The Flaws of the “Education System”

Becoming an adult can be very scary. I’m in my senior year of high school and to say I am afraid would be an understatement. The education system was built under the idea of helping kids transition into the adulting world with as much information as possible…Well, I don’t think they have done that. To say the educational system has failed us wouldn’t be far from the truth. Students have dedicated years of their lives to school in an attempt to work toward a better future but some students don’t even know how to start that future.

The first issue that many Raiders expressed is the lack of courses teaching real-life skills. Financial Management and Accounting only have 1 teacher and I got pushed out of those classes during registration because of the high demand and lack of supply. Some classes that kids want to take don’t even exist. Classes that teach real-life skills like plumbing and electricians aren’t an option until college. Schools don’t have the luxury of tailoring classes to certain professions of course but the curriculum is so strict that I have to learn Newton’s law of motion instead of learning how to balance a checkbook.

The problems only get worse when you look at the number of students compared to the number of teachers. We simply have way too many kids at Rangeview. Some kids are getting forced to take off periods because the amount of classes and teachers is too few. You can’t blame Rangeview for this issue but the district needs to take action for funding for either more classes or a raising salary to entice more people to become teachers or come on board as a staff members

Another complaint about the education system is the speed at which it moves. Some believe that the curriculum moves too slowly and oftentimes, little too nothing is learned, while others believe that the speed is too fast which makes them fall behind learning nothing new. This imbalance has been addressed a couple of times with the introduction of harder courses such as AP and Honors but that’s it. Generation after generation the masses get smarter, so with that, our education system needs to evolve with it. How do we do that? That’s something for the boards of education to decide, but to be honest, I don’t see anything changing for a while.

One of the biggest complaints about the education system is that standardized tests are looked at in high regard. Plenty of students have started the year with an A after the first 5 or 6 assignments and take one test and drop to a D or F. Summative assessments are graded in a way that forces stress upon the student so that their grade doesn’t see a drastic change. Although this issue has gotten better with teachers having the option to tweak the grading it is still extremely flawed. 

One of the main things students are tested on is math and english literacy through the SAT, and even this has issues. Jon Snow, a famous TV journalist, had below average grades in school but he played to his strengths and became renowned for his efforts. School shouldn’t be spent doing homework for the next test but to nurture the growth of young impressionable minds to better themselves. These Complaints may seem minor, but they add up and make what we call the “Education System” the worst attempt to help kids prepare for the adulting world. Support needs to go out to all students. If you are a struggling student you will be talked to by the counselor. But if you’re succeeding in class, no one would care to reach out to you.

Honestly, I don’t expect any changes to come out of these complaints from students because for years nothing has changed, but I still do hold out hope that boards across the world will see these complaints and produce a change in some form.