An Open Letter to the American Education System by A Passionate Student

An Open Letter to the American Education System

Dear American Education System,

You are failing us. The millions of students who attend school to attain the supposed

‘great’ American education system, are being failed. Every Monday morning students enter an

atmosphere in which they are encouraged to conform to like-minded individuals, to become

students who don 't question authority, leaving all students subject to a lack of real world

preparation.

Every student in the United States education system is encouraged each and every day

of the week to conform to one type of person. The person who goes to school every day,

works as hard as they can to get good grades, and to move onto the next step of college.

These ideals are reinforced through repetitive teaching styles including common core

curriculum, and other forms of traditional and outdated teaching methods. The College Board

also reinforces these ideals through the SAT standardized testing system, as well as AP

testing. The idea that a student’s intelligence can be determined by one test is absurd, and

can cause the world’s most brilliant minds to feel defeated because they cannot represent

their dexterity through a specific exam. The education system also puts strong emphasis on

the idea that all students must go to college to be successful. However, this ideal is far from

true. The world’s greatest minds either dropped out, or chose not to enter college, such as

entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. In the words of Elon Musk,

CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, “I don’t consider going to college evidence of exceptional ability, in

fact, ideally you dropped out. ” It is those who do not conform to what it is that we ‘should be

doing’ that are the most successful. Our school system should be reinforcing these ideals

rather than shy away from them. Henry David Thoreau encouraged Americans to value

individualism. In his piece On the Duty of Civil Disobedience he says, “I was not born to be

forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest. ” With the school

good job stuffed into their brains every school day. Rather, they are far less encouraged to

follow their dreams, become a great individual and become the best version of themselves.

Students are taught to never question authority in school. It is one thing to read books

and discuss questioning authority, but to physically question it is an entirely different

premise. Students are taught to stand up for what they believe in, but only when appropriate.

Questioning a teacher is deemed disrespectful, rather than insightful. Because students fail to

question teacher authority, they become reliant on it. Students begin to fall into the pattern

of everything must be done a specific way in order for it to be done correctly. In real life, this

is far from true. A good employee does what they are told, but does not need to be told how

to do it. Our school system enforces the exact opposite. A good student does their work how

the teacher wants it done. Since students become contingent on this authority, they are less

likely to be the next CEO, superintendent, head chef, etc. The system is teaching them to

become subordinates, not the entrepreneur. The American school system is training students

to bow down to authority, rather than to confront and question it.

We see benefits to confrontation of authority in our own readings such as The

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In a trip down a river in a raft, teenager Huck Finn finds

himself questioning the racist authority around him, as he learns to befriend his fellow

runaway, Jim the slave. This question of authority benefited Huck as he was able to see a

new perspective to life he had not been able to view due to the racist ideals he was

surrounded with. Given the overpowering sense of authority in schools, students are unable to

break through and reach their full potential. They will never think outside of the box or try to

do things their own ways because they have been trained to simply do it the teacher’s way.

We also witness a lack of real world application in the school system. The American

School system glorifies the ‘sponge mind’; the idea that a student should absorb information

and squeeze it all out onto a test, and move on. In school there is less emphasis on

understanding the material, and more on memorization. An example of this is studying

brain’ method excel in school. Therefore, those who cannot conform fall behind. School

needs to put a stronger emphasis on understanding and mastering material, compared to just

being able to take a test. The American education system does not prepare students to enter

the working world. Students who enter the working world, regardless of how much education

they have received, will be just as clueless as any other first time employee regardless of

education. That notion alone is absurd. A student who pays hundreds of thousands of dollars

to attend college should know how to operate in a workplace because of their extensive

education. Instead, every first day employee is completely useless, despite their education.

Schools should prioritize better preparing students for their first days in the workplace. This

way they can enter the workforce effectively, rather than being a useless employee for the

first month of employment. Rather than prioritize how to effectively enter the workforce,

school focuses strongly on learning subjects that feel useless to students. Because of this lack

of real world engagement, students lose interest, or feel unprepared for the future ahead of

them. With such strong emphasis on test taking and less on making real world connections,

students begin to shift their focus in school from learning to simply memorizing and reciting

information.

Others may argue that having a uniform system of education allows for efficient

teaching. However, by doing this, children’s education lacks individuality and prevents our

world from seeing it’s greatest minds at work. Every child’s mind works differently, therefore

having such a uniform education system that lacks individuality, question of authority, and

real world applications prevents students from reaching their full education potential. We

also see dangers from our past of using a like mind in The Crucible. We see in this 1950’s play

the dangers that conformity causes. We watch as people give up their individual thoughts to

group think, causing the tragic deaths of many people of Salem during the Salem witch trials.

Education in America puts so much emphasis on educating a large group, rather than

educating the individual.

take action to solve these issues that we see. Students themselves can take matters into their

own hands. Students should question authority, and continue to do so despite the social

norms of allowing teacher authority to be the end all be all. Students can also seek their own

individualized education as well. If a student has another educational interest in school that

they feel is not being addressed or discussed enough, they can pursue it individually, or work

alongside school admin to incorporate more of that subject into their everyday education.

Teachers as well should identify these issues and work to make changes. Teachers should seek

to do unique activities in class that better students understand in a new way, and also work to

make real world applications more prevalent in education. They should also encourage

questions of their authority. Rather than act offended, teachers should take pride in the fact

that they are molding the brains of young student advocates, who are able to stand up for

what they believe in. Changes must be made to the education system, and everyone can start

today in making those changes a reality.

Sincerely,

A passionate student