18 Reasons the U.S. Education System is Failing
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Once upon a time, enthusiasts designed a formal education system to meet the economic demands of the industrial revolution. Fast forward to today and, with the current global economic climate, it seems apparent that the now established education system is unable to meet the needs of our hyper-connected society – a society that is in a constant state of evolution. Let’s examine 18 problems that prevent the US education system from regaining its former preeminence.
- Parents are not involved enough. Of all the things out of the control of teachers, this one is perhaps the most frustrating. Time spent in the classroom is simply not enough for teachers to instruct every student, to teach them what they need to know. There must, inevitably, be some interaction outside school hours. Of course, students at a socio-economic disadvantage often struggle in school, particularly if parents lack higher levels of education. But students from middle and upper class families aren’t off the hook, either. The demands of careers and an over-dependence on schools put higher-class kids at risk too when it comes to the lack of parental involvement in academics.
- Schools are closing left and right. It’s been a rough year for public schools. Many have found themselves on the chopping block. Parents, students and communities as a whole feel targeted, even if school board members are quick to cite unbiased numbers. There is no concrete way to declare a winner in these cases, either. Sometimes, a school closing is simply inevitable but communities should first look for other solutions. Instead of shutting down underutilized public schools – icons of the community – districts should consider other neighborhood uses, such as a community center or adult education classes. Closing public schools should not be a short-sighted procedure. The decision should focus on the only investment that really matters: a quality public education for all our nation’s children.
- Our schools are overcrowded. The smaller the class, the better the individual student experience. A study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that 14 percent of U.S. schools exceed capacity. At a time where children need more attention than ever to succeed, overcrowded classrooms are making it even tougher to learn and tougher still for teachers to be effective.
- Technology comes with its downsides. I am an advocate for technology in the classroom. I think that ignoring the educational opportunities that technology has afforded us puts kids at a disadvantage. being said, screen culture overall has made the jobs of teachers much more difficult. Education has become synonymous with entertainment in many ways. Parents are quick to download educational games as soon as kids have the dexterity to operate a touch screen, and with the best of intentions. The quick-hit way that children are learning academics before and during their K-12 careers makes it even more difficult for teachers to keep up in the classroom setting, particularly since each student’s knowledge base and technological savvy varies.
- There is a lack of diversity in gifted education. The “talented and gifted” label is one bestowed upon the brightest and most advanced students. Beginning in early elementary grades, TAG programs separate student peers for the sake of individualized learning initiatives. Though the ideology is sound, the practice of it is often a monotone, unattractive look at contemporary American public schools. District schools need to find ways to better recognize different types of learning talent and look beyond the typical “gifted” student model. The national push to make talented and gifted programs better mirror the contemporary and ever-evolving student body is a step in the right direction. Real change happens on a smaller scale though – in individual districts, schools and TAG programs. That progress must start with understanding of the makeup of a particular student body and include innovative ways to include all students in TAG learning initiatives.
- School spending is stagnant, even in our improving economy. As the U.S. economy continues to improve, according to news headlines, one area is still feeling the squeeze from the recession years: K-12 public school spending. A report this month from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that 34 states are contributing less funding on a per student basis than they did prior to the recession years. Since states are responsible for 44 percent of total education funding in the U.S., these dismal numbers mean a continued crack down on school budgets despite an improving economy. If we cannot find the funding for our public schools, how can we expect things like the achievement gap to close or high school graduation rates to rise? It was understandable that budgets had to be slashed when the bottom dropped out of the economy. Now we are in a more stable place, though, it is time to get back to funding what matters most: the education of our K-12 students.
- We are still using the teacher training methods of yesterday. With respect to the students of the past, modern classrooms are full of sophisticated youngsters that show up with a detailed view of the world formed from more than home life experiences. Instant access to information from instant a child can press a touchscreen on a Smartphone and widespread socialization from as young as six weeks old in the form of childcare atmospheres – kids arrive at Kindergarten with less naivety than previous generations. Teachers don’t, in other words, get a clean slate. Instead, they get young minds cluttered with random information and ideas, all of which need fostering or remediating.
- There is a lack of teacher education innovation. It stands to reason that if students are changing, teachers must change too. More specifically, it is time to modify teacher education to reflect the demands of the modern K – 12 classrooms. There are policy and practice changes taking place all over the world – many driven by teachers – that address the cultural shifts in the classroom. Public education in America needs teachers who are better trained to meet the needs of specific student populations, understand the necessary role of distance learning, and are willing to speak up to facilitate classroom change. Without these teachers, effective reform to meet global demand is not possible.
- Some students are lost to the school-to-prison pipeline. Sadly, over half of black young men who attend urban high schools do not earn a diploma. Of these dropouts, too, nearly 60 percent will go to prison at some point. Perhaps there is no real connection between these two statistics, or the eerily similar ones associated with young Latino men. Are these young people bad apples, destined to fail academically and then to live a life of crime? If some of the theories of genetic predisposition are true, perhaps these young men never stood a chance at success and have simply accepted their lots in life. But what if those answers, all of them, are just cop-outs? What if scoffing at a connection between a strong education and a life lived on the straight and narrow is an easy way to bypass the real issues in K-12 learning? Students who are at risk of dropping out of high school or turning to crime need more than a good report card. They need alternative suggestions on living a life that rises above their current circumstances. For a young person to truly have a shot at an honest life, he or she has to believe in the value of an education and its impact on good citizenship. That belief system has to come from direct conversations about making smart choices with trusted adults and peers.
- There is a nationwide college-gender gap, and surprisingly, we are not focusing on it. If you have been following education hot button issues for any length of time, you’ve likely read about the nationwide push to better encourage girls in areas like science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The thought is that by showing young women that these topics are just as appropriate for them as their male peers, more women will find lasting careers in these traditionally male-dominated fields. I’m all for more women in the STEM workplace but with all this focus in one area, are educators neglecting an even larger gender gap issue? I wonder how much of this trend is based on practicality and how much is based on a lingering social convention that women need to “prove” themselves when it comes to the workforce. Do women simply need a degree to land a job in any field? If so, the opposite is certainly not true for men – at least not yet. Will the young men in our classrooms today have a worse quality of life if they do not attend college – or will it be about the same?
