U.S Education System (Draft 3)

Having experienced an educational system other than United States’, I must say that the U.S is trailing behind many developed countries in quality of its system. Before moving to U.S, I lived in Russia where I went to 1^st through 3^rd grade. And after starting my education in U.S, surprisingly, I had no trouble adapting to school. I guess you could say that it’s because the content for 4^th grade math here was similar to 2^nd grade math in Russia. And once I learned English, I had no trouble with any other subject due to the difficulty levels being lower here than my classes in Russia.

But of course, I was not paying attention to these types of issues while still in school. Now that I’m done with school, I can easily point out the faults in the system and the society. And yes, it’s not only the education system, but also the society that brings down the quality of education here.

And I can give many examples. For instance, getting good grades is not very important for many students. However, I’ve observed that grades are valued more than actually learning here. As long as you have good grades, you don’t care if you actually understand the concepts being taught in classes. And honestly, you can’t really blame the students for doing this, because there is a 99% chance that you will never put that knowledge to use in real life. Also, in my opinion, parents’ expectations from their kids aren’t as high as they should be. As predicted by the Eccles socialization model (Eccles, 1993), parents’ educational expectations had both direct and indirect effects on children’s academic achievement scores. And that’s very obvious, if your parents don’t care about your education, the chances of you not caring either are very high.

With that being said, what kind of actions can the government take? First of all, I believe that teachers should be selected carefully, and there must be more competition for jobs. Teachers shouldn’t be so laid back. It is without a doubt that students decide their own future, but teachers can guide them to the correct paths. I’ve had many teachers who let kids sleep or use electronics in their classes, and they don’t even call them out once. Teachers are educating the leaders of tomorrow, so they must spend more effort preparing them for the future.

In order to fully understand how the countries with the best education systems got to where they are, we must figure out what they’re doing right. So let’s analyze the Finnish education system. Not because they have the best system, but because they worked their way up from the bottom. This way, we can see which steps Finland took to be the best.

For a very long time, Finland had one of the worst education systems in Europe. And it wasn’t until 1970s that the Finnish government started making major improvements and launching reforms. Now let’s take a close look at these changes. One of the first steps they took was eliminating the practice of separating students into different paths based on their test scores. Later, they got rid of these examinations altogether. Another great move by Finland was making higher investments on teachers. Nowadays, their teachers get a lot more education and training. Matter of fact, Finnish teachers receive a three year graduate-level teacher preparation program, completely free of charge, including a living stipend. Whereas in the United States, teachers have to go into a lot of debt for their profession, knowing that they will get paid poorly. Also, in Finland, teachers are picked very carefully. Only 15 percent of those who apply get admitted. So their schools are filled with teachers that know what they are doing. Here is a quote that gives us a visual of what Finland’s schools are like:

"Most visitors to Finland discover elegant school buildings filled with calm children and highly educated teachers. They also recognize the large autonomy that schools enjoy, little interference by the central education administration in schools’ everyday lives, systematic methods to address problems in the lives of students, and targeted professional help for those in need." (Sahlbert, 2009, p. 7)

According to nea.org, the core principles of the Finnish system are:

·         Resources for those who need it the most

·         High standards and supports for special needs

·         Qualified teachers

·         Evaluation of education

·         Balancing decentralization and centralization.(Laukkanen, 2008, p. 319)

What has United States been doing all of this time? Forcing more and more standardized testing.

When we focus only on the flaws of the United States’ education, it may seem as a terrible system, when it’s not. Although I am for a change in the system, I can’t say that it’s failing. A country with a perfect education system is yet to exist. All systems have their flaws. And when we compare U.S to a country with very few of these flaws, it makes the system look bad. We can always compare it to a bad system and feel good about our own, but that is not the purpose. Our intention must be to find the flaws and get the U.S educational system where it belongs.

Despite there being a lot of proof about U.S lacking a good system, there are still arguments about how it’s fine as is. One of the most common arguments against a change is freedom. Some people claim that the United States offers freedom to students unlike many other countries. For example, you get to decide on your own future here, whereas in China, students are told what careers they should pick in order to be successful. Also, there are some heavy punishments in some countries for poor academic performance. So one can argue that kids are “forced” to have achievements. However, that is not an excuse. You can still upgrade the system while maintaining the same amount of freedom.

Another advantage of U.S education is that it guarantees education for all students until the age of 21. And it doesn’t limit access to those who can afford uniforms, supplies, and transportation like in many countries. No school system anywhere in the world exceeds the United States in providing free access to education for everyone. And I don’t think anyone can argue with that.

When we compare test scores, the scores of other countries likely don’t include the ones of poor rural children without education. Some believe that the broader the spectrum of students that take the test, the lower the average score will be. But this is a false impression, and I can back that up. According to a recent study by Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG), the percent proficient among U.S. students whose parents are college-educated or who are white is significantly less than the percent proficient among all students in countries such as Korea, Singapore, and Finland.

No matter who says what, the United States must make some serious changes in its educational system. There is a reason why people are working on these studies. And thanks to their efforts, we can easily see what areas we must improve on. Some people just want to ignore these studies, but numbers don’t lie. It doesn’t take much to realize the need for improvements. Let’s hope that these improvements will come sooner rather than later.

Works cited

• Kean, Pamela E. "The Influence of Parent Education and Family Income on Child Achievement." Journal of Family Psychology 19.2 (2005): 294-304. Print.
• Eccles, J. S. (1993). School and family effects on the ontogeny of children’s interests, self-perceptions, and activity choice. In J. Jacobs (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 40. Developmental perspectives on motivation (pp. 145–208): Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
• http://www.nea.org/home/40991.htm
• Paterson, Paul. Lastra-Anadon, Carlos. “The International Experience.” 12.1 (2012). Web.
  <http://educationnext.org/the-international-experience/>