Revamping The Education System : The Benefits Of A Privatized, Voluntary Schooling Structure

There was a time when America’s education system was top-notch according to the culture and society. With time, a myriad of things has changed, but unfortunately what has not evolved is the American education system. The country is still following a system which was not designed for the current global economic climate. Equality, as positive as it sounds is not as sufficient when it comes to education. The system treats students equally yet expect a similar culmination and outcome. Every child has his individuality and distinct abilities; one cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Conversely, a few of the prominent reasons why the education system is failing are overcrowded schools, the rise of technology, and following the same old school hours.

America used to thrive on its education system and that is why it became one of the greatest nations in the world. Education is the backbone of our country, and we must give high priority to improve its current condition. Unfortunately, in the past couple of decades, the education system has been regressing. It has been on the decline and not as effective. The quality of education in a country has an influence on GDP growth, social cohesion and social well being in general. In order to improve the quality of education in the U.S., the following must be taken into consideration: the structure of our education system must be reanalyzed, we must compare and contrast our education system to systems of other countries with higher rankings, and finally, there must be a solution.

Our education system does seem to be in trouble for the way that it is headed, but also a lack of motivation from the children seems to aid in the problems. It is said that America keeps up well with other leading nations in the early years of education, but as soon as kids start to grow older getting good grades just for that special trip to get ice cream doesn’t seem to be enough anymore and as the high grades begin to “weaken as students move through school.” (Bethell).

Education in America is one of the most important issues that face our nation. If the education in America is not thought of one of most serious issues we face, our nation as a whole will fall. There are many debates and they seemly extend to all walks of life. The debates range from the decline in education, school vouchers, and the no child left behind law. As a nation, the United States is ranked above others. We must search for that solution to all of the pro’s and con’s in education. The solution should allow all walks of life to excel in the education realm. After all, the children of today will be the leaders of tomorrow.

The United States of America used to be known as one of the greatest countries to be apart of. From the jobs to the economy to education people loved to be apart of the American culture. The problem many Americans are facing today is poor education. Since America is viewed as a high profile country many people have prominent expectations on what they are receiving, specifically the education. The fact is that there are major problems with all levels of the education system today. Starting with early education, teachers are quick to say children needs to be medicated or put into special education. Proceeding to the general or high school education where kids are graduating but not prepared for what’s after. Lastly how higher education or college can hardly be afforded in today’s society. As a result of the failing education system, many parents blame the child or society when in actuality the failing system is corrupted by some teachers, lack of preparation, and lack of affordability in higher education.

Many people know that the U.S. does not rank very high in education. You hear about how they are always trying to improve education, but they still fall short of where they strive to be. In Anu Partanen’s “Finland’s School Success, What Americans Keep Ignoring” she addresses this issue. She points out what Americans are doing wrong, what Finland is doing right, and how the U.S. can improve the education system in many ways.

The American Education System is not meeting the needs of current students. If anything, the system is not building a sturdy foundation for the future working class. Schools have existed for many years and every period they have worked differently. However, every school’s main purpose was to educate students to be efficacious later in life. Modern day schools are corrupting students with added pressure, standardized tests, making less accommodations for special education students, not following laws, and take away individualism from the students’. The students of modern times are the people of our future and the future does not look too bright with the current American Education System.

The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.

According to Samuel Flam and William Keane authors of Public Schools: Private Enterprise, the definition of privatize is “...the process of turning over to private companies, programs, services and sometimes properties previously operated and/or owned by a government agency” (Flam & Keane, 1997, p.15). Privatizing of a school service is selling a service of the school district to a private company that runs, maintains and keeps up the service. The school district no longer oversees this service and virtually has no control over what they do but outsourcing this service would cut back on the economic spending of the school. A school service is something that students receive that is provided for them in school to enhance their well-being. In the school system, some examples of services that could be outsourced by a private company are school lunches, buses and janitor staff. According to Joe Argon author of Changing of the Guard, “for schools, transportation, food service, HVAC maintenance, computer servicing and printing continue to be the areas privatized most often” (Argon, 1997). The main issue behind this is finding out if privatizing school services does the school district more harm or good and what happens to the services and students after they have been privatized.

Parents send their kids to school thinking that America has the best school in the world. They think wrong. Out of all the countries in the world, we aren't first place in any educational subject. We rank 14th in education, ranks 2nd in ignorance to social statistics (chart shown on image to the right) , 24th in literacy, 17th in educational performance and ranks 11th in fourth grade math.

The United States is shaped by its cultural myths. Cultural myths are widespread views or notions that are held and propagated by a nation to enforce its values. Among the great American cultural myths is the cultural myth of “educational empowerment” (Mann 110). It is the idea that the quantity of schooling is the yardstick of intelligence and the singular predictor of success. The notion that children fed into the machinery of education at an early age will be extruded further along the process equally and efficiently educated. However, like all cultural myths it is misleading, if not outright false. Problems in education throughout American history have made access to a good education difficult, if not

What is it that’s making our country suffer from excelling in education? Very few would argue about the importance of our education system today. Issues such as lazy teachers, lack of parent involvement, and teaching useless information in class may hinder progress in today’s education system. An education plays a crucial role and is an essential tool, unfortunately, with all the jaded judgments; our students are not able to value their education. A proper education can open the doors to many opportunities that would have never been possible if it had not been for the knowledge and preparation that one received while in school. With the growing economy and desperate times, it is more important than ever for our country’s children to receive the proper education and training that is needed to allow them to acquire a good job and produce the revenue needed to live. Today's education system is flawed in many ways, and these flaws should be eliminated to ensure a good education for our future generation.

“30 years ago, America was the leader in quantity and quality of high school diplomas. Today, our nation is ranked 36th in the world.” (Coleman, 2013) In the United States, a debate continues about how to address the issues of the education system. Some conservatives think that it is beneficial to take money away from public schools and provide students with private school vouchers so they can “choose” between private and public schools. While most liberals believe that there is no real choice and that taxpayer money should go toward strengthening our current public schools. Although some Americans see an advantage in the voucher program, I believe the U.S Government should eliminate them entirely because the system violates the separation

The American public has termed education as the “Great Equalizer” after the idea that every United States child should receive an equal education. Looking at how our education system is run, however, we find that the US far from the being “Great Equalizer”. The ineffectiveness of using market choice in education has furthered educational inequality and strengthened the domains of power in the United States. By looking at the business model and market choice we can identify how the business model is being used in education, how it is furthering school segregation, and how it limits the long term success of students. Treating education as a corporation has restrained educations goals of developing inspiration in students and replaced it with the obligation to implement competition.

Have you ever wondered why our country is ranked low in comparison to other countries when it comes to education? Our country is said to be the best country in the world; yet when one takes a closer look on our system, defects are bound to be found. Take a look at our education for instance. We have the least productive schools in the nation. The truth is that the board of education has dumbed down the system due to a decrease in testing averages.