The Outdated School System In The United States

The role of education is widely accepted to be an essential part of our society geared towards improving our nation and individual life. When someone receives an exceptional education, they are provided with the opportunity to succeed physically, mentally, and emotionally. Nowadays in the U.S., we rank amongst the lowest in worldwide leaders when it comes to providing an education. Our system had deteriorated so much that students continue to fall behind in schools every year and fail miserably in their academics. In the United States, the major problems in public education are the lack of funding, an outdated school system, and failure to improve and properly discipline our teaching staff. Due to insufficient funds, our public education
system has suffered major losses and diminished in quality of learning. Since public schools never receive sufficient funds to run according to plan, constant revisions have to be made. Lack of textbooks, lab equipment, extracurricular activities, and materials are a main cause as to why low-income schools are suffering. Whereas, most students from middle and upper class neighborhoods receive the proper intellectual resources to succeed and obtain a solid future, many other children are denied the right to success because of their economic backgrounds and/or location. This financial separation has also come to include race factors since the majority of inhabitants of low-income neighborhoods are minorities. Therefore, if every student in the U.S. has a right to an equal education, why do these low-income/non-white citizens have to endure this neglect and disregard for their rights? Moreover, the government has failed to establish an updated school system that works in accordance with today’s society.
In the 1950s, our school system was designed to produce only a few students who went to a four year university, several vocational jobs and skilled workers, and the rest would become laborers. In today’s society, most students are expected to go on to university or an institution of higher learning and obtain certain skills and credentials. Although, that system did work back then in the 1950s, it most certainly has proven that it no longer works in today’s world. With this in mind, many employers today find the inability to hire and fill spots in their fields because of the lack of qualified individuals. Many American corporations and businesses have gone abroad to hire qualified person that meet the qualifications of their open positions. Without the proper innovation and school reform that we need, American jobs will continue to go to foreigners as opposed to Americans ultimately hurting our
economy. Furthermore, the failure to discipline and investigate poor teachers and constant battles with teacher unions has negatively affected our education system.
Over the years, school boards have lost the power to fire tenured teachers due to many reasons. When it comes to procedures in firing a bad teacher, the slightest error can result in a poor teacher remaining in the classroom. Studies also show that a single weak teacher can cripple students for years and ultimately reverse a student’s academic abilities. When it comes time to firing a teacher, the clout of teachers’ unions keeps their tenure strong and pushes for increasingly more complex procedures that become strenuous and difficult. In order to get rid of a bad teacher, school boards have to jump though hoops and unfortunately still fail. In cases like these at the end of every year, instead of firing bad teachers, several states do what they call a “lemon dance” or “pass the trash” as it’s called in some other states. Instead of disciplining bad teachers, a school will pass them onto to another school while receiving someone else’s underperforming teacher as a replacement for the one they gave away. In cases like these, nothing changes and progress is not made. The problem will continue to be ignored and the ones who suffer the most are the
students. In conclusion, our public education system continues to suffer at the hands of a neglectful government. Throwing money at the problem will not necessarily solve it either, nor is a lack of funds the solution since students hardly ever receive adequate learning material. Although the school system was successful in the past, in today’s society, students need a system that puts them on a higher track to learning and success where they can compete in a global economy. Moving on, the constant struggle with teachers’ unions has presented numerous problems as well because of their outdated systems and policies too. Ultimately, the education system is aimed at protecting its educators before its students. Lastly, if we are to live in a society where we expect our students to succeed, we must put the children first and eliminate any and all obstacles that stand in the way of learning and obtaining a good education.