- We still do not know how to handle high school dropouts. It seems that every time the issue of high school dropouts is discussed, it all centers on money. U.S. Census Statistics tell us that 38 percent of high school dropouts fall below the poverty line, compared with 18 percent of total households in every demographic. Dropouts are also 40 percent more likely to rent their residences and spend $450 less per month on housing costs than the overall population. Only around 60 percent of dropouts own vehicles and they spend over $300 less on entertainment annually than average Americans. It’s clear that a high school diploma is in fact the ticket to higher earnings, at least on a collective level. The negative financial ramifications of dropping out of high school cannot be denied, but the way they are over-emphasized seems like a worn-out tactic to me. Instead of focusing on students as earners, we really need to value them as learners so that we can encourage them to finish their high school education.
- We have not achieved education equity. Equity in education has long been an ideal. It’s an ideal celebrated in a variety of contexts, too. Even the Founding Fathers celebrated education as an ideal – something to which every citizen ought to be entitled. Unfortunately, though, the practice of equity in education has been less than effective. Equity, in the end, is a difficult ideal to maintain and many strategies attempting to maintain it have fallen far short in the implementation. To achieve equity, school systems need to have an approach for analyzing findings about recommended shifts in learning approaches and objectives. These approaches should also help teachers and administrators understand not what they have to avoid but what it is that they can do to achieve optimal equity moving forward.
- Technology brings a whole new dimension to cheating. Academic dishonesty is nothing new. As long as there have been homework assignments and tests, there have been cheaters. The way that cheating looks has changed over time, though. Technology has made it easier than ever. Perhaps the most interesting caveat of modern-day cheating in U.S. classrooms is that students often do not think they have done anything wrong. Schools must develop anti-cheating policies that include technology and those policies must be updated consistently. Teachers must stay vigilant, too, when it comes to what their students are doing in classrooms and how technology could be playing a negative role in the learning process. Parents must also talk to their kids about the appropriate ways to find academic answers and alert them to unethical behaviors that may seem innocent in their own eyes.
- We still struggle with making teacher tenure benefit both students and teachers. One of the most contested points of teacher contracts is the issue of tenure. Hardline education reformers argue that tenure protects underperforming teachers, which ends up punishing the students. Teachers unions challenge (among other reasons) that with the ever-changing landscape of K-12 education, including evaluation systems, tenure is necessary to protect the jobs of excellent teachers who could otherwise be ousted unfairly. It can often be a sticking point – and one that can lead to costly time out of classrooms, as recently seen in large school systems like New York City and Chicago. Now, I’m not suggesting that teachers just “give up” but I would support adjusting the expectations for tenure. It seems an appropriate step in the right direction for teachers in all types of schools. That energy then can be redirected towards realistic and helpful stipulations in teachers’ contracts that benefit the entire industry.
- More of our schools need to consider year-round schooling. Does it work? The traditional school year, with roughly three months of vacation days every summer, was first implemented when America was an agricultural society. The time off was not implemented to accommodate contemporary concerns, like children needing “down time” to decompress and “be kids.” The system was born out of economic necessity. In fact, the first schools that went against the summers-off version of the academic calendar were in urban areas that did not revolve around the agricultural calendar, like Chicago and New York, as early as the mid-1800s. It was much later, however, that the idea as a whole gained momentum. Overall, year-round schooling seems to show a slight advantage academically to students enrolled, but the numbers of students are not high enough to really get a good read on it at this point. What does seem clear, however, is that at-risk students do far better without a long summer break, and other students are not harmed by the year-round schedule.
- We are still wrestling the achievement gap. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education released student performance data in its National Assessment for Educational Progress report. The data is compiled every two years and it assesses reading and math achievements for fourth and eighth graders. This particular report also outlines differences between students based on racial and socioeconomic demographics. The data points to the places in the U.S. that still struggle with inequality in student opportunity and performance, otherwise known as the achievement gap. The achievement gap will likely always exist in some capacity, in much the same way that the U.S. high school dropout rate will likely never make it down to zero. This doesn’t mean it is a lost cause, of course. Every student who succeeds, from any demographic, is another victory in K-12 education and it benefits society as a whole. Better recognition by every educator, parent and citizen of the true problem that exists is a start; actionable programs are the next step.
- We need to consider how school security measures affect students. In theory, parents and educators would do anything to keep students safe, whether those students are pre-Kindergartners or wrapping up a college career. Nothing is too outlandish or over-the-top when it comes to protecting our kids and young adults. Metal detectors, security cameras, more police presence in school hallways, gated campuses – they all work toward the end goal of sheltering students and their educators, protecting some of the most vulnerable of our citizens. Emotions aside, though, how much does school security really increase actual safety? Do school security efforts actually hinder the learning experience? It sounds good to taut the virtues of tighter policies on school campuses but is it all just empty rhetoric? Given the fact that state spending per student is lower than at the start of the recession, how much should schools shell out on security costs? Perhaps the best investment we can make to safeguard our students and educators is in personal vigilance. Perhaps less reliance on so-called safety measures would lead to higher alertness.
- We need to make assistive technology more available for students with disabilities. A key to improving the educational experience for students with disabilities is better accommodations in schools and continued improvements in assistive technology. Assistive technology in K-12 classrooms, by definition, is designed to “improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.” While the word “technology” automatically conjures up images of cutting-edge electronics, some assistive technology is possible with just simple accommodations. Whether high-tech or simple in design, assistive technology has the ability to transform the learning experiences for the children who benefit. Assistive technology is important for providing a sound education for K-12 students with disabilities but benefits the greater good of the country, too. Nearly one-fourth of a specific student population is not being properly served and with so many technological advances, that is a number I believe can drop. Assistive technology in simple and complex platforms has the ability to lift the entire educational experience and provide a better life foundation for K-12 students with disabilities.
