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Alyssa Carter

Professor Barnes

English Comp. 2

20 Mar. 2019

Have you ever wondered why the United States school system is the way it is. The

United States starts going to school at age 5. The Finnish school system starts their kids at age 7

or 8. Other countries like to start their kids at a later age to give their kids more time to mature.

The school system in the United States revolves around tests. Teachers teach kids to memorize

the information for all the tests that they have to give us. To get into any college you have to take

either the ACT or the SAT. Why do they want our futures to revolve around one test? The

school day in the United States is a longer day than any other school in the world. If they say that

the longer days and longer school semesters helps with the education, then why are we not even

top 10 in the world? The top country for education in the world right now is Finland. They give

their kids less homework, go for a shorter amount of time and have smaller classes so that all the

kids get individualized help. The United States school system does work for some kids but other

kids, the majority at that, it doesn’t help in the way they learn. With it the way it is the kids don’t

get all of help that they happen to need. The United States K-12 education system is something

that has been needing a change for a long time coming because it has become very outdated and

has not advanced with society and technology.

The education system is something that has not changed in a very long time. From the

teachers to the classrooms. “ it is time to modify teacher education to reflect the demands of the modern K
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– 12 classrooms.”, says Lynch. All the classrooms look the exact same as they did in the 1900’s. If

you were to look at pictures from cities in the 1900’s they would have changed so much. If you

look at anything really from the 1900’s you would notice a huge difference in how it has

changed. This is something that the school system lacks. It has not changed at all from the

1900’s. When everything in the world is changing why isn’t the education system changing with

the times? A lot of countries started there schools based off how the United States did theirs, but

now they have all surpassed the United States in education standpoints. If a child doesn't want to

be at school then will not try in school which leads to the school being blamed. Instead of just

putting the blame on someone they should try to get that child to like school.

This image shows how the classrooms have not changed over

the years.

Do you remember when you started school all the way back when you were 5? Your

answer was most likely no. Now they are trying to get kids to start at an even earlier age, like

four and some places want it to be three and a half. In the Finnish school system they don’t start

until age 7. Starting at an earlier age has not proven itself to be helpful. It shows that if you wait

for the kids to mature some more before shipping them off to school they will learn better and
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get to spend more times connecting with their parents at a younger age. It is also required by law

that in Finland you go to a preschool or child care, that is paid for, if your parents work. Your

parents or the child care services teach you the basic concepts of reading. They also teach you to

write and do simple math problems. This helps you connect with your parents or caregivers. If

you do not have the money to give your kids this kind of education, you don’t have to worry

because it is basically free. The Finnish government helps those families pay for it, so that their

kids have the same opportunities as the kids who come from parents that have a lot of money.

There is also a study that links poverty and education. There is more poverty in the United States

than there is in Finland. A link shows that if you did not get the education you needed when you

were younger you are more likely going to be in poverty.

With schools starting kids at such young ages they don’t get to connect with some of the

things you love. Some kids will fall in love with music because that is what they would do

before they started going to school and school took over their lives. With schools moving

kindergarten to a full day instead of a half day it can be really hard on a little kid. Most of the

time the kids just want to have fun and play not sit at a desk all day. They still need time to be

kids and go outside other times than just recess. They should have the opportunity to enjoy going

to the park with either a parent or a babysitter and not be in school all day. It has been proven in

studies that kids cannot sit at a desk for 8 hours when they are only 5 years old. This is unfair to

ask the kids to do. Schools are denying them from being kids and having fun.
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The United States revolves around standardized test. You take a bunch of tests in all of

your classes plus the midterm exam and the final exam. When students hear about the tests they

get all freaked out and stressed about that test. They will spend many nights studying or just

won’t study at all so they can go live their life. Even sometimes when you spend hours studying

for a test you end up studying the wrong information and then fail the test. Teachers now teach

for students to memorize how to do something. They just teach what the students need to know

for the test coming up. After that test the students forget what they had learned. When you start

to reach the point in your academic years you have to go and take the ACT or SAT. These are

the biggest test you will have to take. They also have the most riding on them. A student can

have a 4.0 gpa but do bad on this test and won’t get into the college they were hoping for, even

though they are a good student and do well in class. If a student who doesn’t care at school does

amazing on these tests they will get into any college they want to. As soon as they get to that

college they will then realize that college is not for them. They take the spot of the student who

has done well in school for 13 years but didn’t do the best on the ACT, but will do good at the

college. To me this makes no sense, why a student who puts in the effort and gets good grades

won’t get into a college that someone who does bad in school but does good on the ACT or

SAT. In the Finnish school system you take very little tests until age 16 you will take one bigger

test. This test is your graduation test. You can take it as many times as you want and it is also

free. While taking the ACT or SAT cost a lot of money every time you take it plus all the money

you can spend on tutors to help you get a good score on that test.
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Standardized test are something that the school system now revolves around. To get a

good well rounded educations cost a lot of money. You have to pay for college, which is very

expensive for no reason, buy your own books, that you might not even use in that class, and buy

your own supplies. Kids can no longer afford to participate and do well in school even though

they say it’s “free”. Even to do well in school it cost a lot of money that not all people have.

