The Current State of Education
Do you think that America’s education system is flawless? Probably not, but did you know that it might actually be negligently harmful towards the future of America? The current education system is extremely flawed, and is in need of reform. Schools do not teach students how to live in the ‘real world’, instead having kids figure it out for themselves. They do not provide students with skills that will bring them success in life, let alone teaching ‘the future of America’ how to deal with mental health issues that have been on the rise, plaguing this generation and most likely, many more in the future. If the American education system does not change, it will project America towards a bleak future, rife with unthinking, emotionally distraught individuals. This future is not so far away, and the government is not doing enough to stop this dystopia. At the crux of this issue is the current system of education and what it teaches, or rather, what it doesn't teach. Students aren’t taught some of the most important skills in life and it's leading towards a breaking point.
Standardized testing is a type of testing that is used for mass testing of a large group and frequently uses either multiple choice or true/false questions (as they are easier to store in a computer). This is an ineffective method of examination that encourages poor learning techniques such as cramming. Nate Kornell, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles says that “cramming doesn't work. When you study an unfamiliar fact again and again in immediate succession, he says, it feels much better embedded in your memory than it actually is” (Glenn). If cramming doesn't work, then why do people do it so often? People do it so often because that is what standardized testing encourages, knowing a question to fill in a multiple choice question and then forgetting it immediately after the exam. Standardized testing also causes increases of stress, which has created fluctuations of cortisol levels during testing weeks, causing poorer overall performance in tests comparatively to their in classroom abilities. For example, “on average, students had 15 percent more cortisol in their systems… before a standardized test…. Students who showed the largest variations in cortisol… tended to perform worse on tests than expected” (Tatter). This type of testing is proven to have its scores skewed by stress, and favors good test takers over actual learning. Additionally, this basis of examination was, after its creation, immediately used on students with information not taught to them, and then blamed teachers and fired them (“History of Standardized Testing”). Furthermore, having the ability to circle bubbles on a scantron does not equate to teaching a child how to be a functioning adult in society.
Cooperative learning is a teaching method in which students are put into groups and have to figure out how to complete a task and what roles each person will play in completing that task. This type of teaching method is an effective way of teaching students subtle skills that might not be obvious, called soft-skills. “Soft-skills are character traits and interpersonal skills that characterize one’s relationship with other people” and also how they would go about an interaction with them (Kenton). These types of skills help to ‘teach the whole child’, which refers to nurturing all areas of children’s development and learning, which, in turn, prepares them for their futures as members of society. Furthermore, “recent research in neuroscience, developmental and learning sciences, education, sociology, and many other fields confirms that a ‘whole child’ approach is not only desirable but necessary to ensure that children learn well” (Flook). In our current system of education, these important skills and developmental necessities are often left untouched upon. Not only are schools inadequately teaching the whole-child, but they also fail to teach the future-adult.
Up through high school, students aren’t taught how to do their future taxes, nor how to be a parent, and this problem is dangerous. Currently, “There are 36 million adults lacking basic literacy in the United States. Many of them might be considered relics of the industrial age supplanted by an era of knowledge work, but an estimated 12 million are under the age of 35” (“Adult Learning: Building Paths…”). These people that the education system failed tend to have difficulties holding jobs, and struggle to make ends-meet. In a song critiquing the education system, David P. Brown stated, “They say it’s not the kids. The parents are the problem - If you taught the kids to parent that’s the problem solved then” (“Don’t Stay in School”). This shows that there is a demand for being taught how to do things that will affect your future, but schools decide to omit it from their programs. With the lack of future-adult teaching, critical thinking and problem solving are often sidelined in favor of completing the curriculum.
In classes like history, the main method of learning is from mindlessly copying notes and reviewing them later. This kind of learning does not promote critical thinking, nor much thinking at all. Basically, “We need less emphasis on Brain RPM and more focus on Brain Torque. High-quality rigor requires a great deal of Brain Torque. Low-quality rigor requires a great deal of time and repetition, which is Brain RPM” (“Brain Torque”). ‘Brain RPM’ is the rate at which the brain repeats a menial task over and over again, and is like a wheel spinning endlessly in mud, unproductively. The most impactful type of learning would pursue ‘brain torque,’ which is meaningful learning that can deepen our understanding of a subject, have real world application, and even help build character. ‘Brain RPM’ is less important to the future than how many future capabilities your brain can add to society, and how developed you are as a person. Schools need to recognize this. Currently, memorization is more important than problem solving in schools, and although remembering facts can prove useful in further education, that fact does not usually get added upon, rather left as stand alone info. Furthermore, “‘What's the sine of π/2?’ I asked my first-ever trigonometry class. ‘One!’ they replied in unison. ‘We learned that last year.’ So I skipped ahead, later to realize that they didn't really know what ‘sine’ even meant. They'd simply memorized that fact. To them, math wasn't a process of logical discovery and thoughtful exploration. It was a call-and-response game” (Orlin). When our system of education focuses more on menial trivia questions than emotional discharge and healthy coping, no wonder social media is the cesspool of mental disorders and depression it is today.