Some of these reasons are well-known and long-standing issues. However, others—such as the emergence of a screen culture—are new and even somewhat unexpected challenges. However, the nature of each issue does not matter. All of them are standing in the way of our becoming globally competitive.
Can you think of any reasons the U.S. educational systems are failing?
Click here to read all our posts concerning the Achievement Gap.
[…] Once upon a time, enthusiasts designed a formal education system to meet the economic demands of the industrial revolution. Fast forward to today and, with the current global economic climate, it seems apparent that the now established education system is unable to meet the needs of our hyper-connected society – a society that is in a constant state of evolution. Let’s examine 14 problems that prevent the US education system from regaining its former preeminence. […]
Another reason is that APs are a scam
There is a biased difference amongst public schools and private school programs. Public schools are funded by the government. Private schools are funded by private donations by the Catholic Church. Public schools provide textbooks that are school property that are only allowed for the students to use in their class. Students are not allowed to take their books home to do homework. Students textbooks are to be used for class work. Students from private schools buy their textbooks. The students who own textbooks can highlight the books and take the books home to do homework and to study. Public school tuition is lower than private schools. Private school requires their students to wear uniforms while public schools requires student to follow a dress code. Retention in private schools is higher than public schools because of strict discipline on cheating. Public schools testing is generally better than private schools. Academically private school education is more advanced than public schools. The students advance in their classes depends on how academically competitive and challenged through their learning experience in the school they attend. The students who profess are the ones who are motivated to learn. The biases in education begins with finding the funding to buy book, computers and technology to properly train students for advancement to meet the needs of the industry.
Angela Khristin Brown
Angela,
Thank you for this comment. It is the truth. We are doing a huge disservice to our youth by not providing a book, in addition to the fact we are no longer teaching cursive writing, or typing. My son has stacks and stacks of photocopied black and white copies from a books containing color images that become nearly useless when printed in black and white. The Chromebook does not replace a real textbook. As a parent, I have am disadvantaged to help him without proper resources. I understand his frustration, and so concerned we are losing ground. Each year, I find myself frustrated with the schools material, excessive amounts of homework, and how to help my kids wrestle the paper war. So often, when my son asks for help in class, he hears, just do your work. Sometimes I wonder if some of the teachers can do it.
way back when the schoolhouse was a place to teach children how to read and write their parents taught them how to survive farming hunting etc… then the education system evolved in to a training facility teaching our children how to be employees instead of employers and they aren’t learning basic life shills but they are forced to memorize the deceleration of Independence that will come in handy when they are killing time waiting in line for their big mac because they were never taught how to cook home economics should be a required class not an elective
We definitely need to bring those values back.
I remember a school bus ride when I was in 7th grade. The driver got fed up with the nonsense going on in the back and parked the bus and calmly walked the aisle. When he came to the young man who had been causing the trouble he promptly punched him in the throat wereupon the young man sat down and was quiet for the rest of the ride. We knew that our school staff had limits to their patience and would take matters into their own hands. Our fear kept us in line. Not so today. But the courts have ruled out corporal punishment. Our gym teacher and our principal both had paddles, big oak ones in their office and would not hesitate to swing them with gusto while we left our hands in a chair. There was no injury but to our pride.
I agree with all of these but I can’t really say much regarding that I am only a 7th grader.However!There are more major issues regarding to mostly middle/high schoolers:The Lack Of Sleep!I mean, call me crazy here but uhhh…I don’t think waking up at 6:30 in the morning is healthy for the adolescents!Our body needs sleep to function rightly and if we don’t get enough motivation to funtion correctly,we are more likely to ignore teachers and generally not give 2 hoots anymore about school because they want sleep!
Add the fact that the teachers are also ignorant about bullying from what I see in my school!I get called names almost everyday and a teacher is standing 3 feet away!3 FEET AWAY!!!He didn’t say anything maybe just thinking that the name-caller is just joking!Also,I saw a fight today in the hallway 5 minutes after I arrived at school!Then,2 periods l8r,I see a girl get SOCKED IN THE FACED TWICE!It was really likely that she was jumped but no teachers are around;suprise suprise!We need more teachers to be aware of bullying!PUTTING UP POSTERS ARE NOT GOING TO HELP!!!!!
I definitely think about the “Gifted” programs for kids. I as a student don’t like the idea that multiple areas test students who are still very young and then separate them into a different class that works them harder. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it just seems like testing 6-8 year olds and then putting them in a separate program for a good portion of their life isn’t the best. Especially if they’ve been stretched to a limit they don’t feel they can take.
I don’t like how some classes are prioritized over others. The arts can be just as important as lots of math, science, reading, world history type subjects in many cases. There are lots of job opportunities that can stem from any talent or interests in the arts but they are thrown around carelessly for items many students and adults agree They won’t need in the future. We need to learn from culture, arts, survival, and things like that. I don’t feel like I get a variety in some of these subjects because they aren’t valued.
wow I was more thinking how there is such a large disconnect of ways of learning and the method of teaching. Visual, auditory, written, kinesthetic and multimodal are the 5 types of learning but yet schools tend to use only one. To be honest after reading this I didn’t find to many reasons that actually have to do with education. If anything students should be doing less outside of school not more. That action would be more beneficial to low income households giving less work to students who are also caretakers for younger siblings which is all to common in low income households. I also think that now more and more with free resources such as kahn acadamy the role of the parent in education is slowly leaving and being replaced with technology. In addition to this while stem fields are important I don’t think fixing the gender gap will be the be all end all. Firstly colleges are one of the largest scams to exist. They function on the premise that they sell success but that can’t be farther from the truth. In the day and age we live in we have encountered an over saturation of degrees. This simply means that individuals that go to college for common degrees will encounter many multitudes of people with that same degree. The implication for this is that it is now much more difficult for that individual to get a job and most likely will end up switching majors at some point. The implication for this risky decision is hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, with no job, no skills, and no work experience. I would say I encourage anyone that is fed up with school to either go to a technical school which acts like a college in the sense of further education on a specific topic but is much cheaper and many times have job guarantees. If you start this process early you can go to a Vocational school in high school, receive your certification, and then start your career. What was once thought of as low paying blue collar job can pay up to or even over the salaries of doctors, lawyers, and business persons. For example welders are able to make over 55,000 dollars a year which is the average salary for the United States. Or you could be a electrician with room to grow to around 90,000 dollars a year. HVAC Technicians make around 50,000 dollars a year but are in high demand. But that is true with all these careers, I am willing to make a bet. I bet I will be more successful, more wealthy, and have less debt then any of my pears that go to college. I will also retire before any of them as well.
