Overcoming the Flaws of the American Education System by Ariel

Overcoming the Flaws of the American Education System by Ariel - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

Lecture. Cram. Test. Repeat. That is the ever-going cycle of the American education system. You continue this cycle until you abandon the controlled system of standardized tests and syllabi for the real world, the world that doesn’t validate your self-esteem through your test scores and your ability to memorize facts. Now, you must solve real problems without a study guide or a syllabus because face it, there is no “cramming” for life. But, don’t worry you have about twenty years of education under your belt, so you are very well prepared for this. Right?
Yes, this is the reality of education today. It is flawed, but it is the best that we have. But there is still hope for the future. Technology is advancing every day, and so is science, and math, and literature. Still, the education system put in place to learn these subjects seems to be at a standstill. But, in the span of fifty years, a lot can change. It just depends on the route we take in the effort to change it.
On one hand, we could continue through the cycle of preparing students for standardized tests by giving them facts to memorize. In doing so, we would see the gradual development of higher test scores, which would lead to more difficult tests and more rigorous learning environments; this would go on until study methods evolved and students found easier ways to memorize information. But, the issue with this line of reasoning is that students would only acquire knowledge and not skills. In some cases, factual knowledge is great, but in many careers, problem-solving skills are just as important. We could also see a decrease in the value of artistic ability as the value of factual knowledge increased. So, music, painting, and even the presence of coloring books in elementary classrooms would become obsolete because they take away from the fact-based learning needed for standardized testing. In this future society, students would begin to lean less on their own creativity and rely more on their ability to cite those who were capable of doing so. In the hopes of preparing students for college and eventually careers, we would lose a focus on individuality in the mass of class rankings and AP scores that are mainly based on the ability to relate factual information. At the end of fifty years we would see amazing test scores, but we would also see a lack of independent students who are able to face various conflicts in their respective fields.
On the other hand, we could recreate our entire education system to focus more on individual students and their different capabilities. In this future, teaching methods would develop beyond simplistic notes and powerpoints, and they would focus on visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning. This would give students a better chance of retaining information that they would learn in the classroom, because it would be applicable to a variety of students. Beyond the traditional classroom, developments in technology would allow for virtual simulation-based learning in more career based courses. For instance, there are already mechanical simulators created for medical students that allow them to use medical equipment without the risk of harming themselves or anyone else. This same technology could be used in everyday classrooms in the forms of virtual reality headsets. Of course, this would only be possible through an extreme reevaluation for funding in the education system, but schools are receiving better devices of technology as technology advances. So, if technology continues to advance as rapidly as it does today, this idea of virtual reality simulators being in everyday classes may not seem as far-fetched. Also, with the presence of more interactive learning, lectures would become less of a norm in classrooms, and students would be more likely to retain information. They would also help students to gain necessary problem-solving skills. The students’ retaining of information at a faster rate would decrease the egregious amount of studying that students partake in today. This seems like a utopian view of education in fifty years, but it’s not as extreme as one would think. It was only about fifty years ago that schools were still developing from a long history of segregation, which seemed extremely drastic to people then. One may have never guessed how developed the education system would become.
Since fifty years is almost incomprehensible to me at eighteen years of age, it is difficult for me to guess what the future of education will look like in that time span. But, I am hopeful that it will stray from its tendency to act as a means to getting a grade, and become an environment for learning useful skills and challenging students to be creative when solving problems.