Education in the US
I am one of those people who believes that a person's education is a big factor in their future. Sure there are plenty of successful people who never graduated from college (Steve Jobs anyone?), but for the most part, education is important. A good education can lead to a good job, which leads to a secure life style.
During my childhood in Puerto Rico, my parents were very well off (both had their degrees) and my sister and I had the privilege of going to a posh private school. The material was challenging, and my mother helped us both with our homework, so we had good grades. When I was nine years old, we moved to Florida. I did not know English, so I had to learn. Basically, I learned all over again, because the education system in Florida was far behind that which I was used to. I knew everything they were teaching me; I just didn't know it in English. But I learned quickly, and soon I was a very good bilingual student.
It was around ninth grade that I began to notice just how bad the American education system was. Florida seems to be lacking in good teachers (and I blame teacher salaries for this) and consequently they seem to hire anyone with a two year degree. Even if they do have four year degrees, teachers never seem prepared. My health teacher was in fact a Physical Education teacher that taught Personal Fitness and Intermediate Volleyball. My history teacher was the school's football coach. My math teacher taught 9th, 10th, and 11th grade math. In my French class, French I, French II, and French III students were grouped together. Needless to say, I felt cheated. It did not seem fair to me that around the world other students were learning two, sometimes three, different languages, knew and understood physics and geometry, and could write a decent paper. And here I was, stuck in a high school with an average of thirty-five students per class, two foreign languages to choose from (Spanish and French), and a teacher who thought teaching Physics was making her class write endless notes and look up glossary terms in the textbook.
Frankly, I believe it is precisely this lack of good education in America that is making our youth stupid. I wish there was a nicer way to say it, but there isn't. But it's not so simple. Economics come into play in terms of good education. Teachers aren't paid enough, schools aren't given enough money, etc. That is our government's fault. They've neglected their schools, and as such most students in their senior year have trouble reading a book by Mark Twain, or even worse, one by Ann M. Martin. Kids are failing second and third grades. In Florida, some are left behind because of the FCAT (a failing system in itself). And it seems to be getting worse.
It is a fact that the United States is ranked lowest in performance and continues to slip in the polls. Am I the only one who believes we have been wronged? What will become of the next generation? People rave about it, about all this change and technology, but I don't see many of us succeeding. And I feel very strongly about it; because like it or not, the lack of education others receive will affect my future and the future of those youth in America. I just hope in the coming years, someone in our government will take the time to re-work the entire school system in this country and addressing the issues at hand. And maybe then we'll all have brighter futures to look forward to.
Other interesting articles on the subject:
1. America by the numbers
2. Test scores slow under No Child Left Behind reforms
3. U.S. High School Seniors Among Worst in Math and Science
4. U.S. Students Rank Among World's Best and Worst Readers
5. Contemporary Education Issues