Problems In The United States Educational System Essay Example For Students

Problems In The United States Educational System Essay Today, the way the educational system works in the U.S. concerns a large number of people in this country. Only 25% of adults have a great deal of confidence in the people running education, according to the General Social Survey, down from 49% in 1974 (Russel 4). A lot of discussions have been held to find the best ways to improve teaching methods. At the same time, people recognize that a very valuable solution to increase the level of education in the United States is to look at some problems that cause difficulties and hamper the enhancement of the quality of education. The first step is to define these problems. As in every country, the U.S. wants to develop its national standards in education and wants them to be high. This has always been a government function. Being democratic, the government is trying to fit the qualities of democracy into the way to set these standards. Of course, this is not an easy task since this country has a very diverse population. To please everybody has always been an almost impossible task. Despite this impossibility, national standards have already been set. If a visitor from another nation was dropped into an American public school classroom without knowing the state or the region, he or she would be likely to see the same lesson taught in the same way to children of the same age (Ravitch 9). Everything seems right except the fact that the abilities of children are different. Not everybody is able to study at a college; not everybody wants to continue being educated. It is obvious that every country wants to produce as many educated people as possible. But, a t the same time, every country needs workers because, regardless of the fast development of technology, there is still a great necessity for human labor. To satisfy all the necessities of the country, the government should provide different kinds of education. This does not mean that we need to eliminate all of the standards; they could be set in each field of education. Although standards are set, there is still a very big difference in teaching methods in different schools. Perhaps, the most serious problem starts in high schools: some schools provide a higher level of education than others. Students from most city schools graduate with the confidence in their knowledge; their level of education is high enough to attend a university. On the other hand, students from small towns, suburbs, and villages do not have the opportunity to get that kind of education because schools in small areas of the United States can not provide the same level of education as schools in large cities. The democratic idea of everybody having an equal education is breached. The high school problem further extends to most of the nations colleges and universities. Students that come to colleges do not have the same level of knowledge. This could be proved by the results of the ACT (American College Test). According to the information provided by the ACT, Inc., out of all the students who took the test in 1997 (959,301), almost the same number of students scored 27 (36,566) as those who scored 14 (36,100). To solve this problem the general education program was brought into the college curriculum. It provides every college student with basic knowledge and, at the same time, balances the general level of education. It seems to be a perfect way to solve the problem of inequality in the educational system. This would be acceptable if it did not impede the system itself. A lot of students that have already gotten enough general education are held back because they are required to take the courses they already had. Most of them think that it is a waste of time and money. The other significant problem is the dropout level in the U.S. colleges. In states with high postsecondary matriculation rates, the college dropout rates can run as high as two thirds?about one half of those who try the baccalaureate college game will fail (Gray 530). This means that around 50% of those who attempt to go to college do not get their degrees, thus wasting their time and money. Personal and family problems are the most general reasons for students to drop out. Yet, there are a lot of students who once were convinced by their parents and teachers to continue education, but now realized that they can live without it and that there are ways to make good money having no college education. These students attitudes toward the higher education influence the decline of national standards in education. For better understanding, it would be appropriate to draw a parallel between the educational systems in Russia and the United States. In Russia, people that do not want to continue their education in college are not required to finish high school. Thus, the last two years in high school provide those students who are willing to go to college with the necessary amount of general education, so that, after graduating from high school, they are well prepared to start working on their college degrees. But there is still one concern: Russian high school students are overloaded. In the United States, high school students do not have such intense studies and as much homework as students in Russia. They have a lot of free time; that may be one reason American teen-agers experiment with cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and sex at earlier age than Russian teen-agers, and that hampers them to perform well in school. The other reason for poor performance in school could be the recent decrease of adult supervision in both countries. Today, parents, working more than in any other years, rely on their school communities and pay less attention to their childrens studies. It an axiom of ? education that parents are partners in their childrens education (Berkowitz 47), but today it is more often not the situation. These deficiencies show that neither of these countries has a perfect