The Need For A New Modern Education System 

The first public school was built in 1635, the school was due in great measure to the influence of the Reverend John Cotton. Cotton was “head lecturer, dean, and catechist, and while there was urged to join the Puritans. He was a minister of the Established church at Boston” (“John Cotton (Reverend)).” The education system was created to teach future factory workers discipline and responsibility. Compared to the modern-day educational system. The education system should be changed so that it is more beneficial because the current one is outdated and not always relevant for students.  

The education system should be changed so that it is more beneficial because the current one is outdated. If we better prepare our students for our changing society, increase their motivation to do well, and allow students to more freely express their creativity, then students could be career-ready at an earlier age, pursue their passions, innovate meaningfully, and live more fulfilling and independent lives. According to Allison Schrager, QUARTZ reporter, she says, “Factory owners required docile, agreeable workers who would show up on time and do what their managers told them. Sitting in a classroom all day with a teacher was good training for that”(Schrager). This indicates the idea that the current system that we follow has been the same for over two hundred years. Not only that, but we are following regulations that were created for factory works, not productively learning students. According to the Youtube video published by Richard Williams (better known as, Prince Ea), American YouTuber, he says, “Here’s a car from today and here’s a car from 150 years ago, big difference, right? Well get this, here’s a classroom of today, and here’s a class we used 150 Years ago. Now ain’t that a shame and more than a century nothing has changed yet. You claim to prepare students for the future?!”(1:11-1:29). 

Figure 1 (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ESqrCew7slL2P-91FzfDw4pySAqGre9bYQvSebxHG7U/edit?usp=sharing)

Figure 2 (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ESqrCew7slL2P-91FzfDw4pySAqGre9bYQvSebxHG7U/edit?usp=sharing) 

In the images illustrated in the video (Figure 1 and Figure 2), EA shows how as time progressed inventions such as vehicles, unlike the modern day classroom. This conveys the idea that the educational system should be changed because it has been more than 150 years with the same regulations and the people are naturally evolving. 

The education system should be changed so that it is more beneficial because the current one is not always relevant for students. Students need to go to school and be interested in what they’re learning about so they can begin to think about a career and be ready to file their own taxes once they turn eighteen. They won’t have to pay someone to do a necessary life skill. I personally didn’t have that knowledge in my own school education and now as a young adult I realize the importance of it. According to Ea, he says, “Educational malpractice where one teacher stands in front of 20 kids each one having different strains, different needs, different gifts, different dreams and you teach the same thing the same way. That’s horrific” (2:40-2:52). This actively demonstrates that the educational system is not is not very effective in a room filled with students with different goals and aspirations. For example, you cannot teach a student who wants to be a lawyer the circumference of a cylinder because it wouldn’t come up during their years of practice and that’s what I consider unnecessary teachings. Therefore the educational system should be modified to fit the mind of developing students who are finding themselves independently. According to Valerie Strauss’, The Washington Post reporter, interview with Ken Robinson, professor of education, stated, “On the one hand is that education should be about helping kids discover talents and interests that lie within them. I think that is absolutely critical. Secondly it should be about helping them understand the world around them so they can become compassionate and productive citizens” (Strauss). I think all of that is important.” When I graduated high school and entered college, many of the adjustments and newfound freedoms that I experienced during this transition left me thinking. For example, I wondered why the education system hasn’t changed for decades, including the course options available to high school students. Therefore, why do students have to attend classes that don’t relate to their career goals or have practical relevance for their future? 

Peter McAllister was a mathematics and social studies teacher in a public high school. In his article titled, “A Teacher’s Perspective on What’s Wrong with Our Schools”, he states, “Based upon my own teaching experience, I believe that the discouraging test performance of American students is a symptom of fundamental problems in our schools… the policies and practices that engendered these characteristics in my students are based upon the pedagogical principles of “progressive education”—that is, the educational philosophy that has dominated mainstream American education for the past century” (McAllister). I believe that if an educator has an issue with the education system then as an individual this should spark some concerns for future students. Additionally, McAllister brings attention to the idea that the system fails to encourage student performance and blames it on the teaching principles of education. 

Some people might say that the current education system doesn’t need to be changed, but making adjustments would improve the future and benefit society as a whole. According to Tony Phinspire, a blogger, he states, “The school system is very intelligently designed to control the population and to keep everyone occupied and ignorant. I know it sounds negative, but in reality, society would have been worse if this schooling system wouldn’t be there” (Phinspire). Throughout this article, Phinspire brings up the thought, “We didn’t create the school system, so how would we know what’s best for it?” , while that is somewhat true he fails to realize that this system was made to fit society in the late 1800s. He approaches the idea that “We shouldn’t try to change others. All we can do is change ourselves”. On the other hand, the reason why we shouldn’t try to change ourselves is because the education system is what makes us who we are. Those years we spend learning how to count and write is what makes us the intellectuals we are today, we need to change the root of trouble. Which is the education system. As a result, The education system should be changed so that it is more beneficial because the current one is outdated and not always relevant for students, this means that an educator’s preparation and classroom designs should be closely looked at.

To conclude this argument, if we better prepare our students for our changing society, increase their motivation to do well, and allow students to more freely express their creativity, then students could be career-ready at an earlier age, pursue their passions, innovate meaningfully, and live more fulfilling and independent lives. I wondered why students have to attend classes that don’t relate to their career goals or have practical relevance for their future. The education system should be changed so that it is more beneficial because the current one is outdated and not always relevant for students. Why does a student have to learn about Geometry and not how to do taxes?

Works Cited 

Ea, Prince. “I SUED THE SCHOOL SYSTEM”. September 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqTTojTija8

“John Cotton (Reverend).” John Cotton, web.archive.org/web/20061225022110/members.tripod.com/clipclop/CD/cotton/john2.html. 

McAllister, Peter. “A Teacher’s Perspective on What’s Wrong with Our Schools.” Cato Institute, 21 Jan. 2021, www.cato.org/cato-journal/winter-2018/teachers-perspective-whats-wrong-our-schools. 

National Geographic Society. “First Public School in America.” National Geographic Society, 28 Oct. 2013, www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/apr23/first-public-school-america/.

Phinspire, Tony. “Why We Shouldn’t Try to Change the School System.” Medium, Medium, 4 Aug. 2017, medium.com/@tonyphinspire/why-we-shouldnt-try-to-change-the-school-system-i-didn-t-create-the-school-system-so-fa8aecd928f6. 

Schrager, Allison. “The Modern Education System Was Designed to Train Future Factory Workers to Be ‘Docile.’” Quartz, Quartz, 2015, qz.com/1314814/universal-education-was-first-promoted-by-industrialists-who-wanted-docile-factory-workers/#:~:text=The%20modern%20education%20system%20was,punctual%2C%20docile%2C%20and%20sober%E2%80%9D&text=But%20as%20industrialization%20changed%20the,what%20their%20managers%20told%20them. 

Strauss, Valerie. “Sir Ken Robinson Has a Lot to Say about U.S. School Reform (It Isn’t Good).” The Washington Post, WP Company, 25 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/21/sir-ken-robinson-has-a-lot-to-say-about-u-s-school-reform-it-isnt-good/.