A Plea for the American Education System

For the past eightteen years I've had both the pleasure and misfortune of being apart of the American education system. I state this only as a prerequisite, after all, knowledge of the system is necessary to critique the system. In general American education has gotten a bad reputation, and for the most part, that's a fair enough synopsis, but simply stating that "the American education system sucks" isn't helping anyone. What needs to happen is change, but change can't happen without the knowledge of what needs to be changed. Which brings us to step one, identifying the issues. After some research I've boiled down the American education system down to one fundemental issue, to stern a focus on grades which ends up empeding the learning process. 

Everyone tends to point to the grading scale when talking about the issues of education, but that in no way depletes it's importance. The fact of the matter is that students are being taught to "defeat" and "manipulate" the system by memorizing facts and taking standardized tests. Both of these words, I, as a recent graduate, have heard used by teachers in regards to an upcoming test. For example, in my junior year of high school the ACT's (American College Testing) were the main focus of every class. I specifically remember my American history class spending every class going over and over previous ACT questions and their answers to help us score high on the actual test. In theory this sounds like a good plan, a high ACT score is required for acceptance at a good college, and for many students that's the point of school. But here's the thing, that's only the point of school because teachers, administrators and parents make it the point of school. From the moment students begin elementary school the idea of college has already been implanted into their heads. If you ask a kid why they go to school chances are they'll say something along the lines of "to get a job" or "because I have to". This shouldn't be the case. We should be teaching our kids to value learning, that should be the purpose of education. 

The first way this could be accomplished is by creating classes and lesson plans that teach students important information in a fun way. Groundbreaking, right? Classes that focus on fun as a way of getting through to students, not new, but classes that focus on fun to teach students basic life skills instead of an endless supply of facts that their likely never to use, is fairly new. For example, how about a new media psychology course that analyzes characters, or a comprehensive class about sex that includes everything from sexual reproduction to the effects, both positive and negatvie of pornography. These courses could go on and on, but the point is, to have classes that teach important things that students will use outside of school for the rest of their life's, like "the history of and how to do taxes". This, in my humble opinion would be a much better use of time than having every student memorize hundreds of SAT words. 

Another important consideration in improving the American education system is the "hundreds of students" thing. We shouldn't be making lesson plans for "hundreds of students" because every student is unique. Not only in learning style, but also in what they need and want to learn. Students should have a unique curriculum based on where their interests lie. Sure, some of those classes I mentioned above would be required, but the majority of classes would be created by students for students. The movie "Accepted" is an example of this. The students in the ficitious university create their own classes and end up learning more than even they would have expected. Sure, it's just a movie, but in many ways I believe a system like this could have many merrits. If students were premitted to create their own classes and then perhaps given an "advisor" to help them out along the way, a lot could actually be learned. Teachers could take on a certain number of students to advise and depedning upon what the student's aim for the class is they might meet as often as once a day or as little as once a week. It would all depend on the needs of the student. 

This educational format would leave room for students to learn outside of the classroom by interviewing people or reading or even traveling. The basic principle of such a format is that life is the greatest teacher of all. Therefore, the best way for students to learn is to find a way to make learning from life into a curriculum. Would it be an adjustment? Yes. Absolutely, every new idea begins with a rocky start. Nothing begins flawlessly. But in the long run, I believe this basic education principle would not only improve schooling in America, but would also increase students willingness and desire to learn. We need to stop spending money on textbooks that students will barely glance through and instead invest in them. In teaching them the how the world works and why and then allowing them to choose for themselves which direction they'd like to take their studies. All great things come with a little risk, so why not take one to create a generation of thinkers instead of another generation of followers.