“Social and Emotional Learning is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions” (“Social Emotional Learning -”). This type of learning is crucial for the development of capable individuals who will be able to accomplish and achieve more than those who do not receive this type of education. The lack of this type of education is evident in social media, as cancel culture runs rampant, and damages communities. Evidently, “Cancel culture is rudderless, a series of spontaneous disruptions with no sequential logic, lacking any official apparatus to enact or enforce a policy or creed” (Mishan). Without a means to guide this all-consuming wave of hate, trials of the people become less about what actually happened, and more about what the mass is feeling about the situation at a certain time, even without all, or sometimes, any proof of the act they are cancelling a person for. Nowadays, people are all too quick to get caught up in this turbulent tsunami of negativity, and get upset over something that might not even actually make them feel that way through an objective lens. In 1984, Hate Week was a period of time in which an entire mass of people would stand in front of a telescreen and fully direct their anger at a person (Orwell 180). Big Brother used these weeks to control the people emotionally, and it worked incredibly well. In real life, this is portrayed in the form of mob mentality, where the subconscious thought of “if the group feels a certain way, they must be right,” influences people.
Overall, the way the current system of education is run is helping to establish a future in which Orwell’s fears are the root fear of living. If these harmful practices are kept in place, and left unchanged, the future is sure to be a dreary one, filled with even more strife, inequalities, and struggles.
Works Cited
“Adult Learning: Building Paths to a Better Future - EdSurge Guides.” EdSurge, 12 Jan. 2015, www.edsurge.com/research/guides/adult-learning-building-paths-to-a-better-future. Accessed 25 Jan. 2022.
"Brain Torque." Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 91, no. 5, Feb. 2010, p. 80. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A219589870/ITOF?u=bocesnas12&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d7c4c8fd. Accessed 20 Dec. 2021.
“Don’t Stay in School.” YouTube, uploaded by Boyinaband - Topic, 3 Feb. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAT7vCptPC0.
Ferlazzo, Larry. “‘Memorization Often Comes without Understanding’ (Opinion).” Education Week, 30 July 2020, www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-memorization-often-comes-without-understanding/2020/07.
Flook, Lisa. “Four Ways Schools Can Support the Whole Child.” Greater Good, 23 Apr. 2019, greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/four_ways_schools_can_support_the_whole_child.
Glenn, David. "Why Cramming Doesn't Work." The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Vol. 53, No. 40, 8 June 2007. Gale General Onefile, Link.Gale.Com/Apps/Doc/A164526461/Itof?U=Bocesnas12&Sid=Bookmark-Itof&Xid=Ddc0b90c. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
“History Of Standardized Testing.” History Of Standardized Testing | Lehigh University College Of Education, Lehigh University College Of Education, 18 Oct. 2013, Https://Ed.Lehigh.Edu/News-Events/News/History-Standardized-Testing.
Kenton, Will. “Soft Skills.” Investopedia, 13 Dec. 2021, www.investopedia.com/terms/s/soft-skills.asp#:~:text=Soft%20skills%20are%20character%20traits.
Mishan, Ligaya. “The Long and Tortured History of Cancel Culture.” New York Times, 3 Dec. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/t-magazine/cancel-culture-history.html.
Orlin, Ben. “When Memorization Gets in the Way of Learning.” The Atlantic, The Atlantic, 10 Sept. 2013, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/when-memorization-gets-in-the-way-of-learning/279425/.
Orwell, George. 1984. 1949. Harlow, Pearson Education, 8 June 1949.
“Social Emotional Learning -.” Www.oakland.k12.Mi.us, www.oakland.k12.mi.us/educators/district-and-school-services/school-culture-and-climate/social-emotional-learning#:~:text=Social%20and%20emotional%20learning%20(SEL. Accessed 25 Jan. 2022.
Tatter, Grace. “Tests And Stress Bias.” Harvard Graduate School Of Education, Harvard Graduate School Of Education, 12 Feb. 2019, Https://Www.Gse.Harvard.Edu/News/Uk/19/02/Tests-And-Stress-Bias.