Go or Stay: The Current Stagnation of Education and The Need For Evolution by Christopher

Go or Stay: The Current Stagnation of Education and The Need For Evolution by Christopher - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

When people were asked how they thought the world would be like in 20 years, they would probably respond with things such as robot helpers, flying cars, holographic displays- in other words- not the blobs sitting in front of screens that we are these days. While it's nice to think that education will take a turn for the better in the coming 50 years, it is unlikely to do so. The funding for American education is dismally small, has a lack of proper education on important life skills, such as the large portion of schools that still teach only abstinence, and many other problems lying in stagnation, it's safe to say that a bigger, brighter school system is far away. There is much to be done to be able to reach the lofty visions we set for our children's education.

The first development that must be made is the increase in funding for our public schools. Too long has our education system been grossly underfunded, leading to decrepit rooms, unappetizing lunches, and ancient education styles and technology. Private schools see much better results, but most of America cannot afford to take their children to them due to the cost, so rather than saying our education is fine and pointing at these schools for an example, we should try to raise the bar so schools of those qualities are the standard rather than the exception. This lack of funding is mainly caused by the distribution of taxes, which is heavily weighed to funding the military and, while that is a valid place, we should move some of that funding towards our education system. Some may disagree with this opinion but the arguments of benefits from this are innumerable. We already have the largest military and by educating our children better we can have a better economy which will in turn increase our economy which increases our tax money- creating more money to invest in other places, such as the military.

So, how does the hypothetical school system look like in 50 years with the improved funding? With the increase of funding, schools can hire more staff to help- from more teachers to minimize class size to reasonable numbers to more janitors to help keep the schools much cleaner. Aside from that schools will be able to host more classes thanks to the new teachers- reintroducing Home EC, Mechanics, and other important yet lost classes back into the education of our children so that these valuable life skills can be taught to our youth. Students will have a much more enjoyable time at school too. Not only will the school’s Wi-Fi be infinitely faster but with an improved cafeteria in each school along with a broader range of classes, school will become less of a daily slog and more liberal and fun with classes that tailor more to individual’s tastes such as a class specifically for debate or music theory. This broad spectrum of classes will each be hosted by individual teachers that are professionals in each subject and, thanks to the smaller class sizes, can be more in-depth and personal as the teachers have more time to be able to get to know each individual student. Schools would be cleaner, healthier, and better at preparing their students for life in the real world.

That idea, however, is all in the hypothetical and sadly unlikely to happen. Why don’t we see what our education might look if things keep going the way they are now? Let’s start with the obvious. More cuts to education funding. Sure, it would be nice if the government stops but just by looking at the history of school funding, it is more likely to be cut again despite the small amount remaining at the pitiful level it is at now. Even in the best case scenario the most we can hope for is that our education stagnates and remains the same as it is now. What is more likely, however, is the continual cutting of things out of the education system. Much like the cutting of cursive, and many elective classes, more classes and valuable lessons will be cut for being “unnecessary”. Take Acting for example. This course will be sure to get cut in the culling- not many people become successful actors. But, without that class, we might have never have had Benedict Cumberbatch and many other actors. Without the Awkwafinas or Cumberbatches of the world we would lose out on many exciting and entertaining pieces of media. The Good Place, Marvel movies, media like these would never be made again.

While it is nice to think our education system would get better, that hope is sadly just a hopeful dream rather than the depressing reality we live in. If we continue to ignore what has been going on in our education system what we know now will be the goal rather than the minimum for the kids in the future. While some may write in this essay about how great schools will be, the sad truth of it is that all of that is unlikely without improving the funding of our schools- something that our government seems to have a distaste for. Maybe we will be able to look back at this and simply consider these times as the dark times for education but at this rate our dark days may only be getting darker.