A+ Education? Not a Chance.
By Angelina Z.
“Africa, Europe, Australia, North and South America, the North Pole and... Russia? No? Not Russia?” Such was the average answer of the passerby when asked to name the seven continents. When reporters coyly stationed themselves before a P.F.Chang’s to quiz random pedestrians on their knowledge of geography and history, everyone’s expectations were sunken to an all time low. The people being questioned blushed, apologized for their mistakes, and slinked away in shame, one after the other. Fortunately for them, they themselves are not to blame, but the ones that taught them.
Though the United States unquestionably has the highest worldwide GDP and oil exportation rate, we are not even near the top of the list on the education charts. The US is overtaken by an entire 13 other countries when compared by standardized test scores, with a score of 418 out of a possible 650. The first place country is China with a total score of 613. There are several reasons why we are pushed this far down the scale, ranging from the professors themselves to the sources we give the kids to learn from.
The teachers being appointed in the more privileged parts of the United States are obviously top-notch - dedicated to helping their students and well-versed in their subject. Unfortunately, this is obviously not the case for many other parts of the US. Because the wages of teachers are so small in those less prosperous areas, more and more of the teachers there are only semi-qualified individuals, not fit for teaching children in their most impressionable and quickly-learning years. This issue could be easily solved with more funding towards school districts that are less privileged than the vast majority.
The other issue with the education of Americans is the credibility of the textbooks, main materials, and resources given to their students, where facts may be glossed-over or warped out of context for the benefit of the writers or political parties associated with them. For example, massacres such as the Rwandan Genocide are downplayed or simply ignored to draw attention to much less important events that enhance the positions and views of the company and its writers.
Though these are not the only problems with education in our county, they are two major ones. Once we get past these fundamental issues and pull ourselves back out of the hole we’ve dug ourselves into, the United States, as a country, has the potential to become even greater and more intelligent as a whole than it has ever been so far.