high school education system. A compromise of the two systems might be a better choice. The only way to create this is to cooperate: to share experiences and ideas. With all its own problems, the U.S. seems to have even more of them when compared to the other countries. It has become rather fashionable, on all sides of the political spectrum, to bemoan the failed American public school system and to envy the education systems in Japan, Germany and other industrialized countries(Aviel 130). Various studies of educational achievements in the United States, some of which were conducted by such prestigious institutions as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), have been showing how poor the academic performance of American students is compared to Asian and European ones. The studies have emphasized that most of the U.S. high school students do not pay enough attention to their studies, do not do enough homework, and do not have responsible attitudes toward their education. This continues to be the situation in colleges and most of the time appears to be the main reason of the high percentage of dropouts. Great Expectations EssayObviously, there was enough proof presented to provide a fair defense to the efficiency of the teaching methods in the U.S. schools. Then the question arises: What is the reason of the poor performance of American students? Perhaps the main factor that directly influences the decline of the students performance is the attitude the students themselves have toward their studies and education in general. Interesting facts were revealed during an interview with Maxim Sinitsyn, an instructor of Economics 112 at the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE). He allows his students to retake all the quizzes and tests if they do poorly on them. Out of 120 students (two sections), only three students were really concerned about their grades and came to retake the test after spending more time preparing for it. However, the most interesting fact is that about 10% of the class received failing grades. This tells us that most of the students either do not care about their grades at all or just do not try to improve their results when they are given an opportunity to do so. Here are some other statistical facts that are based on the survey of 250,000 freshmen from 464 institutions: ? 36.0% say that they were frequently bored in the class? 34.5% say they missed class or an appointment because they overslept ? only 33.9% in 1997 spent six or more hours a week studying or doing homework ? (McEachern 1). This survey has been conducted every year, and, every year, the results are getting worse. Of course, to find a solution to the problem that centers on the apathetic attitude of the students toward education is almost an impossible task because it is impractical to make the students study better. Yet, a good idea could be to increase the requirements in the nations high schools, especially the homework requirements. Home assignments help to review the new material studied in class, increase understanding, correct errors, and give a good oppor tunity to practice (Berkowitz 46). If all these purposes of homework were accomplished, the performance of the students would greatly improve. Also, the increase in the number of classes that students take during the school year would keep them busier and leave less free time for doing the wrong things. Students in the U.S. schools are treated more carefully than students in other countries. They are provided with enthusiastic teachers and perfect equipment, with a variety of financial aid programs that are available in most of the schools, and, finally, with a lot of opportunities to succeed in their studies; in most of the schools, especially private ones, each student will get an individual approach. For example, if you need special testing conditions, such as enlarged type or extended time, you provide documentation of your disability to the College Board or American College Testing (Smith 14). It is absurd not to use all these opportunities and to waste time and money trying to get any education just to assure oneself of having a high salary, forgetting that the real purpose of education is getting more knowledge and increasing ones ability to function more effectively in the society. The government aims its efforts to raise the overall level of education in the United States, and, by doing this, it hopes to bring the whole country forward in its quest for prosperity. To accomplish this goal should not only be the governments, but also the whole societys striving. Since the level of education is one of the most important determinants of the nations standard of living, everybody in this country has to assume these responsibilities in order to make any educational reforms proposed by the government successful. BibliographyWorks CitedAcademic Information. ACT Information School Profile (Class of 1996): n. pag. Online. Internet. 30 Mar. 1998. Available http://www.briarcrest.com/bcs/academic.html. American education: The good, the bad, and the task. Phi Delta Kappa Apr. 1993: 619+. Aviel, David. A closer examination of American education. Childhood Education Spring 1997: 130+. Berkowitz, Robert. Helping with homework: A parents guide to information problem-solving. Emergency Librarian Mar./Apr. 1998: 45-47. Gray, Kenneth. The baccalaureate game: Is it right for all teens? Phi Delta Kappa Apr. 1996: 528+. McEachern, William A. The Max for the Minimum. The teaching economist. Issue 15. Spring 1998. Nelson, F. Howard. How and How Much the U.S. Spends On K-12 Education: An International Comparison. Mar. 1996: n. pag. Online. Internet. 9 Mar.1998. Available http://www.aft.org/research/reports/interntl/sba.htm. Ravitch, Diane. 50 states, 50 standards?: The continuing need for national voluntarystandards in education. The Brookings Review Summer 1996: 6+. Rehder, Robert R. Education and Training: Have the Japanese Beaten Us Again? 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