American Education in Need of Reform

America has always had a bad reputation for its flexible public education. When it is compared to that of Japan's or Europe's, education in America is poor. Students are not being pushed to their limit and the standard or "bar" that must be reached is set relatively low. Bush is busy spending money on shiny war planes while half of American students cannot identify Iraq on a map. How can our country keep its status as a world power when we are cultivating C average students ever since they left their cribs?

I am sure I am not the only one that has noticed, but schools need reform. Instead of playing police and supposedly "establishing democratic governments" in nations that cannot do so themselves, why don't we focus on our own problems first? Our highways could use some attention, I mean look at the year on the calendar; 2007. Back in the past most people would imagine that by this time we would have hover cars and at least high-tech, high-speed autobahns. What about the environment, global warming? Wait, no, let's worry about nuclear weapons first.

Our schooling is poor compared to other developed countries and universities do not give opportunities to everyone because many people were not taught correctly during their middle and high school years. Therefore, they have weak academic backgrounds and cannot get into college.

In Japan, children go to school 6 days a week and even have to take an entrance exam just to get into high school. The approach used within Japanese schools is to memorize and absorb. Even in the United States, statistically the "smartest" ethnic group are Asians. They score highest on the SATs, have the highest university acceptance rate, and amount to the advanced jobs that the average American could not do. Who can solve a Rubik's cube the fastest? An Asian kid from California. But ethnicity is not what this article is about.

Where the United States needs to start is at the core of the problem. Most teachers are mediocre; not all. All you need to become a teacher is four years of college and a bit of training on how to educate. Shouldn't teachers need much more background? A subject cannot be learned thoroughly in four years. But then again a rebuttal to this would be that you do not need so many years because these teachers would be teaching at elementary or middle school levels. But my answer to that would be, ask all American teachers who was our president during World War I or what the capital of Mongolia is.

Most will have no idea. If teaching was a more respected career and was paid better, if our government had a strict filtering process to select qualified instructors of the subjects, maybe change would take place. Change would take place. But teachers are shunned by media and society, often ridiculed by the student themselves. American schools are too lax in their policies and administration is passive.

Chewing gum in a Peruvian classroom? Unacceptable and the student would get called home. The humiliation in the classroom would be far worse than the verbal medicine the student would get from their parents.

America is democratic and what not and we have this amazing thing called freedom of speech. We exercise it in public schools by wearing the latest fashions that do not show too much skin. That is where we go wrong. Take a peak into the classroom all around the world, England, Japan, France, Russia, Argentina. All students wear uniforms with matching belts, socks, and shoes. Some nations' uniform policies are stricter than others, but for the most part, they are strictly implied.

The only way hard-core learning can take place is when everyone is dressed the same and cliques are abolished as well as social status. American schools need uniformity, and by this not only do I mean uniforms, but I mean rules as well; severe consequences for disrespecting teachers and administration. Here students get away with too much. Schools in America are so laidback and for this reason Columbine happened. You will almost never hear of school shootings in China or Italy or Germany. Institutions are too well-established and school is respected as a whole and as a symbol.

Teacher, uniforms, and of course, curriculum. Once the formers are established, all that is left to impose is an omnipresent, functioning guide to lead students to correct paths in life. Knowledge starts as soon as grade school. Students should be worldly and sophisticated since the beginning, from manners in the cafeteria to not daring to speak during a lecture. A foreign language should be immediately integrated side by side to English so by the time high school is reached; students are fluent at least bilingually.

Spanish and other languages are given as "electives" in high school and are not given the emphasis and importance that they should be. Foreign languages in other countries are compulsory. Swiss students are required to know their official three, German, French, and Italian, plus English. Ignorance towards our system of education is to blame for this. The government, president, and our state governors should be held responsible.

Our heavy taxes should pay for the meticulous selection of qualified instructors to teach our currently impotent youth. While many bright students overcome the system and perform their best regardless, many students are left in the dust. And it is not their fault they are not learning nearly as much as Japanese and Australian students are, it is the Bush Administration's fault. Let's get out of Iraq and get into our deteriorating classrooms. Now there's an idea.