How Our School System is Failing Our Children, Opinion Based

It’s no surprise America ranks poor among the rest of the world in educational achievements. Is it me or are our children getting dumber? I’m no expert but my research on our educational system added to the fact that I work within the public school system gives me some insight. For added measure I have a teenage son, if you have one you possibly understand the joys of parenting and education.

Maybe it’s that we no longer are fortunate to come from a household where a parent stays home to look after the children while the other provides financial stability for all. Maybe it’s what our children are fed both literally and through the media or maybe it’s our outdated system of learning. I’d say it’s a combination of many factors, nonetheless I see that our children are being failed by the public school system. Social promotion is still very much a thing, you know where they pass a child just because they like them or to meet “numbers”. The threat of closing schools down who do not meet graduation requirements is very real. Currently I work in a school facing such a dilemma... the remedy... group the failing children and assign them to a select few teachers who are under strict orders to pass the child or else.

School is pretty outdated, at least the method of teaching is. You’d think with all the advancements in society and technology that education would follow suite, but I don’t really see that happening. Children are too distracted by technology and the media. They have easy access to a vast amount of information... why are we still teaching them that Columbus founded America?!? As we should know by now, he did not! What I see daily is teenagers who are ill prepared for the world.

Teach our children basic life skills, why are these not courses our children are required to take? Teach them how to get a state ID and bank account, to balance their finances, basic accounting applied to daily life transactions. Teach them how to dress for success and interview, how to speak proper English where words like “bae and shmoney” are not viewed as actual words. For the love of all things good, teach them how to formulate a proper sentence, the difference between their, there and they’re. In a society that has advanced technologically the way we have and continue to do so, teaching should advance too. The biggest complaint I hear from kids is that they are bored by what they are being taught. I think it’s more the method in which the teaching is done. Very few people will be engaged by an instructor who stands in front of a group and just dictates, kids need hands on learning. They need to be taught real world things they will use upon graduating. Unless mathematics/numbers is a career of choice I highly doubt that trigonometry would matter much. Teach them different languages by exploring that particular culture. Teach them to think outside the box, that not everything follows a strict pattern and way of thinking. Teach our children the advancing technological world where our current fiat currency can be replaced by digital currency one day. Even if it doesn’t happen completely, it teaches them to think bigger. Teach them what blockchain is and how it is developing into one of those “super weapons” that could advance society. School does teach you discipline, the basics of writing and spelling (even though that seems to be declining from what I can see since children now think gonna is acceptable for saying going to when speaking properly), it gives you structure in the sense of waking up early showing up somewhere and applying yourself, but there’s just a lackluster effect to it for too many children. The top students in the best science high schools in NYC are children who are not born in this country. It is absolutely amazing for them, I just use this as an example to show that our children are not exactly succeeding academically in fields of importance. I never take away from anyone coming to the US and making use of the opportunities they have or creating them.

Just a somewhat broad opinion from the things I experience and see in daily life. This of course never takes away from the importance of a parents role in engaging a child and expanding their interest and love for learning. It is never solely the responsibility of the school system or teachers, they are also under guidelines they have to follow. Not taking away from anyone’s particular role. Maybe it’s time for a change, if nothing else a conservation