Overview of the Currrent American Public Education System

Overview of the Currrent American Public Education System

American Public Education
The American public education system is constantly being re-evaluated and scrutinized to try to make things better for future generations of students. Many think that by leveling the playing field for all, this will solve the problems of low test scores, drop-outs, and “failures”, by which we have come to know them. Since its inception, our nation has been striving for equal opportunity in every aspect of our lives, though most of the time we fall short, and also short of equal results. The latter is to be expected. The cornerstone of a capitalistic society, whether in the professional or educational world, is competition, and in that vein we must ask ourselves: “What is the goal of public education?” I believe that the purpose of education is to better equip young people to succeed in the world that awaits them, a world that invariably rewards certain talents and behaviors, and quite often not others. Consequently, I cannot agree entirely with the generalized statement above.
This notion, that students should be evaluated based on skills and talents that they already possess, by virtue of their background or any other matrix, seems akin to the ideas of “social promotion.” This is an idea that I cannot support. I believe that by advancing children who do not meet certain standards, we are actually doing a greater disservice to them. In fact, if we truly want to level the playing field, we must do a better job of holding children accountable to the minimum standards already in place. With few exceptions, all students must master a certain level of proficiency in the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic to succeed, or even function rather, beyond primary schooling. This is a universal truth regardless of individual backgrounds and cultural differences. With this in mind, separate or subjective grading scales that depend on such differences are not warranted. When everyone is special, no one is special, and when...

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