The State of Education System in the United States of America
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THE STATE OF EDUCATION SYSTEM IN AMERICA
Introduction
Education is supposed to lift the standards of the people and help advance a nation. However, when such education does not add value to the learner, or makes them redundant, then such a system can be said to have lost meaning and requires an overhaul. Many people seem to have lost faith in a system that is more concerned with grades rather than the value it adds to learners creating a situation where learners are written off as failures. It is therefore the purpose of this paper to explore whether education is achieving its empowerment role or not.
Are students really stupid or is the education system irrelevant to their needs?
Rose Michael was a student who had been written off as a non-performer. He was placed in the class of “vocational education” hence meaning he could not make it in life. Surprisingly, he has gone against all odds to become a professor in the school of education at UCLA. Many in his class went through the same system (Rose, 2). A system that classifies learners as failures based on their grades is really a threat to many a great potential and abilities. Rose cites teachers, and a curriculum that is not directed towards the interest of the learners as the reason many students have been, “written off” yet they can “have tremendous unrealized potential”. He claims that students go through the system fearful, frustrated and bored (Ibid).
The system creates inequality since students are classified according to their performance. Those that do not get quality grades are classified differently from the performers. With this the stratification process begins. This suggests that the system is contributing to inequality. The students from the low income families have to go through many challenges before they can acquire proper education. Rose used two buses to access school (Rose 3). This coupled with the many other challenges from his family in doubt contributed to his dismal performance in class. Yet these challenges are not taken into account while delivering content to the students and grading their performance. For instance, Rose’s grandfather was crippled and his father went through the same fate. All these affected his performance in one way or another (Rose, 4).
Rose could not afford the fees private university education. Were it not for his teacher MacFarland who encouraged the boy and assisted him to get admission and a loan for his fees, Rose would be in no doubt have been part of the statistics that are considered failures. This then would mean that the vicious cycle continues. He would have most probably followed the fate of his father as far as his economic status is concerned. This means that the education system, were it not for the intervention of this benevolent teacher would not have empowered Rose to rise the ladder of the academic echelons. Many of the boys in Rose class seemed disoriented since the education system did not offer them what they were looking for. If more teachers were there like MacFarland were there in Rose’s school, many lives would have been changed for the better.
CONCLUSION
The American education system needs to be adjusted to suit the needs of its people. It should be a tool for empowerment and should not be used as a factor of enhancing inequality. A restructuring of the system is long overdue if education is to be meaningful to the current needs of the society.