Pros And Cons Of The American Education System

Students are the future of tomorrow’s nation. Society forces them to do well in school for their own good, for the knowledge; seeing as knowledge will help them get into college, get a job, and prosper in life. But, how are administrators helping them retain this knowledge? The American Education System is not as terrible as those in many under developing countries, but there sure is a lot of room for improvement. The education system is flawed due to teacher tenure and a weak curriculum. This nation should not indulge the impeding liabilities that chain down the success of students.
First and foremost, teacher tenure needs to be eliminated. A significant facet to consider when listing underlying problems in the education system is the educators.
The aspect to consider now, after eliminating terrible teachers, is the manner in which they are presenting or testing new material with students. For example, in The Banking Concept of Education it emphasizes that, “The student records, memorizes, and repeats these phrases without perceiving… or realizing the true significance” (Freire 1). What students learn in school is not useful in life because students are not comprehending what it is they are learning. Learning is now just a means to an end to get in to college, rather than an enrichment of the fruit of knowledge. Students no longer appreciate knowledge and enjoy school because of the stress bestowed upon them to reach the never ending societal standards for school like having a 4.0 GPA, being well rounded, or balanced students are looked down upon. Additionally, knowledge is purely based on scores and numbers, in school systems. Meaning, teachers seem to care more about how students do on standardized tests rather than what knowledge students will retain in the future. This is because standardized tests portray the student’s ability, except, less time is being spent on the sciences, social studies, and the arts to prepare students to take the tests in math, reading and writing. A scholarly student discussed in the seminar that the, “Standardized testing is causing unwanted stress on students by increasing the amount of memorization, strengthening the unnecessary banking concept” (Mohamed). Standardized tests are not very efficient in testing a student’s understanding of the curriculum because one can merely memorize it or “figure out the test” by looking at the specific topics covered and discard the rest from their mind, promoting the banking concept of education and dehumanizing children. Moreover, another student mentions that “Personally, the class I retain the knowledge most doesn’t require for me to