I had both of my parents as teachers in Martin County Kentucky. Even some of my teachers in school had my parents as teachers before I was born. They were drug addicts and it was a nightmare. They don’t drug test teachers and the tax payer pays for it and their drug dealer went to jail. I currently am paying for their retirement check with tax money while they still buy illegal drugs and smile that they were never drug tested as a teacher for 30 plus years. It haunts me daily. The federal government education system really really failed me as a child. They didn’t ever drug test my parents as teachers.
Two things, if implemented, would go a long way in improving primary and secondary education.
1) School choice. Education dollars go with the student. Throwing money at public education has not and will never improve results.
2) End teacher unions. I love the quote, ” When the kids start paying dues, I’ll put them first”.
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[…] Once upon a time, enthusiasts designed a formal education system to meet the economic demands of the industrial revolution. Fast forward to today and, with the current global economic climate, it seem… […]
[…] the first part of this series, I discussed 10 reasons the US education system is still struggling to return to its glory days. In […]
There are no glory days. We should be looking for something new to benefit the students that are in schools today. The system is screwed up and to fix it we must make a new education system that teaches what we CURRENTLY need to teach.
The way we communicate, eat, and travel has advanced with the times. Education, although it has added some technological components still remains the same outdated system. What is being taught and how it is being taught needs to change to meet the needs of students.
Einstein said it best, ” If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life feeling stupid.”
There are no glory days. We should be looking for something new to benefit the students that are in schools today. The system is screwed up and to fix it we must make a new education system that teaches what we CURRENTLY need to teach.
Thanks Mathew for the informative article. I have gained a lot from the conversation and in my opinion serious changes need to be implemented on the education sector. Once again thanks for the uplifting coverage.
Thanks for having the courage to shed light on some grey areas in the education sector. The whole system needs a revamp and it is prudent to work towards that.
You’ve scratched the surface. Add Institution focused, not student success focused, lack of focus on mission vision, Ignorance and apathy towards advancing student success outcomes, cancerous culture of entitlement, cult like culture to fit in and not rock the boat, can’t see the forest from the trees, resistance to deep learning and student success research, inability to change, principal test has no correlation to principal job success; K-12 masters requirement has no correlation to student success outcomes, one size fits all teaching does not provide deep 21st century skills in students, Teacher PD does not improve teacher performance, widget effect, Dunning–Kruger effect, lack of moral fiber to improve rather than cut corners, erroneously defend a flawed system & cheat, resistance to accountability, no accountability, tenure, collective bargaining having no direct correlation to advancing student success outcomes, offering traditional once size fits all products as educationally innovative (MOOCS), talking about innovative methodologies, but doing nothing, implementing technology without pedagogy, doing the wrong things and saying you are progressing and the list goes on. These are systemic flaws that force talented motivated well meaning individuals to gravitate to the lowest common denominator perpetuating student success mediocrity. Even sadder is that traditional educators believe in and erroneously defend a system that is so severely flawed. Traditional educators have lost all credibility with the public and are losing credibility with their students
Add not empowering all teachers to empower all students with advanced, sustained, relevant, student success, performance improvement outcomes.
There is one natural law .
Supply and demand .
If there is demand on something definitely a supply will pop up .
Today there is demand for college work.
Due to marketers of money seeking entrepreneurs, they say ” anyone graduating from a college makes more money ” Poor people believed that and spent billions on second class colleges . Why Europeans do not spend that much money for education . There is no marketers , there is no money makers deceiving people . Only 19 % of the over 25 years olds have degrees in Germany. In USA we try to increase to 60 % by 2023 by second class colleges . .Wrong, wrong wrong.
Please I appeal to people, do not believe second class colleges marketers, do not allow to b e deceived . Only graduates of the first class colleges can make more money than high school graduates . Proof . See Labor DEpartment statistics. 25 million BA degree holders are underemployed out of 50 million BA degree holders . Where do you think these underemployed people were educated . In second class colleges .
There are 4000 colleges in USA. Only 200 research universities are worthwhile to attend and graduate.
Please parents, read, read, read .
agreed. Also, German education system doesn’t lump K-12 into a one room classroom like USA. Throwback to “Little House on the Prairie.” = fail. Students with different ability levels are taught at separate campuses in Germany: a three tier system.
From 10 reasons to 18 reasons and I can think of 2 more but it’s not the number of reasons, it’s the lack of ability or the lack of desire to change all those reasons and blow them out of the water. Too many administrators and teachers have mistaken the edge of the rut for the horizon and are quite comfortable with the status quo. Answers lie not in $$ although that helps if invested in students and optimum learning environments but the answers will be found in shifting the entire paradigm from what it’s been to what it is yet to be and what it needs to be to serve students, parents and the community. I suggested an entirely different model based on a teaching hospital and that fell on deaf ears. In case anyone wants to do something radical, here it is garygruber.com/a-new-school-model-the-teaching-hospital
For what it’s worth……
Looks like I left the last response just above and I’ll let that stand and speak for itself, again. However, it’s hard to keep quiet in the face of the continuing lack of creativity and innovation in schools and in the leadership of schools in general. That would apply not only to the K-12 arena but to higher education as well, post secondary experiences that continue to fail students’ genuine needs for the future.
Instead of focusing on reasons for why it’s not working, how about looking at what is working and emulate, replicate and design more of those?
1. Create more optimum learning environments. 2. Raise the standards and expectations of leadership and management. 3. Hire only the best teachers and pay them accordingly. 4. Design & implement a successful marketing strategy, yes, marketing. 5. Institute more cooperation and collaboration among constituents and across boundaries. 6. Increase unity of purpose and diversity of expression. 7. And follow Steve Jobs maxim of “Think Different.” It actually works. 8 Find a model school and copy what you can that serves kids and the community. 9. Get better at investing both human and financial capital.
