October 31, 2012
Writing 1300
Dr.Corum
Flaws in the Education System
Students in America need a good education to keep our economy strong, and school is the best place to get it. Whether someone attends a private, public, or home school, they're all going to get an education, and that is what is important. However, there are many factors that can reduce a student's ability to learn and perform in school. An overemphasis on sports is one of these. I know this is a tired subject and should have been buried long ago, but I cannot help but mention it. Some schools have a tendency to play favorites with big sports stars. Whether or not it is a conscious decision is another matter altogether.
But it always seems that some students get the short end of the stick in certain areas (schoolwork, disciple, etc.) while others are given break after lucky break. For an example, when I was in the 10th grade in one particular class, one student got in trouble a lot. So, one day the teacher just got fed up and told the student not to return to class. And the student passed the class with a “B” average. This situation was never reported to higher authority and the student’s parents were never contacted. I experienced this first-hand, the student was me. So, I know for a fact that there are many teachers that are not doing their job. But the fact of the matter is, this has been going on and will likely continue until the next Ice Age. The only thing students can do is to try and point out the differences and force administrators and teachers to be a little fairer in their application of the school rules.
However, this is not the only barrier students must face in their daily struggles to learn. Uncaring students and teachers present a considerable barrier. The only course of action here is to work around the problem students and teachers, and try and learn as much as possible. If a teacher cannot adequately teach their subject, help from other teachers in the same area or other students might be needed. If a teacher refuses to teach their subject, go and talk to your principal. No student should be forced to try and learn without the guidance of a teacher. But the biggest barrier is administrators acting like gods upon their high thrones and ruling over students. Students cannot be expected to learn where ideas are not freely discussed, nor is freedom of thought allowed. It is true that power corrupts. Perhaps it is time we stopped giving these people so much power, and letting the students finally do what they entered the doors of school for- to learn. I believe that if we had more “walk-ins” in the classrooms that teachers will actually do their jobs. And it should be mandatory after a certain number of years of teaching that teachers should have to go through some type of training or take some kind of test, because just like other people teachers forget too. All together our education system could be much better. There are many changes that are needed to be made to the education system. If higher authority did their jobs our education system would be much better.