Universal Education by Monet

Universal Education by Monet - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

In five decades, a lot can happen; this is why my ideas should be seen as possible because if we don’t progress in the right direction education, will remain to be seen as a joke in certain places. Regardless of if you agree with these opinions, it doesn’t hurt to think “too big” and then work to find a middle ground that will move education to be better for everyone.
For K-12 education, I think that private schools will continue to exist and remain to be perceived to have better and smarter kids than public school kids. I think that we will see an increase in homeschooling, magnet schools, and charter school enrollments because parents will start to shift in their opinions about public education. Lower-income areas school’s funding will remain too low for public schools to reach a satisfactory level of education for their students. Furthermore, I think with education shifting to being technology-based, we will continue in that trend and keep seeing lower-income communities at a greater disadvantage because in 50 years the problem that is causing this discrepancy will not be fixed. In the classroom, teaching will remain a female-dominated field, and most male teachers will be the coaches for the sports teams. In the class, there will be more collaboration and group work and less focus on an individual's accomplishments, which would be another reason why parents will shift to another form of schooling rather than public education. Even with these changes in how kids are taught, there will always be testing required for kids whether it's a state-mandated test, or a school district's decision to test students to move on to the next grade.
However, in 50 years, I hope that K-12 education will no longer be a privilege or a choice to some but rather universal for everyone who wants it. I, along with many other students, are blessed to receive some form of education here in the United States. While some kids aren’t to go past grade 5 in some third world countries, females of numerous countries are given less education than males. In an article written by Forbes, it is expected that “122 million African people do not finish secondary school — and more than half of them are female.” This is saddening because these developing countries who aren’t educating females are hurting themselves by not teaching the women of their country. After all, with educated women, a country can have a better economy. “For proof, look no further than a 2003 study by UNESCO, which showed that for every year that a country's average years of schooling increases, its long-term economic growth increases by 3.7%.” In an article by Forbes. While I don’t want to say that this won’t happen for education to become universal, it will take a massive change in our world’s view on women. This goal with society's current view towards women and developing countries will require not just world leaders to come together but for us humans to come together and put forth a valiant effort to change the education system for all.
While my thoughts aren’t the end-all-be-all for the future of education, I am hopeful that with the right change in the way we view education and teaching that in 50 years, learning will be an opportunity for everyone young and old.