"A society that provides the greatest possible opportunities for its members to grow as individuals and to learn essential tools for living will largely find its members with the greatest number of career and life choices. Greater career and life opportunities equals maximized socioeconomic mobility. However, to a large extent, various international tests show that our primary and secondary education system has fallen behind despite our nation's vast wealth and advanced industrialization.
Why is this? Importantly, the problem is not simply an issue of lack of funding for education. As studies show, there is no correlation (one way or another) between student performance and education spending. Similarly, we all might want to recall that the DC Public Schools have the highest per-pupil spending in the nation, yet I doubt there are many people who would exactly call the DC Public Schools a beacon of educational greatness."
Why is this? Importantly, the problem is not simply an issue of lack of funding for education. As studies show, there is no correlation (one way or another) between student performance and education spending. Similarly, we all might want to recall that the DC Public Schools have the highest per-pupil spending in the nation, yet I doubt there are many people who would exactly call the DC Public Schools a beacon of educational greatness."
What people don't fully understand (and when i say people im basing it off of my parents and teachers) is that there is a form of social structure that people are used to and choose not to comprehend that the point of life isn't to go to school to get a good job so that you can retire and die with money. I think that is where the fundamental flaw in the schooling system comes in. I do agree that it is important to have a basic understanding of math, reading, and writing but beyond that it is all unnecessary excess information that the majority of people don't want to know. People should learn about something they are passionate about and learn about it and pursue it all the way. And if they don't find something they want to pursue, they should not be forced through a schooling system that forces kids down a unidimensional path towards adulthood.
What people don't seem to notice is that they send their kids to school each day to learn so that they can not only provide for themselves but to create a government project to increase the socioeconomic viability of America as a country. The American Public Schools have one goal, not to teach the individual but to enlighten the masses so that the country may thrive. This concept is understandable in that it would be nearly impossible for a country as large and populated as america to provide for individual learning for each student so that he or she may thrive in his or her own way. But, the main point that one must take from this is that there is absolutely no focus on the success of the individual unless it inhibits the masses. I myself feel that the only reason I would ever in my right mind attempt to pursue a career in anything is to maintain or better the life i have grown accustomed to. If i were fully certain that i could potentially live out in the wild on my own and live in such a manner that suite myself comfortably I would undoubtedly go for it.
My point is that there is almost no way around it, the American Education system is inherently flawed, but in order to succeed in our "great" nation you have to play the game. I will always be the first to voice my opinion against the way kids of today's society are being taught, and about the unimportance of school in its entirety, but if you ever want to beat the system you unfortunately have to go along with it until your opportunity to do so arrives.