10. Strengthen schools and you will strengthen a community. It not only takes a village to raise a child, it takes a child to raise a village.
(Corrections applied)
Thank you for your article; it illuminates many aspects that I, as a private teacher, have perceived just from afar. My concern is that a lot of talent is truly being wasted and lost in the U.S. when it comes to educating even well-off children. I have been amazed at the low levels of genuinely relevant knowledge and self-discipline of some American high school students whom I have taught; often, even their handwriting skill – a 1st grade basic one – needs improvement…. All along, they are highly intelligent, ambitious kids.
I grew up with public and private education in Romania and Italy, and those “old schools” were decidedly better systems, despite the wonderful technological help we have today.
Yes, there is one other reason I could think of in response to your last question about failure: the absence of a specialization-related College Entry Exam; it should be required and designed by each college. SAT/ACT/GRE testing both English and Math should not be the ultimate decision-factors for college entry — if that had been the case for me, and if I had been born here, I would likely have been lost to U.S. higher education 30 years ago…. My “gifts”, from the youngest age, were in the foreign language department — currently I teach 4 languages and cultures at advanced/professional levels, along with many other humanities subjects (I am still gladly studying more languages for my pleasure and future work); and also in the Arts – currently I am a successful painting/arts teacher, too; all along having made a comfortable income as an international private teacher for most of my 30-year career. As a kid, Sciences/Math were times when I was reading novels that I was hiding under my desk right under my teachers’ noses — just because I simply abhorred all Math topics (I did know the multiplication table by heart, though, which some U.S. kids don’t study anymore today…); and any boyish sports annoyed me, instead I opted for ballet and dance – in spontaneous games played with other kids in our gardens when our parents didn’t have the money to buy lessons for us… Of course, making money as a “child-actor/dancer” would have been an absurd and indecent idea – studying books was the priority in life for a decent child and future citizen…. This is an example of how a child should be left to live his/her childhood and discover his/her own talents without the school limits and suffocating containment of “well-roundedness” (of course, the importance given to sports in U.S. schools is also misguided and a huge drawback; so are the communist-style “community service” and early jobs that steal from kids’ valuable readings and studying time and confuse their values). If a child’s mind is properly educated in the spirit of our American and European classics, then, as an adult, he/she will offer community service and contribute socially out of his/her civic conscientiousness…. Bottom line, SAT/ACT which resembles the end-of-high-school “Baccalaureate” exams in some European systems, should be just minor High School Exit Exams that should not waste any kid’s valuable studying time and be lenient to kids proven to have other talents; and students should prepare only for specialized College Entry Exams established by individual colleges. Letting colleges get students based on specialized talents (i.e. a highly-demanding English/Culture Entry Exam only for the English School; a highly-demanding Art Entry Exam for the Art School; serious Math Entry exams only for those schools/professions that need math; skill-based trade school/apprenticeship entry exams, etc) would ensure no talented child is stressed out, made sick, deprived of his/her childhood, or let down by our society and that “no non-scientific” talents are lost.
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[…] experience of a one on one learning style that is beneficial for the student is being taken away,“The smaller the class, the better the individual student experience.” A study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that 14 percent of U.S. […]
They are missing some vital points. The true reason is our schools succumbed to the false teachings of permanence in ability or the myth of genetics in ability. As a result, many years ago, schools, administrators, teachers, and later parents, simply believed students were either able, not able, or simply didn’t work hard enough. This then left teachers and their schools with various rote methods of simply giving out information; working their students hard, and then testing those students, usually just reaping the more supported students, then claiming those students were just smarter and/or worked harder.
This created much stagnancy in education and teacher education methods. Sadly this also left open the door for increased dogma for myth of genetics, which then allow many business and social political interest to come in to the schools with “no interest or care for student learning”. Therefore, our education system has not just stagnated but has dwindled into one big social gathering for students with no respect, no protection, and much intolerance for students branded as somehow less than those 1 percent of more supported peers who are doing well.
We need to remove the myth of genetics and learn to see how our individual environments do greatly affect thinking, learning, motivation, and yes, also our mental health. By teaching the myth of genetics and ensuing hopelessness to the vast majority of students, we condemning them to failure, thus creating many dropouts, drug/alcohol abuse, suicide, and violence with suicidal intent.
1. We must redefine our average stress as many maintained layers of mental work from many past, present, future – experiences, circumstances, needs, along with different weights and values given to us from an early age which may act as magnets for other accumulating layers of mental work. Try to visualize an upright rectangle, representing our full mental energy. Then begin at the bottom, drawing in narrowly spaced, horizontal lines to show many (innumerable) layers of mental work. The space leftover represents our leftover mental energy for thinking, learning, and *motivation to learn – mental reward for mental work expended. This shows us how our individual environments, not genetics, greatly affect thinking, learning, motivation, and mental health. We cannot simply relax or use meditation to lower those layers. Those layers are made up of real mental work. When we relax or use meditation, we are only temporarily turning off our mental faucet to those layers. When we attempt a new mental work, our minds turn that faucet back on so those layers are simply recharged. We can however, all, slowly begin to understand the elements of our lives, past and present, which are creating those layers. We can then slowly begin to understand, resolve, and make little changes in some weights or values to more permanently reduce layers to continually improve and change our lives. This is very important, for it releases students and adults from the terrible myth of genetic permanence being taught in our schools today. 2. We must also, contrary to the myth of genetics remove the myth of simply hard work and understand the proper dynamics of approach newer mental work more slowly, allowing mental frames in an area to develop, creating increased pace and intensity with equal and more enjoyment of learning over time.
In the case of #1, I’ve actually seen the opposite around my area. The parents are depended on to teach children everything and teachers don’t do a thing. If the students come for help, the teacher refuses to explain, instead saying that they should already know this information.
