The year is 2016. We live in the era of technological innovation, where new products are being created every day in the effort of making our lives easier or better. One would think that we would be at the peak of intellectual prowess, yet the United States continues to fall behind other countries in educational rankings.
If you log onto Facebook, you can often find some video comparing the state of education and school systems in the U.S. to those in Finland. Finland continues to rank at the top of education statistics, yet employs an education system that would be considered the polar opposite of the United States. Many have made this comparison, yet there has been little effort to actually reform the education system of the United States.
Instead of doing a complete reform—which is the needed solution—school systems and the government have simply put more money into the current system. Although increased government spending should be interpreted as a positive step, as it means that there is an increased focus on the state of education and how we must improve it, it needs to be realized that the current system is proving to be ineffective at benefitting our nation’s people. Too many standardized tests are given. Too much focus is placed solely on test results and final grades. Students who are in need of a more focused education fall behind because they do not meet the standards set by their current year in school.
As said by Sir Ken Robinson, “…education doesn’t need to be reformed—it needs to be transformed…to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.” Every child and person is going to learn and thrive in different ways and in different environments. The purpose and goal of education should be to give that specific environment to each and every student. Once every student is able to gain a proper education, they will be able to aid our country and society in growth and advancement.
The reform of any current system can be exceptionally daunting. Many may say that the transformation of our present education system is unnecessary, as this system has served us well for many years, but why settle for the current system, when we could witness so much more success with the implementation of reform. Is it not the American Dream to be the very best and to never settle for less than the best? As a country, we have proven that we believe that we are the best, so let’s prove that to be true. Education should be a nation-driven effort. If we, as a country, changed our overall attitude and changed our perspective on education, our country would witness an overall improvement in terms of the well-being of the population and status among other countries. There are little to no downsides to improving the education of our nation. The main costs would be time and money, but when something can so greatly enhance the state of our nation, time and money are not costs, but investments.
