Problems in U.S. Education

People learn things everywhere. Whether they are at a zoo, hospital, beach, on a street, and many other things. People also learn things at their school. They learn things like math, science, social studies, English, grammar, spelling, social skills, and a lot of other things as well. People think education and schooling mean the same thing. Some people know that they are not the same thing, but get them mixed up. Education is the social institutions through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values. Schooling is the formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers. Education and schooling is very important in the lives of everyone. People are taught many things that they need to know. Education is a great thing for everyone, and everyone needs it. But there are a lot of problems facing education in the United States, whether it is something little or something big.

One problem in U.S. education is standardized testing. Some teachers like the idea, but a lot of teachers hate the idea of standardized testing. Every single student tests different. Some students are generally bad test takers. The U.S. has multiple kinds of standardized testing. One test that everyone, or mostly everyone, is familiar with is the ACT. The ACT is a test that students take usually during their junior year of high school. The ACT is one of the main factors that are looked at for college acceptances. The ACTs cause a lot of stress on high school students because in order to get into a good college, receive scholarships, you also have to do well on the ACTs. Everybody knows having a lot of stress isn’t good for anyone. Testing can also increase anxiety issues. The amount of high stress and anxiety can also cause students to “freak out” and test poorly. Most colleges don't accept people with very low ACT scores, but what if a person is very smart and has a high GPA, but is a bad test taker? Does it matter? Will the college look more at the high GPA, or more at the low ACT score?

 

 

 

Another problem in U.S. education is the dropout rate. Currently, 7.1 percent of people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four have dropped out. 7.1 percent may not seem high, but it is high considering that 7.1 percent is equivalent to 2.8 million people. One thing I found interesting is that out of the 50 states in the U.S., only 21 states require students to stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18. That isn’t even half of the states. If the dropout rate is high, and we are trying to decrease that rate, why is only 21 states requiring students to go to school until they are 18 or until they graduate? If every single state in the U.S. had this requirement, I believe the dropout rate can be decreased. Another interesting fact is that in 1970, the United States was ranked number one for the rate of high school and college graduation. The U.S. went from having the highest graduation rates, to today where the U.S. is now ranked number 21 in high school graduation rates and number 15 in college graduation rates. Why is the U.S. graduation rate slipping and decreasing so much?

 

As you can see, there are a lot of problems in U.S. education. These two major problems that I explained are just two of the many problems in the United States concerning education and schooling.

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/10/13-ways-high-stakes-standardized-tests-hurt-students/?tid=pm_local_pop

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/the-true-cost-of-high-school-dropouts.html?_r=0