[…] children are taught. The brochure is based on a specific article written by Matthew Lynch called “18 Reasons the U.S. Education System is Failing” highlighting some of the flaws in American schools. I included five points that I found to be […]
Year round schooling isn’t the best option for students who aren’t being stimulated by the curriculum. Summer is the time where bright minds look towards internships at STEM oriented research facilities and companies. Many students are already wasting their time at school learning things that have no relevance to their future and life-long goals. I for one, am planning on Aerospace Engineering. I’ve been researching different branches of Physics and Statistics, to see what I want to contribute to. When I’m busy trying to find ways to lessen the energy crisis of today, AP European History is definitely more of a hindrance. If I was to have to give up my precious summers to study a required humanities course, boy would I be pissed.
[…] bar with programs like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Our national and state leaders had already given away the store by failing to view education of its youth as a strategic national security investment to meet the […]
Eye-opening insights. Definitely, the education system needs re-engineering. In today’s interconnected world the whole of learning experiences can be changed considerably. A lot of innovations are happening across the industries, however, nothing disruptive has taken place in the education system and teaching methodologies.
I notice there is a great deal of blame. We are a nation of the blame game. We are a nation of victims. When do we become a nation that leads by taking responsibility? What I do not see is anyone taking responsibility. I am part of the baby boomer generation. This mess was caused by the baby boomer generation. We passed laws that contradict the primary definition of a disease by naming addictions as diseases. We pass laws that excuse the behavior. Lawyers win cases that allow excuses for behavior. We passed laws that give the students power over the classroom. We tied the hands of teachers and administrators. We did away with holding children responsible for personal choices. We pass laws that require that teachers and counselors fix kids. We taught our children and their children they were victims. The first step to changing the depleting educational system is to take responsibility ourselves.
We need to participate in our democracy by voting. We need to teach our kids accountable for their actions first then work to change behavior, not the other way around. We need to treat all students with the concept of “I can.” We need to teach and believe that we can teach beginning in the home. We taught special education kids they can be exempted form assignments if they cry wolf enough. We taught the kids that bullying is child’s play because it was considered that during our generation. We raised groups of kids over others because of physical skills or looks. We allowed racial discrimination on national TV. We allowed channel that exploits racial discrimination. We allowed the deviant behavior to craw into the school system little by little. When our child was caught, we taught our child to blame the other guy or find an excuse for his or her behavior. We never took responsibility for our behavior at home that influenced our child’s behavior. While technology is a great thing and can do many things, it cannot replace the good common sense of personal responsibility.
Stop blaming and get out there and do. Create and VOTE to make change.
[…] https://www.theedadvocate.org/10-reasons-the-u-s-education-system-is-failing/ […]
I’m using this as a source for a school project
Great article! I wouldn’t say that the education system is failing, but it is sure being politicized a lot. I particularly like the point of technology is aiding cheating in students. Cheating here can be of various kinds. Students are cheating themselves out of reading good books, thinking that Google can provide answers to everything. They aren’t curious anymore, as they have ready information at hand. Less curiosity will lead to average minds.
Forcing children to sit in chairs, in rows, in rooms all day, monitoring their every movement–they’re prisons and if you go back to the model we appallingly still use, it goes back to the Prussian military over 200 years ago compounded by the Industrial Revolution to make good little workers and keep the little urchins off the streets. It is an abomination that we still force children into this horrible horrible model for them AND our teachers. We need to kill the prison model of education–dead. The kids HATE this model and they are rightfully rebelling against it then we have the arrogance and audacity to label them as “problems” and out comes the IEP. It is nothing less than a total abomination. The new model, happening in some places already, is the hybrid model, open campus model. Schools are open from 8-whenever, students can come and go as needed. Their parents have total flexibility. They go work on line when mom is off work and wants the kids home with her. They are in the world, in their community. Most importantly, the creepy, weird way we have of cutting our children off from the real world ENDS. Suddenly for biology, they are going in the field with an actual biologist. They are interviewing a member of their city council for social studies class, they are attending a public hearing. There are flexible courses they attend all through the day, field trips, they can work at home. They MOVE. They are ACTIVE. They are in the community, contributing to it. They are interested, stimulated. I did not finish my teaching credential because I am not going to spend my teaching career confining children into chairs all day, growing active children, and I am not going to tell them to “be quiet” all day. We should all be ashamed of ourselves, our arrogance, our laziness, our disregard for our children, that we still force our children into the 200+ prison model of education. It is nothing less than cruelty to our children. We treat them like dogs.
[…] These days, parents have many education options for their children. But too many parents choose public school. Public school education in the United States has its downsides. […]
[…] transition – governments, environment, healthcare, religion, education, judicial/civil rights, financial, etc. This may feel scary yet it is calling for […]
[…] Lynch, M. (2017, April 3). 18 Reasons the U.S. Education System is Failing. The Edvocate (blog). Retrieved from: https://www.theedadvocate.org/10-reasons-the-u-s-education-system-is-failing/ […]
[…] their input or the parents’ input because they are “just the teacher” or “just the parent.” Or the classes are way, way too big and they are simply too busy managing the behavior of […]
As a society, we also need to take up responsibility and acknowledge, celebrate academic achievement. It starts with us. We should take it ourselves to increase awareness of the role models among our kids who made it through education, in addition to sports and hip hop stars.
