The Importance Of Public Education

With the many diverse characteristics of the Unites States, perhaps the most troubling is the rising gap in the distribution of wealth. As the wealth gap in the United States rises exponentially, the gap in the quality of public schooling rises with it. For a country that prides itself in prestigious outlets of education, the system of public schooling seems to be miserably failing. Public education, a system that some fight to destroy while others fight to preserve, is perhaps the only source of academic opportunity for many individuals living in this country. The fact that someone can live in a certain area and receive a higher quality of public education than someone else living in a different area in the same country—even in the same state—is a problem that should not trouble a ‘progressive’ democratic society. Unfortunately, areas of lower socioeconomic status receive much less funding than areas of higher socioeconomic status, where property taxes account for 45% of funding in public school districts. Naturally, the impoverished residents of poor neighborhoods pay a harsh price in this situation, sending their children to an underfunded school with little to no resources, where sometimes teachers must supply the classroom from their own pocket. As Rogerson and Fernandez note, “a system that allows the accidents of geography and birth to determine the quality of education received by an individual is inimical to the idea of equal opportunity in the marketplace”

Public education is a good that is privileged to everyone in the United States. While education may seem extensive and unnecessary, especially to youth, achieving an education has benefitted people through the history of the U.S., which in turn benefits the U.S.’s welfare. When Thomas Jefferson advocated the opening of public schools in the early 1800s, his plan was only half fulfilled; only wealthy communities could afford public schools (Watson 2). This remained true until the early to mid 1900s, where schooling became accessible for all, regardless of skill level or income. Since the mid 1950s, the U.S. has made tremendous leaps in not only technology, but also in the stabilization of the government and economy; these successes can be attributed to education. If that privilege to learning was no longer given, the U.S.’s development would be lost.

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) over 49.4 million students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools for the 2011-2012 school year. Of these 34.9 will be in prekindergarten through eighth grade and 14.5 will be in grades nine through twelve. An additional 6 million students are expected to attend private schools (NCES, 2012).

From time, immemorial, the United States of America has always valued education. The pioneer settlers in the United States always believed that education promoted and enhanced liberty and as a result they started building schools so that their children and generations to come could become productive citizens. The government during the earliest days set aside great expanses of land in order to create room for setting up schools and finest systems of higher education in the world. Ever since, the education system in the United States has always been among the best in the world and as a result, it has made great advancements economically, technologically, agricultural-wise and in many other sectors. The tradition has continued and today, the United States educates over 54 million students from kindergarten to grade 12 and over 17 million in colleges and universities. The United States government is constantly at work to improve the

As a high school student in 2016, school is a very stressful and important thing. I love education and learning, but school seems to be pushing students away from that. I personally am passionate about American history and politics and I want to study and interpret important pieces of American history such as the Constitution and help the world somehow with that, but I have to instead spend hours on quadratic equations and memorizing every step as to how the cell divides. School is extremely important. If it weren’t for school, then I wouldn’t have found this passion of mine. I was in 8th grade US History class when I did, and it has changed the path I am taking in life. But I think

Despite several decades of reform, public education in the United States is criticized by some as not teaching all children effectively. Consistently poor test results and low graduation rates attest to this. As a result, many taxpayers criticize public schools and demand better results. At the same time, many Americans express a deep faith in the ability of public education to address the needs of the greater society.

There are many fundamental factors of our public education. I think that teachers are the most fundamental factors of our public education because teachers teach us thing we need to know for the future and that helps us get a better career. Technology that we have now is also important. I also got information from other students of what they thought was the most fundamental factor of our public education.

Why is public education essential to democracy? Public education is essential to democracy, because by allowing the lower class to have the same education as the middle and upper class, you are allowing all citizens to be educated enough to make their own decisions and form their own opinion and make a difference in their democracy. Citizens can make a difference by voting, running for offices, and many other ways; however, before they can do these things they must be educated enough to understand and participate in these activities. George Washington initially recognized the importance of public education to be able to sustain the democratic government. Citizens must have a basic concept of how their government is run, the issues

I believe one purpose of public education is to prepare students for life. Public education should provide the knowledge and skills students need to apply outside of school to be a contributing member of society. We need to raise and educate kids to be self-sufficient economically and socially. Public education should provide students an opportunity to develop their social skills, communication skills, and be active problem solvers. I think this purpose of public education drives how schools are formed and governed, but isn’t student-centered. According to Ken Robinson, the public-school system was created to support industrialism and better our economy.

