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Argumentative Essay On Public Education

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Public education in America needs reforms to adjust to today's fast paced, technology based society. "Changing Educational Paradigms Animation" by RSA Animate and "Reinventing Education for the 21st Century" by Tony Wanger, prompted me to wonder how does teaching problem solving and critical thinking skills in schools socially and economically benefit students? Both of these videos touched on critical thinking and problem-solving skills and their importance in educating today's work force, but Tony Wanger blew me away with High Tech High, a Sandiego high, middle, and elementary school dedicated to teaching problem solving skills to a wide range of students (Wanger). This school system was an excellent model of students working on their own to create, utilize problem solving skills, and display their hard work. This gave me the idea that we need to shift our education to focus on critical thinking and problem-solving skills to better benefit students entering the work force.

I noticed before even asking myself these questions that the education system was failing many of our students. Looking in the media alone, anyone can clearly see many takes on the US system, whether it be comical, satirical, or just a plain news story about the facts. One satirical take on the current education system that I believe truly captures the essence of today's classrooms is an article by the Onion titled "Negative Parent-Teacher Conference Not Exactly Eye-Opening for Area Mother". The article takes you through the opinions of an "area mother" who just left a parent teacher conference for her son. “I mean, I’m not sure I needed to drive all the way down here for the shocking news that the person that I fight with every single night about doing his homework is getting poor grades.” It portrays the clear lack of concern from parents, lack of interesting material in the standards, and the lack of effort from students. Unfortunately, it seems this has become the norm for many students in school systems across our country.

I began to look into the history of public education and found out that nationwide public schooling was created during the Industrial Revolution (1820-1860) when the country had a gigantic influx of European

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