Education in America

No one can doubt that the education system in America is one of the greatest and the worst in the world. Our colleges and universities are top notch, the desire of many students from across the nation and worldwide. However, our primary education, that is from K-12, is broken. Elementary, Middle, and High Schools across the nation face problems from everywhere. Our class size is growing, budgets are shrinking, infrastructure is crumbling, teachers are getting laid off. As a high school student myself, I can say that growing class size is not a good thing. Never was, never will be. Many of you have heard the consequences, less teacher-student interaction and what not. Shrinking budgets are a huge problem. Education is OUR FUTURE to remaining of the most industrialized, developed, and best nations in the world. We cannot simply just cut money from budgets and then fire teachers to balance the budget. Teacher tenor must be abolished, it is an antiquated system that boots some highly qualified teachers out the door. While teachers should get rewarded for long years of service to the school, they still need to be tested rigorously to ensure that they are effectively teaching us and we teaching them. There are many areas where money can be cut without damaging the educational system. Becoming more energy efficient is a huge starting place. Turning off the lights or more effectively managing the heating and cooling of school buildings can lead to huge savings. With that in mind, let's focus on the infrastructure of many school buildings. Like much of America, school buildings are getting old and are starting to show their age and antiquity. I go to a school that was newly built. It is a good school with some design flaws in my opinion. However, I have also gone to schools that were built in the 1970s and there is one difference that strikes me, the lighting. Old schools tend to have little natural light streaming in from the outside. A lighter interior makes the atmosphere seem more cheerful and welcoming, encouraging students to embrace the building and the institution instead of rejecting it. Rebuilding many old school buildings will benefit the entire community. One, it creates jobs. Two, students will get a state of the art facility that caters to the modern world of education. Three, the construction of a new school could beef up the surrounding neighborhood, prompting the area around it to become more clean and safe. Education is a complex and highly controversial issue as of now, but in my opinion, this issue should have one and only one opinion. You cannot abandon the educational system because when we do, we abandon the future.