“‘The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves’” (Strauss). Our founding fathers wanted our nation to be an educated nation. There were many who believed that only a chosen should be educated, but there were those who saw education to be more pervasive. During the 1800s Horace Mann revolutionized the ideas with public education; however, today we now face an education system lacking in religious classes, group projects, and outside stimulation.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum in schools is undergoing a revolution in public education. This revolution is sparked by an increase in federal funding over the last decade. Between the years of 2011 and 2015, the federal government alone invested between three and 3.7 billion dollars yearly for STEM education (Johnson, 2012) (White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2014) and new STEM educational instructional strategies (Bruce-Dacis, Gubbins, Gilson, Villanueva, & Foreman, 2014). Despite these new investments and changes, many students are neither enrolling nor excelling in STEM programming, particularly students of color (Museus, Palmer, Davis, & Maramba, 2011). Concurrently, many of the areas of greatest economic opportunity exist in STEM related fields (National Research Council, 2011). In order to overcome the opportunity gap that exists between White students and students of color, it is essential for schools and districts to research and implement best practices related to STEM in classrooms. The practices must not only be based in strong pedagogy and professional awareness, but also include culturally responsive practices both within the classroom and the building (Johnson, Peters-Burton, & Moore, 2016)and development of STEM mentors both in and out of the classroom (Ware & Stein, 2013).

In today’s day and age, public education is outweighed on the scale. Young people don’t see the necessity of moving onto higher education and why should they when they know that a college degree doesn’t guarantee a job in the end. You have a greater chance of being employed if you do indeed have your degree. And sure, you know your stuff but do you have the experience? Do you have the skill to actually do your job? Public education systems are becoming more and more concerned about college and career preparedness and there are already reformations in motion. The current education system is ineffective in preparing today’s students for higher education and their careers and reformation and innovation is necessary to accommodate today’s students to take their places in the real world.

Among the hardest decisions presented to a parent in modern society is the choice of how to properly educate their children. In determining which system is best suited for a child of a particular family, the goals must be understood by each parent and several variables evaluated. Without regard for if a child will be joining the workforce or attending a post-secondary education, one must decide if it is more beneficial to attend public or private school. To determine which system is best, the effects of how an education is provided from both public and private schools will be evaluated in this paper.

Ever since the Declaration of Independence established each American’s right to liberty and equality, a natural conflict between individual self-interest and the general public good has shaped the judgments of this nation’s citizens on the critical issues their democracy faces. Two of these significant issues are the closely related subjects of systemic inequity in education and wealth inequality. The reality of these issues, and the nation’s attempts to address that reality, have resulted in significant consequences for both individual interests and the common good of the nation. In their own individual ways, each issue threatens democracy, the public good, and the interest of individual. The extensive impact of these issues causes many citizens to lose sight of collective goals and creates a political climate in which even positive change is resisted. These critical issues that threaten both collective and individual goals might be somewhat easier to address if Americans took it upon themselves to practice good democratic citizenship through reflecting on the principles upon which this country was founded, employing a publicly-minded perspective, and sacrificing individual interests for the public good when necessary.

“Youth who drop out [of high school] generally experience negative outcomes—unemployment, underemployment, and incarceration.” The inadequacy of our education system disrupts our economic health, and will only progress if nothing changes. “School dropouts report unemployment rates as much as 40% higher than youth who have completed school. Arrest rates are alarming for youth with disabilities who drop out of school— 73% for students with emotional/behavioral disabilities and 62% for students with learning disabilities. More than 80% of individuals incarcerated are high school dropouts (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1995)” (“Students with Disabilities who Drop Out of School—Implications for Policy and Practice”). As evidenced by statistics like these the question isn’t does public education need reform, but as Ken Robinson states in “Changing the Education Paradigms,” “how do we educate our children to take their place in the 21st century?” This at least should be clear: we cannot “meet the future by doing they what did in the past” (2). It’s time for change. For instance, our education system must become more inclusive by acknowledging intelligence and potential in all shapes and sizes. Our tendency to categorize people as either “academic or non-academic [has caused] many brilliant people to think they’re not because they’ve been judge by a particular view of the mind” (Robinson 2). We can all agree that we want to be acknowledged as individuals in