I’m a European private teacher with multiple qualifications. What I’ve seen in 20 years of tutoring in the U.S. could be compared to this analogy: imagine a dysfunctional family (divorced parents, arguing grandparents, and spiteful relatives… think the political divides), but primarily a cynical overworked dryly-intellectual feminist mom, an unimaginative childishly sports-crazed think-inside-the-box-but-aim-for-the-unattainable dad… and between them, a smart kid, frozen-hearted, weakened by tough games, pulled in both directions by the said parents till his arms hurt so much all he can think of is leave them (arms, parents) all behind and run for some hiding … that’s never to be found either, for safety and privacy are scarce in this well-supervised household. Simply put: children are being deprived of CHILDHOOD in the U.S. Perhaps it is because the stereotype, as we’ve all seen it since the dawning times of Shirley Temple, is that of a child who thinks better than adults and generally behaves like a wise adult; to make things clear, for example, Hollywood standard-setting movies have often shown that an ability to precisely quote the book page number for a certain quote dropped by an antagonist is a sure sign of the Gifted One. A child cannot simply enjoy his/her own microcosm here: dream, keep quiet, hide in a corner of a flower-filled garden and just read nice timeless books or mumble his own stories to himself that don’t need to be collected and published by the avid parents, dream like a careless child not like a “little person”, and daydream without the fear of being labeled …something wrong or medically scary by the ever present ever more intrusive world of the adult assessors and testers. We are forgetting that not everything was/is meant to be measured, quantified, sold, competitively-compared and cashed on…. Childhood should be the only time a child should be free of worries, and by childhood I mean AT LEAST those 7 years of homebound protective and loving upbringing (but then, of course, we’re faced with other kinds of dysfunctional homes). Unfortunately, even movies that bring such an idea to the fore, e.g. “Genius”, still fail on the side of political correctness and other contemporary MUST-FOLLOWs; if not, the little girl in the movie would have gotten the common sense chance to live a happy Heidi’s life on her well-doted grandma’s turf instead of – ultimately, surely – wasting her inborn gifts in the trailer park for the sake of some ill-defined freedoms. It seems to me that what the U.S. education profoundly needs is a strong doze of Classicism … something like real Mary Poppins figures of the old-fashioned kind (forget the tainted recent version) as well as much fewer or none of those maleficent Harry Potter schools for “gifted and talented”; and perhaps no Adams Family-type summer camps…. Real traditional American ranch hospitality, offered honestly from the heart, with a healthy set of time-honored folk sayings of the New World and proverbs the Old Worlds (instead of any of our postmodern encampments for pay organizing artificial joys) might bring back the true human values and safety U.S. children certainly need these days. True family and social upbringing, valuable education were meant to be alive with the spirit of generous experienced teachers and not a lab of dead information shot in massive doses into disjointed arms.
[…] https://www.theedadvocate.org/10-reasons-the-u-s-education-system-is-failing/ […]
[…] America’s educational system […]
All education system across the world has failed as they do not teach,
1. Honesty – World full of scam, corruption, few people amassing 80% of the world’s wealth are the indicators
2. Modesty – Number of rapes and child abuse speaks volume of what is not taught at school
3. Respect – Built-in system to consciously detach and not let the arrogance bundled with economic success.
[…] their input or the parents’ input because they are “just the teacher11” or “just the parent12.” Or the classes are way, way too big13 and they are simply too busy managing the behavior […]
in no way do i mean to say that i disagree with the points this article made, but concerning dropouts, i think im a rather smart kid, i mean, i get good grades, i also have good friends, i like to hang out with, my parents are nice, and in no way do i ever struggle with food, or shelter or anything like that. in live a nice life and i should be happy, but like alot of other kids in my school, im not really, and am seriously am considering droping out as soon as possible, i doubt i will, however because my mom would never let me. but the point is that, not only minorities decide to dropout but its a problem for everyone because its absolutley ridiculous how the school system treats its students.
[…] как американцы все чаще говорят о том, что их система нуждается в значительных реформах. Мы в GBT.org желаем успеха всем […]
[…] 18 Reasons the U.S. Education System is Failing […]
[…] 18 Reasons the U.S. Education System is Failing […]
[…] 18 Reasons the U.S. Education System is Failing […]
[…] are many problems associated with the education system, and they range from small to big. As theedadvocate describes, some of the many issues include lack of diversity in gifted programs, irresponsible […]
I will give you one major flaw with your article. Anyone can point out faults of a system. At least anyone that is capable of research. The problem we are really facing is there are not enough solutions. Worse yet, there are really no solutions that are realist. I am dedicated to researching and finding solutions in this arena. I will tell you one specific thing. Our focus is misplaced. Education is not just about going to college, it is not about just English and Math, education should be a full spectrum. It is fine to want people to be well rounded, but why force someone to struggle for 12 years and not learn anything that they can actually use? I was very smart, but was pushed out as a sophomore. Now my son is a sophomore and he is smart but struggling. I am here to help and direct him, but many do not have that. But someone who wants to farm, someone who wants to manufacture, or weld, someone who wants to create video games, all these people are outside looking in on education. We end up teaching many hours that are completely ineffective. This is a redesign that would be hard to pitch. But we must do something.
[…] Bored Daddy, The Edvocate, Facebook/Tony […]
[…] to The Edvocate, writer Matthew Lynch says a lot of the Michigan public schools are overcrowded. He said, “The […]
[…] Have we found the perfect educational system yet? At this point, we’re far from perfection. The educational system is failing to produce qualified individuals for different professions. Students are burdened with too many assignments, group projects, and extracurricular activities. Their professors set unrealistic learning goals, which no student has time to achieve. It’s no wonder why formal education is under the pressure of critics. […]
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Where did education in the U.S. go wrong?
1.What is the more correct assessment about the involvement of parents in education today? Do the demands of the day really have more of an impact on parental involvement in schools these days or is it more plausible that parents have intentionally been removed and replaced by ideological resentful people who believe it is their purpose to raise your children? As a parent who has dealt with the failing education system and who has tried tirelessly to be involved, I would have to say the more likely truth is, parents are not welcome to participate in their children’s education, we are supposed to support the policies of the school and affirm the indoctrination of our children without question. In the new education system ( post 20th century), there is no room for cooperation between educators and parents by design, conformity is the outcome the architects of the new education system. Everyone is a winner, everyone is equal, everyone must attend college masculinity is toxic, diversity is the most important thing, and the greatest lie of all, “this test is the most important test of your life!”, all B.S.; everyone can’t be a winner, everyone certainly are not equal, and college is overrated unless you intend to be a professional (teacher, lawyer, doctor, or engineer…..), boys and girls are different, diversity is the opposite of conformity, and these test don’t mean shit. The P.T.A. or a contract with parents are not the answer to the problem, make our children’s education accessible to us parents again by teaching from a book, and communicating with us, ( it has been years since I received a letter from a teacher that wasn’t sent on the first few days of school ). Schools need to get back to the basics and I guarantee parents would be more involved, we do not need all of the anxiety and stress that exist as a result of the education system today.
