Juan Tax
Douglas LaTourette
ENG 1101
September 26, 2021
Flaws In Our Education
Have you ever heard that education it’s important to succeed in life? It is true that education is important for everyone since it can give people a lot of opportunities. Although education is important, there are many people who are starting to hate it because there are some flaws in the education system. School is not that easy, especially if you do not fully understand the language. Students are expected to learn every subject and have good grades. Classwork can be hard, that some of us thought that there might be something wrong with us. Nowadays schools feel that it is just about grades and competition, which can be unfair because there are students that are “gifted” and people have the money to pay for prestigious schools and tutors while the rest of students are being pressured by parents and teachers to get good grades and be the best at everything to be successful in life. Students are forced to learn subjects that are not going to be useful in life and most spend a lot of time studying just to get an A on a test which could have caused stress. For these reasons many studies are starting to dislike school
As students we are expected to be the best at everything, to bring an “A” at home, and make our parents proud. In reality, school can be difficult, and getting an A can be impossible for some of us. My first year of middle school was not easy, I did not understand anything. I remember staying up until 3:00 am just to finish a project. I wanted to get a good grade because that is what my parents expected from me. When I got my grade I was disappointed because I did not get the grade that I was expecting and when I saw the talented student get a good grade it made me feel that I was not good enough. Weeks went by with me not understanding anything. I was losing my confidence with every passing day, and my grades were so bad that I felt like a failure. I have worked hard and now I can get good grades. Seeing other people struggle makes me think that there is something wrong with our education because students have to compete with talented students which makes us feel that we are not capable of succeeding in life also we can feel the pressure from our parents telling us that we are not good enough and that we are not even trying even though we are doing our best, feeling disappointed can come in the form of giving up on goals, ambitions, and passions because students do not believe that any of these are worth pursuing. If schools make us feel disappointed there are greater chances for a student to drop out.
Certain subjects such as math shouldn’t be that complicated. Students should be given a choice to take deeper math classes or any subject. Forcefully teaching a subject that we don’t like is going to destroy our motivation because we could feel dumb. This means that a lot of motivation and imagination are being wasted. I was taught that math it’s everywhere and I would need it in real life but I have never used it since I finished High school. I remember “breaking my head” every night to learn important equations like the Pythagorean theorem, however I have never used it and many of my friends haven’t used it. This makes me feel that all of my efforts were worthless because I learned something that would not be useful. The high school system should emphasize personal development while introducing specific technical skills that students are willing to learn. High School students should be taught basic daily life tasks such as opening credit cards, maintaining their credit, and expending their wealth via passive income such as investments or properties. At the same time they should also be taught how to manage their taxes, bills, and monthly expenses. Schools focus on memorization, forcing students to remember as much information as possible. Instead of real-world skills, the education system focuses on furthering academic achievement which is not going to be that helpful in the future.
I always studied for the SAT because teachers told me that it was one of the most important tests in High School. I was trying my best to get at least 1300. I was not good with math and I’m still learning English. It was impossible to get that score that I was hoping for. I realize that standardized testing can be unfair because people like me who didn’t learn English at a young age might struggle with it. This causes me to get a low score. The SAT’s main focus is math and English which can be a problem to many of us since some people are not good at math or English which can cause a lower grade meaning that there are higher chances that students can not get accepted in their dream college. Getting a low score does not mean we are not suited for college because a test can not define what we are capable of doing. If a student performs poorly on a standardized test, they can face increased pressure from their parents and peers to do better and be “smarter.” This can lead to students resenting learning and believing that they are worse than everyone else because of their low scores. “Short-term stress lasting as little as a few hours can impair brain-cell communication in areas associated with learning and memory, researchers have found. Problems with cognitive functioning (being unable to concentrate or learn as well as you normally would).” (Davis, Ben) Standardized tests are thought to be fair because every student takes the same test but it fails to account for variables such as language, learning disabilities and others. Making standardized tests unfair to many students. Also can affect our mental health and giving up our education.
School is difficult and every student can not understand everything that is being taught and if students are struggling we as a class should help and make sure that everyone understands at the main points of a lesson, also teachers should provide extra help for students and make lessons that can be both beneficial to the talented student and the student that is struggling. To have a better learning environment our education system should be less demanding and more interesting so students would learn better. The education system should not grade a student based on how well they can memorize information for a test, rather it should prepare students for our careers and real life situations.
Cited Work
Davis, Ben. “Home.” Mvorganizing.org, 31 May 2021, https://www.mvorganizing.org/how-does-stress-create-a-barrier-to-learning/.
