American Education

I've been thinking about the education system in the US and why it has been turning out students that are less prepared for college compared to their foreign counterparts. There are of course those structural arguments that the way we set up our education system is completely different than the way they do in most countries. We try to educate everyone, even those who will have no hope of living independently and holding down a job. However, I've been concerned lately with cultural factors more lately.

I may be teaching in a school that represents the extreme for this, but it seems that students in the US don't take their educations seriously. Going to school is something they have to do, for most of them. If they weren't forced to be there, they wouldn't be. Contrast that with some other countries, where students take their educations very seriously, going early, coming home late, and going to a tutor in between. By the time they get to college, they have spent more time on scholastic achievement than the average American college graduate. It's no wonder there are far more students overseas that are interested in math and science, because they have lived and breathed it for the previous 12 years.

I heard the results of a troubling study recently. The study said that the rising generation will likely be the first generation in US history that is less educated, less successful, and poorer than the previous generation. I don't think this has much to do with the teachers being trained, but more with the students' willingness to learn.