English Composition ll
Hello..My name is Brandon Ma.
There are many things that I would like to discuss today regarding America. One of the things I will talk today is something that everyone of you should went through in your life….and it’s our education system. Growing up as students, everyone has the same curriculum to follow and it’s hardly changed in these past years. The America’s education system can be very competitive among students that want to achieve better in college but are uncertain what they are passionate about. The American education system should adopt some policies from all around the world, but specifically things that worked well in Finland’s education.
The first topic that I will discuss is what America has implemented from the “early 1900’s” which  is the standardized testing. One of the many thing that students get anxiety over which is the testing. According to Big Think “Finland has no standardized tests. Their only exception is something called the National Matriculation Exam, which is a voluntary test for students at the end of an upper-secondary school (equivalent to an American high school)”. Students should not be studying and getting stressed until the standardized test or even the SAT just to get a good score so people they know would be proud. Not everyone is capable of doing well in tests and while there are others who can do well but does poorly in school. This can relate to discrimination in our society because if a student was not able to achieve certain expectations, thus these students tend to be neglected.
[My story]
Growing up has been challenging for the first 12 years of my life in public schooling. Why would this matter?
[Pause]
For most of my life, I was in public education and I never felt learning was something that I can be passionate about. Standing here now, I’m afraid of running out of time before it’s too late.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do from an early age and all I’ve done up to know is study the main curriculum to pass these upcoming test like the common core, standardized test, and SAT test.
Here I am in college, being penalized by Excelsior Scholarship Program in college. The reason was changing my major and an elective that I previous took does not transfer over. This can be very frustrating for me personally because I still don’t know what I can be passionate about.
Now I’m worried about running out of time before it’s too late.
[Introduction]– Moving onto our next topic, is student’s interest going to school.
Not everyone likes to go to school and attend class especially at the end of the day, they get piles of homework. According to the website The Big Think, “students in Finland have the least amount of outside work and homework than any other student in the world(qtd.Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)). The students of Finland may not worry about stressing over homework that is due the next day and is able to relax. While America gets a lot of homework, and students worry if they can maintain still be motivated to go to school.
[Story]
In my high school no one liked to sit in class and learn.The environment was very rebellious and causing all teachers being irritated everyday. Whenever students were given homework, not everyone completes them. This led to the teachers giving less homework or little to no homework at all. On top of that all, the students in my class was always distracting others in class and teachers when they are not getting personalized treatment to help them learn.
[Transition] The education system we have today may not be ideal in some ways but it can be improved.
[Introduction]While education had worked well in Finland, America still struggle to follow the trend. According to the website The Big Think, “There are fewer teachers and students in Finnish schools. You can’t expect to teach an auditorium of invisible faces and breakthrough to them on an individual level”. This clearly shows how Finland has small classes because of that students are more focused in class and interested to learn. However America still has its overcrowding in schools causing students not want to learn. I would like to talk about American University School of Education, and their mission “is to create knowledge and prepare students to transform societies through education.” The American University talked about, “Acknowledge and address overcrowding”. This often lead to students losing interest in schools, less personal support, and more stress between teachers and students. This shows that America should change some policies like effects of overcrowding schools.
[My story]
In my high school, the teachers felt out of place. The students never wanted to learn because of that they often distract other classmates and even the teacher. While the teacher can’t remove the student from the class, even if they are distracting is not a great solution.
One of the most common thing that is happening to our very classrooms is overcrowding. According to School of Education
[Conclusion]
Not everything can be changed overnight but as a society, we can change things little by little. There should be more personalized care for students in school, not everyone learns the same way or students are able to understand the material. Thank you for listening and you should be one to help education be better even if you’re a parent or a student.
Works Cited
“5 Ways Policy Makers Can Improve the Quality of Education.” American University School of Education, soeonline.american.edu/blog/5-ways-policy-makers-can-improve-the-quality-of-education#first.
Colagrossi, Mike. “10 Reasons Why Finland’s Education System Is the Best.” Big Think, Big Think, 7 Feb. 2019, bigthink.com/mike-colagrossi/no-standardized-tests-no-private-schools-no-stress-10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-in-the-best-in-the-world.
Helsinki, Visions of. “Why Finland Has the Best Education System in the World.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Sept. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHHFGo161Os.
