Bower, Ben. (2009). American Education is Flawed

There are many problems with the way American education is viewed today. Students are told early on to graduate high school and attend college in order to be successful. More emphasis should be put into the knowledge gained in high school to make sure that students don’t just attend college; they graduate. Graduation should always be more important than enrollment.

A complete restructuring of the American educational system would be great, but that’s just not going to happen. Instead the perception that high school is only meant to get students into college needs to change. High school should give students an education that provides them a means to survive in a growing economy. Right now, many students get to college with no real knowledge because they focused on graduating not learning. If high schools would upgrade standards and make their education better, it would improve the nation’s economy and the workforce’s skills. It would also help eliminate the problem of low college graduation rates. If students enter a college environment with more knowledge and a better foundation it is highly unlikely such a large number would drop out.

Of course, that isn’t the only flaw in the American educational system. Colleges are basically forced to focus all their efforts on enrollment because that directly correlates with money. This emphasis leads to little or no focus on graduation rates at some institutions. Most colleges graduate about half of their incoming freshmen within 6 years. The standard graduation period is supposed to be 4 years. So, even though the United States spends more money than anyone else on education, it has a low graduation rate. This is due to two main reasons; first, colleges have little or no incentive to graduate students, and second, most college classes are passable by simply showing up and reading a book.

Imagine taking a self-defense class where the teacher said to show up everyday, read the book, and eventually you will know self-defense. Would you pay for that class? Probably not, because showing up and reading a book isn’t teaching, it’s monitoring. Too many professors today monitor their students in class instead of teaching them. The norm among some professors is to lecture and test over 4 chapter blocks. So, the bulk of material learned in that professor’s class comes from the book and not from the highly skilled and specialized professor. How ironic. Most of what the professor “teaches” is what you learn on your own. Students who are required to read more hours outside of class are less likely to attend class. They figure if the book is the bulk of the class then why go listen to the professor talk about one detail for an hour. In some ways they are right, but most professors have policies to make sure students attend class or fail, which might explain why some students drop out. Why pay $12,000 on tuition when they could just buy the books for much less? College professors need to engage their students more and do more teaching; society will monitor the students.

Through the first three weeks of the current school year, enrollment has been a hot topic. You can’t talk to any school officials without them bringing it up. “Enrollment has increased this year, things are looking good.” But does this increase in enrollment lead to more graduates, or does it mean people are just spending money on education, not getting one. As previously mentioned, the graduation rate in America is low compared to other developed countries. So why, if so many enroll, are so few graduating? It’s caused by the fact that colleges have no incentives to graduate students except through the notoriety some of their graduates achieve. Colleges receive large sums of money based on the number of students they enroll. Just as much or more money should be given to colleges for graduating students. If colleges were given money based on the number of students they graduate, it would make colleges encourage students to graduate and not just attend. It would encourage colleges to build programs that help students to graduate from college in a set amount of time. It just seems more logical to reward colleges based on how many graduates they produce rather than on how many students they enroll.

These flaws can be fixed. It may take years to drastically change, but without change, American education will continue its downward spiral. But, I have high hopes that change will happen soon.