When High School Is Bad

Over the course of many years, several things have changed, including technology, science, and people; however, our culture and idea of education have not. Some of these problems include teachers that are not being as valued as they should be and students who are changing both physically and mentally, but are still not being supported by our education system. The education system itself is also problematic as well, but it can be fixed with a change in our culture. Teachers and students are the base of the education system, and by not helping them, the system is not helping itself. Students are gaining new emotions and viewpoints, but the education system has had a hard time keeping up, even teachers are changing but are still undervalued.

Prince EA, a motivational filmmaker, poet, and speaker, made a YouTube video about the United States education system, he opens with a quote from Albert Einstein that states, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” To put this into perspective, standardized tests represent the tree and students represent the fish. Most students don’t process information in the same way. In Fact, it’s widely accepted that different approaches to learning have numerous advantages to stimulate

Typically gifted and talented programs are intended to challenge fast pace learners and recognize their special abilities, however the innocuous separation between peers can prevent other students’ talents from being acknowledged and advanced. While the gifted and talented students are applauded for their intellectual capabilities and natural talents, other students are labeled as average or less skilled. Placement into these programs are rooted from the results of standardized testing, which students and teachers spend a great amount of time preparing for. Preparation for these exams alter the curriculum and objective for learning all together. Some education systems seem to focus more on teaching to test rather than teaching to educate. In Cathy Davidson essay, “Project Classroom Makeover,” she explores how there should be more emphases on the relevance, relationship and rigor in the classroom and how this can teach students more efficiently and improve our school. Within the past 15 years, advancements in technology alone theoretically have created new prospective ways of learning, therefore standardized testing may be an inadequate method of testing students’ talents and abilities. Because each student’s future is so heavily weighted on their performance throughout grade school, education systems should have a well-rounded system in place that allows students to support and learn from each other rather than creating a divide between the strong versus the poor test

In the 1970’s Finland was not at the top of the education chain, in fact their education system was doing poorly (NEA). Finland has been changing their education system over the past 35 years to make their education system better. They have changed their education system to become very successful. When looking at the differences between the United States education system and Finland education system has obvious differences between the testing, the paths for the students to take, time management during school hours, and the environment of the classroom.

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

For many years the school system in Finland has been very successful. In the PISA survey, which compares reading, math and science knowledge of 15 year olds around the world, Finland is not only the top European country but also competes with Asian giants like Shanghai, Singapore and South Korea. But what makes the educational system in this small country so strikingly different from others in the western world.

That is one reason why students who are labeled as “geeks or nerds” do good in school and student who are labeled as “street smarts” do worse in school. The students who are labeled as street smarts struggle in school because what is being taught is not something they can relate to or find interest in. Those students who struggle in school are not “stupid” or “lazy” they have a form of intellectualism that need to be developed.  Students can’t be judged because they are having trouble  succeeding in school when it's the school's fault for not trying to reach the students who are labeled as street smart just the ones who are labeled as “geeks” or “nerd”.

Recently, I read an article called “America Hates Its Gifted Kids”. This article is about how America; one of the greatest economical leaders in the world, is lacking substantially in educational intelligence. The country is also treating its gifted kids with little to no courtesy when it comes to education. The author, Chris Weller, has been a reporter for many different publishing businesses and likes to focus his reports mainly on how different worlds overlap. He talks about how the United States educational system focuses more on helping their lowest scoring children reach the minimal standards, while it is also taking away valuable time from the higher scoring children. I agree with Chris Weller entirely; The education system today takes

Finland has a different mindset on education, after the world war they came together as a society and determined that the best way to rebuild their society economically is to improve education for all. Instead of segregating students based on socioeconomic backgrounds, they focus on providing education for every

A fifth grader may come in at a “second-grade level” and graduate at a “fourth-grade level,” which is a tremendous achievement on the part of the educators; however, because standardized testing fails to account for such circumstances, the entire year would be seen as a failure from the perspective of the state (Berger). To put it crudely, “poor schools can’t win at standardized testing” because students in areas of poverty start school academically behind and are unable to catch up as there is the lack of resources and funding (Broussard). On the other extreme, gifted students are also hurt by attempts to standardize education, for instance, with the No Child Left Behind Act, an act that many say has “failed our adolescents” (Steinberg). Teachers say that the legislation has resulted in a “race to the middle” that means “talented students have their potential squandered” as schools “[don’t] foster growth” (Weller). In effect, standardization attempts to remove individuality from learning and ignores that students have different capacities for learning, that some students may need more help while others need to be challenged above their grade level - instead it averages it all out to a “standard” that harms both

The current generation is extremely fortuitous to have so many advancements in life, as technology for example. Yet, although advancements with all the technology is seen as a positive impact, it in fact is a major flaw on the society's education. The current generation often disregards what is happening to the education system and feels there is no effect on them as a community. The education system is slowly deteriorating in the way that it is no longer preparing students for the world of work, nor creating critical thinkers with decent moral values, and as well as not teaching students to be life long-thinkers and successful citizens (Venturini). In this way, the education system is creating a generation of obliviousness.

Prince EA, a motivational filmmaker, poet, and speaker, made a YouTube video about the United States education system, he opens with a quote from Albert Einstein that states, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” To put this into perspective, standardized tests represent the tree and students represent the fish. Most students don’t process information in the same way. In Fact, it’s widely accepted that different approaches to learning have numerous advantages to stimulate

Finland and america both have good education but both don’t spend the same proportion of the money on the schools because Finland spends 7% of the money on it but America only spends about 6% of the money on

Imagine you are a new kid at school. You are overweight, you have no friends, and your grades are bad. How would you feel if you were that child? You would feel depressed. Any child who has to go through that should not have to.

Education a hundred years ago is far different from the education today. Each generation is exposed to more and more information. This information needs to be processed and delivered to individuals. Education is the vehicle to do this. Reading, Writing and arithmetic will always be the backbone to education. However, education must also look at society and determine what more is needed to do. In our society today, computer and AIMS testing are the main focal point. Over ten years ago, high school students were being exposed to the use of the computer. Today in the 21st Century, children in kindergarten are receiving the necessary information to become computer literate. Without education keeping its eyes on what is happening in society, the next generation will be left behind. Education is the eyes and ears for society. The young people in schools are receiving