2. Why are schools closing left and right? Schools are closing because there are better alternatives than public education ( that is run by bureaucrats rather than educators ). If you care for your children, you have no doubt wondered what you could do to ensure your children are receiving the best opportunities available to them and a lot have decided to homeschool like I have. It is not hard to do the math (unless you where taught math under the current education system) less funding is necessary when there are fewer students, or my favorite is the backward notion of cutting funding for underperforming schools? It seems to me if a school is struggling, then the necessary resources should be provided to enable a turn-around, but I guess some students just aren’t worth the effort or the expense?
3. Where does all of the money generated by the Lottery go? If you are from a state Like Texas that was duped into supporting and voting for the lottery to fund the education system, and here we are 20 years later and schools are worse off now than they were then.
4. Trades are in jeopardy of extinction, as technology is pushed by who other than the creators of innovation and progress, the elitist rulers who reside in Silicon Valley? I wonder who will lay the bricks or tile or erect their buildings when there is no one left who knows how to do anything except write code, I wonder if they will create an app for that? Dependence on technology will be the undoing of this country, spell check, calculators, and apps have done more to retard, then they have been a benefit. Don’t even get me started about social media or cell phones and texting.
5. I can’t believe there is even a gifted and talented program at all, I thought they eliminated accelerated learning programs 30 years ago? I mean which is it, are we all the same or what? I agree that exceptional students should be encouraged, and their gifts should be developed, but not at the expense of all other students.
6. The government funds education reluctantly, to say the least, but by God they will bend over backwards to ensure abortions will be funded. Priorities?
7. Teaching? What really goes into teaching? A teacher, by definition; knows the material they are teaching, and I pretty much think that is all there is to it. Teachers need to know the material and they need to use the best method for them to impress that knowledge on students and quit worrying about the 37 different ways to present the information to those students. Just quit wasting time, and quit worrying about making it easy on everybody, there is a reason for summer school and trade schools and failing, some students require different forms of motivation.
8. I am a firm believer that teachers and students have become too close, and the evidence of that is on the evening news every week when a student and a teacher took their relationship too far. Teachers should teach, not be a friend and certainly not be a parent or a lover. I not saying teachers shouldn’t care, I am saying they shouldn’t get so invested in a student that they cross a boundary, keep it professional.
9. I don’t have words, but if we keep enabling and making excuses and continue to accept the facts about under privileged students, we will continue to have an incurable disease. It is everyone’s job to find a cure. Bureaucrats in D.C. or the state capitol rarely have the insight or exposure to identify the problem let alone issue the cure.
10. I won’t even respond to the gender gap.
11. I personally do not understand the issue about dropouts, life is about choices, and we live in a “free” country right? I think the whole drop out issue is a direct result of the “college is a must” indoctrination. If these kids had other alternatives like apprenticeships or trade school or other opportunities to fit in society, not only would dropouts decrease but I believe drug and alcohol abuse and suicides would diminish as well. I mean how hopeless would it be to know you do not have a place in society? Not everyone is cut out for college or want to put forth that much effort after exhausting themselves for the past 12 or 13 years in school. I mean as much as they have tried to make college available for everyone with some of the asinine classes they offer these days, it still doesn’t mean much if your satisfied contributing to society in another way.
12. There is no such thing as equity at all, we are all created in God’s image, but no one ever said we are all equal. Physiological, psychological, intellectual, and physical differences ensure that equity is impossible, and race and gender aren’t even factors.
13. Accountability and consequences are more the issue than is technology. We don’t teach children to have integrity, honor, or humility anymore? Of course, a person without remorse or no sense of honor will cheat, given the opportunity. The emphasis is more on the act and not the make up of the person who committed the act or the consequence of the act?
14. Just like the Army teaching is voluntary, and by now teachers and soldiers should know what to expect. I am tired of hearing about how tough it is and how thankless the job is. Police, nurses, soldiers, teachers, and the Barista at the local coffee shop all have the same thing in common, they all deal with the public and they are thankless, at least the Barista can spit in a coffee occasionally. If you aren’t cut out to teach, then quit, find something fulfilling that makes you happy and quit wasting everyone’s time.
15. School year around is a terrible idea, and I believe if schools were more efficiently run then everything that needs to be taught could be taught in the allotted timeframe. Children need a break, they need to be kids and parents need breaks too.
16. Achievements measure what? Seriously what do these test really say about students? I think achievement test say much more about the process, the system then they do about the students. I think they are overrated.
17. I totally agree, we need to consider how school security measures affect students. Chain link fences with razor wire, cameras, and locked doors evoke an image of prison for me, more than a school. These poor kids already have to deal with social media, nosey parents, and now big brother is breathing down their neck. No wonder kids today suffer from PTSD, and have issues with coping, who wouldn’t. We live in the freest country in the world and we have too cage our kids so we feel safer. Figure out why these crazy, violent people keep shooting up schools and fix that problem. Kids should feel safe and secure at school not like they are being punished for no reason.
18. My opinion about students with disabilities is irrelevant as I am fortunate to not have any experience in this matter.
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Can we also address the fact of grades? For a lot of people, a 70 is bad. A 70 means your got MORE THAN HALF correct on the assessment you got a 70 on. The bars are TOO HIGH. And they need to teach us (students) about REAL life skills. PUSHING STUDENTS TO STRESS TO MEMORIZE THINGS IS NOT THE ANSWER. I believe in a creative classroom atmosphere where students can APPLY their knowledge of, say, HISTORY or ENGLISH or any other subject, to ingrain it more in their memory. STRAIGHT MEMORIZATION IS ALL BUT EFFECTIVE. It lays heavy stress on a student’s brain, and mind that ADOLESCENCE is when the BRAIN IS DEVELOPING. Sure, memorizing gets the job done, but students won’t give a crap about what they learned in their previous year unless they have a will and drive to remember.