elementary school who were devoted to teach. They explained what going to college would mean and encouraged us by having college prep classes in 5th grade. We had a career week when past students at our school came in
Education is meant to be the key to a successful life. It is supposed to inspire great ideas, and prepare each and every generation for their future. However, school for today 's generation fails to meet those requirements. Every student knows education is important, but when school is not engaging or in some cases, even relevant, it makes learning difficult. Improving the school system is something educators attempt to accomplish every year. Despite their best efforts, there are numerous flaws students see, but adults overlook. There is a lack of diversity for students to learn, an overabundance of testing, and students’ voices are being ignored on how to create a more productive learning experience.
Currently there are many students tried to go to college and finish their degree. But some students don’t know what they should do in college and how to avoid the failure in classes. The failure will happen if you have no real goal or plan to finish it.
Going to school and getting a great education is important for a successful future in today’s world. Years ago, many children did not go to school and many young adults opted to work instead of attending college. In today’s society, gaining a high level of education is almost always mandatory for many jobs. There are many changes being done to the education system along with new items and ways of teaching in the classroom. There is a growing amount of changes in the classroom such as technology, teaching time, teaching styles, and freedom of space.
Schools exist to produce well educated youth that society will benefit from. From personal experience, ill-informed adults make for an unstable, rotten community. Schools hold a big responsibility. They should create a safe haven for students that creates a love for learning, and then also nurtures that same admiration for learning. Schools that students don’t feel safe in usually house students that aren’t interested in subjects that are being taught. They should maintain a well-educated faculty who is all passionate about what they do. If there is a lazy faculty, it will influence the students to become lazy. Schools need to produce the change that this world needs- well rounded, creative, knowledgeable individuals. An effective school in today’s society would have a strong basis on the common core, but make it so that the information is fun to learn. From experience, once the information fun to learn, the rest goes by
...ke school something that the students can look back on and think that it was a meaningful time where they learned a lot about life instead of a time where they thought they would have a break down because they got a low score on a test. School should be a time to make mistakes in a safe environment that they can learn from, not a place that they are petrified to make a mistake for fear of retribution on their grade cards. Its time to change the school system to save future students from becoming stress crazed and to let them know that there is more to this world than a grade card and in the long run it is a very small fraction of life.
John W. Gardner said, “Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.” Education today is very ineffective. It is in an in between phase of the ways of old and a time of complete reform. The main issue is that people often lose sight of why the education system should even be reformed. It shouldn’t be reformed because “that’s what everyone else is doing.” It needs to be reformed to bridge the gap for the students who have a different learning style. It should be reformed to expand knowledge for students. Education reform can have good and bad effects. Because the education system is very complex, educators are being faced with changes and they must decide what is best for students.