The Dream I Wish Others Would Dream by Tayana

The Dream I Wish Others Would Dream by Tayana - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

Education is one of the most important institutions in our society. In the United States every citizen is required to obtain some level of education. I dream that fifty years from now education will be more accessible and available for all students, and teachers will have more respect and recognition for their work. The current education system in the United States is horrible. The proof is in the PISA and Adult literacy results. PISA or Programme for International Student Assessment, assesses multiple countries’ 15-year-olds and their abilities in mathematics, reading, and science and compares them to the countries across the world. According to the assessment in 2018, the US is 37th in mathematics, 18th in science, 13th in reading, and 25th overall. Similarly, the National Assessment on Adult literacy (NAAL) found that only 13% of their population was proficient in reading prose, document, and overall quantitive literacy. Being said with the failure of the current educational system, I dream that in the future education will be far better than the current state in the U.S.

By 2070 I hope that across the entire states and in every developed country, there will be an equal academic opportunity for all. In the United States, there is a huge discrepancy in the level of education depending on the community. Children who live in more impoverished areas tend to go to public schools that have a failing status. Whereas a child living a more economically superior area will have access to better public schools and or private schools. Fifty years from now I dream that there will be an increased importance towards education, and that all students will have access to a quality education. Not just in the United States, but across the world education for all students of every race, gender, and economic background can obtain a good education.

In addition to that, I also hope that in fifty years higher education will be more accessible. I believe that at a minimum undergraduate education should be free at all public institutions. As we continue through the years the stem field and more specialized jobs are becoming more and more in demand. However if we don’t give everyone access to obtaining that level of education there will be a continuous educational gap among economic levels. Once we allow all persons to pursue higher education, we can expand the country and produce more Americans that will enter those high educationally demanding fields.

I also hope in the future that teachers will be able to get merit-based pay. Under the Teachers union or FTA, teachers are not allowed to receive a bonus for their work. Similarly, the tenure system in education is very flawed. This system was first put in place so that a teacher couldn’t be unreasonably fired. However, this system has caused the dance of the lemons. Lemon is the term used to describe teachers that are not performing on the same level as the rest of the staff. These teachers aren’t “bad”, they just are no longer motivated to continue the work they provided years prior. They no longer feel the necessity to provide educational value for the schools, and what’s worst is that they cannot be fired by principles without a difficult process. So the end result is that principles trade these teachers for other tenures hoping that they are slightly better. This dance has been danced for entirely too long. Students are being deprived of a solid education because of this tenure process. Students should be able to receive a solid education, and teachers should be required to teach according to a certain standard, regardless of tenure status. In the future I want the process of tenure to be a lot harder to obtain, and that current teachers should be able to receive merit-based pay. With bonuses on the table, the teacher will put more incentive to work harder. Additionally, teachers that put so much more effort into their job will be awarded. In 50 years I hope that FTA will realize that its actions to limit corruption and favoritism among teachers is causing teachers to not receive the pay that they deserve.

By the year 2070 I dream that education will be at its prime and sustain the growth of all students. That teachers will be able to get paid for all their hard work, and that education will finally be accessible and equal to all those learning. Education is the most important thing to enable the future growth of a country. As we move forward in the decade the funding and importance of education should be a high demand. It should be without question that education should be of the same quality and accessibility to all students. Fifty years from now I am optimistically hoping that across the world, these values of education will be put in place. Having an impact on education changes the minds and growth of future generations. The more knowledge we are able to give, the more return will get.