Rockridge High School
Taylor Ridge, Illinois
Teacher: Barbara Downey
Progress in Education
By Eric Pressly
Grade 12
Progress in Education
Why do we spend almost twenty years of our lives in the educational process when we could already be out in the work force or learning more than we have been taught? I believe that the educational system can be better. We spend too much time on remedial education and let students get through without learning anything. Our institutions are prisons that use ancient teaching methods. I think that the community and its leaders should help improve the quality of education in our schools. The requirements for a student to complete the educational process are embarrassing. A student could graduate from high school with the math and reading skills of an elementary student. We need to change these requirements. I do not think that the general curriculum required for a student to graduate should be made harder. I think that each student should have to complete extensive training in at least one area into which the student could focus his/her career. I do not think that a student aspiring to become a computer technician should be required to take four years of English; instead, that student should have to take many courses relating to computers.
I believe that the learning environment greatly influences how well a student can learn. If our schools are unclean and dilapidated, many students will not be able to focus on their studies. This is because many of the students will not like being in the building and thus will not like school. If our schools are clean and modern, the students will work harder on their schoolwork. This is because they will appreciate being at the school and thus will like the school better than if it were outdated and unsatisfactory.
When I say that we need to modernize our schools, I mean that we need to integrate them with the latest technology and the best learning facilities. If children are the future, why should we teach them with technology that is already outdated before they even reach the job market? Let's say a student went to school in the early eighties and learns how to do everything on BASIC and he/she graduates expecting to get a job with computers. However, by the time this person graduates, Windows is developed and all this person's education is useless to them. If this person had been consistently taught with the latest technology, then this person could have been better prepared for the "real world."
The educational process is formatted so that a student has to go to school for twenty years before he/she enters the work force. I think that the educational process takes so long because we try to focus on too many subjects and this forces students to only brush over topics that have to be reinforced again and again. This method only teaches a small amount of new material, because most of the time is wasted on reeducation. Block scheduling and year round schooling are attempts to solve this problem, but they do not go far enough. I believe that only one subject should be taught to a student at a time (ex: four weeks of nonstop physics). This will allow the student to really focus on the subject matter and soak up all the material. Using this method, what once took an entire year for a student to learn could be taught in just a few weeks. This method could also enable the student to get more in depth with the material, and teachers would have more time to do labs and activities that they never would have time for using the present method. This "future" method would also help the student discover where his/her talents lie and what he/she enjoys doing. Using this format, a student could take a few weeks off so that he/she could meet with a "mentor" in a working environment and experience the job firsthand. Whatever new method is used should be simpler and shorter than the present method.
With all the present problems in our educational system, I believe that society and its leaders should lend a helping hand to the young people of America. The educational process needs to be redesigned so that instead of discouraging students from attending school, it encourages the students to want to learn. The changes in the educational process have to come from the top down; it is the responsibility of the educational hierarchy to improve the quality of education for America's youth.
Questions
1. Most people in the United States invest time and effort into their marriages. They have to raise kids and maintain a good relationship with their partner. Manus invest money into marriages, because they believe that people who can maintain a long standing relationship will be responsible and reliable in the business world.
2. The following is advice from ten married people and the length and number of each marriage.
5yrs 1st marriage "Trust and honesty"
5yrs 1st marriage "Sharing the birth of a child"
11yrs 2nd marriage "Remaining friends with your partner"
11yrs 3rd marriage "Staying committed to the relationship"
28yrs 1st marriage "Don’t focus all the attention on the children"
28yrs 1st marriage "No money problems equal no marriage problems"
19yrs 1st marriage "You have to know when to give in"
19yrs 1st marriage "There is nothing to worry about when your partner is your best friend"
48yrs 1st marriage "Be patient. It gets easier with time"
48yrs 1st marriage "When you’ve spent most of your life with the same person it’s hard to imagine life without them"
Richard Eckerly believes that society has become too materialized. He thinks that our goal should be to dematerialize society without reducing quality of life. We should try to simplify our lives and not worry about things such as money. I think that my local community should try to improve the level of education in our schools. The community can unite to spend money for a new track, but no one pays any attention to our schooling itself which is falling behind other schools in the nation.
5. children are not experiencing a family lifestyle at home, then their parents should not just buy them a doll and think that they will end up all right. The parents should spend time with their children and interact with them.
6. Kathleen Sullivan believes that lawyers are helpful in the United States, because it is a democracy. According to her, lawyers keep society going without taking away our individualism. Lawyers settle conflicts between diverse citizens, solve problems created by wealth, and handle problems too small for the national government to notice.
7. I think that regulations and punitive damages should both be used in society. Regulations are easier and make more sense, but they cannot be used in all situations such as regulating the temperature of coffee before it is sold. When regulations cannot be used easily, I believe that punitive damages should be the means of control.
Society could benefit greatly from the coming retirement of baby boomers. First, there would be many more elderly volunteers to help those in need. Second, the experienced retirees could train younger employees before they leave. Finally, the retirement of so many people will provide jobs for people to take the retirees' jobs and to take care of the retirees.
9. I do not think that President Clinton's plan will work. First, many of the poor are uneducated and incapable of running their own business. Second, businesses in poor areas will not have anyone with money to buy from the businesses. Finally, no one will want to invest money in the poor areas, because there are safer areas to invest that can make the investor more money.
10. Truett Cathy and Tom Lewis are philanthropists. Both have set up schools for the needy; Cathy started the WinShape Centre and Lewis began the Fishing school. They both have given up what they owned to help others, Cathy gives millions of dollars away and Lewis gave up his second house. Also, they are both very religious.