Education Now and In 50 Years by BreAnn

Education Now and In 50 Years by BreAnn - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

During the process of learning, we choose to take information and apply it to our lives in any way we can or we can also choose to never apply it to our lives at all, but what is common among both is the fact that after learning something that matters to someone and parts of their life, they use the information to make themselves a better version of what they were. I believe that just like this, education will also become better, if state boards become cognizant of the issues present and if the state’s legislature can choose to rise above politics and understand where and why problems in the education system need to be fixed before the system becomes visibly worse. Learning from mistakes and making decisions that are best for the students that want and dream to go to a good school and potentially have a chance at higher education are highly sought after for people who want to improve. I believe that with the right goals and the right amount of knowledge that it would take to improve the education system would not only be beneficial to the students but to the state governments and their representation among the national quota. In the next fifty years, education will hopefully look vastly different than what it does now for the sake of the students attending school, their concerned parents, and the states for which it affects the most.
Today, education lacks funding which is why many schools are underfunded for certain programs and this applies to more than “90 percent of K-12 schools” in the United States. Schools are funded by state funds that allow them to use the money for certain events, however, the funds are largely from state income taxes and sales taxes which vary from state to state which can be an issue when establishing an effective overall education system that applies to everyone. In addition, since the recession of 2008 many states have not fully recovered the funding which leads to deeper tax cuts. It is said that “ on average 47 percent of K-12 education funding comes from state revenue, while the local government provides 45 percent” and the government only provides 8 percent and with that, if state funding is cut, half of the revenue is cut from school spending. Low-income families and their students have trouble attending school in areas where funding is cut and the cycle of living is repeated. Teachers, even with one of the most important jobs in the United States, are drastically underpaid for their work. Another issue that is becoming more prevalent, especially since the presence of the pandemic over the virus COVD-19, is how much the education system and the politics is willing to change, only if it has to and if it is in the light where everyone can see what is going on. With the transition of many students going online, “it brings to attention the fact that there are still families who are not able to have internet”, disabilities can be supported though schools have chosen not to, and many tests like the SAT and ACT as well as STAAR that determine a students ability to attend certain schools are driven by money and power over student choice.

The key to a better future in education is to understand and realize that there needs to be a way for all students to have a chance to succeed without being predicted to fall. A way for students to learn without feeling like the only thing that matters is turning in a grade and not feel waged against each other for the same education. I hope to believe that fifty years from now, students will be better-taken care of with more funding available through the unity of state tax and government spending. Thus given more opportunity for growth and a new-found responsibility to get an education, especially those from low-income backgrounds and first-generation families. I also hope that the curriculum challenges students to actually learn from their teacher instead of relying on simply completing the grade and relying on making a certain score to prove worth. Education, with a lot of work, can become student based and teach students life skills that most curriculums look past. As a country who prides itself at being the best in many things compared to other countries, the United States choosing to improve the education system will reap the reward and in return produce more of the greatest and most creative minds the world may ever see. Having that hope is what I see for the future, not just for students like me going through the process, but also those who will soon go through.

Works Cited

“Impact of COVID-19 on College Admission and Testing.” Compass Education Group, 2020
Compass Education Group, 23 Apr. 2020,
www.compassprep.com/impact-of-covid-19-on-testing/.

Bossart, Michele. “State Income Tax by State (with Map).” Patriot Software, 2020 Patriot
Software, 13 Mar. 2020,
www.patriotsoftware.com/blog/payroll/overview-state-income-tax/.

Barrington, Kate. “The 15 Biggest Failures of the American Public Education System.” Public
School Review, Public School Review, 2 May 2019, www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/the-15-biggest-failures-of-the-american-public-education-system.