Your students test performance affects the schools funding and the teacher and administration

evaluation. This is why the teachers only teach what is going to be on the test and not all of the

important information. The test information is being taught to memorize it and not to actually

learn the material. This is probably the biggest problem with standardized test because students

don’t actually learn the information.

High school starts at around 7 in the morning. When you get to school you are tired and

your brain is not functioning. Why does school start so early in the morning? No one can answer

this question, it just does. Even when you go to college most classes won’t start until 8 or later,

so why does high school start so early. Studies shows that your brain doesn’t start to function

properly until 8 or 9 in the morning. A shorter school day means that the kids would be more

focused on the school work. They would also get more sleep and not be so tired from only

getting six hours of sleep a night. That extra hour would do wonders for a lot of kids. When kids

are younger it is hard for them to sit through a full 7 hour day. They are suppose to act like

young adults and not be kids. The Finnish school system gives a 15 minute break in between

classes. This just helps the kids relax for a little bit and get their head back into studying. Having
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shorter days in the school gives students more time to have a life outside of school. Their life

will no longer revolve around just school.

Having a shorter school day or at lease breaks between classes will help so many students

be able to focus. Let the students go outside for 15 minutes to regrip their brain and be able to

finish the school day without zoning out completely. In high school they tell you are are

preparing for college, but they all still treat you like kids even if you’re 18. You aren’t allowed

eat or drink anything in the classrooms and in some you are not allowed to even chew gum or

have mnts. Gum and mints help your brain focus on what you are doing, so why are you not

allowed to eat during when you need to focus? Every teacher talks about how they want to

prepare you for college, but in college you only have certain classes 2 or 3 times a week and they

are usually later in the day.

The education system is starting to fail even the schools. Schools are now overcrowded

and some are even being forced to shut down because they don’t have enough money to stay

open. Getting the right number of students in a school is a big key to the succes. If there are 30

students in a classroom vs. a classroom with 15 students. The classroom with 15 students will

most likely have learned all the information better and understand it to a deeper level. “The

smaller the class, the better the individual student experience” says Lynch. To help fix all of

these problems you need to inform the public what is happening in the schools and show them

were all the money will go. A lot of people in the public don’t want to increase the amount of

money because they think it goes to athletics and not academics. Schools should start separating

achedimects with athletics. With doing this it could help bring in some sponsors for the school or
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the government can help out more. In some areas they need to make the school district smaller so

that the schools aren’t overcrowded like they already are. They should also not allow open

enrollment because it is not fair to the students who live in that district.

In Florida they got rid of common care."Common Core has failed teachers, parents, and

our children” said Governor DeSantis. More states need to also throw out common core because

it leaves no room for arts or other interest. Students get maybe one period a day which is usually

only 45 minutes to do something that they enjoy and can have fun doing. Not all students get to

take the art or music class that they want to because it conflicts with a core class that they have to

take. They are missing out on being able to explore who they are for some math that they won’t

ever use again in their life. The school days are filled with what teachers need the students to

memorize and not learn. Teachers are more worried about the common core than what the

students are doing in there academic careers. The teachers have no time to actually connect with

who their students are. Knowing who your students are really helps you be able to teach them. If

you are a teacher and you absolutely hate your job the students can tell. They won’t take your

class serious because they see that you don’t either. A lot of your schooling years is about the

teacher. If you have a teacher who cares about you and wants you to succeed you most likely

will. Part of being a good teacher is being passionate about your job. You don’t want to be the

boring teacher that just does notes and test especially when you are only 10 years old. No 10

year old is going to be able to learn like that. Teacher have to become more involved with their

students and with the common core in place there is no room for that. Common core is
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something that a lot of people think help but the more you look at it and analyze it the worse it

gets.

Some students may like how the school system is set up. All students learn differently, so

kids who can memorize like it. They like it because they never really have to learn how to do it.

It has worked for so long why change it? Kids graduate and then move on with their life. What

people don’t see is the students who struggled through school. Yes the school system is still

going on and working and has worked for so long. They teach just like they did 100 years. It did

work back then but times have changed. It is time to start changing and rethink how it is set up.

Some people in the United States thinks that we give a well rounded educations. They

learn an equal amount in math, science, and literature. To a lot of people this is a big deal. They

would rather their kids learn about math, science, and literature. A lot of people think that these

are all more important than art or music or what you are passionate about. They believe they

won’t give their kid a chance to get a steady job. In the world you need kids to be passionate

about arts or music. They should all be passionate about the job that they are doing. What you do

in school really affects your life when you grow up. If you didn’t like school or pay attention in

school you probably won’t grow up doing something you like because you never found what that

was in school.

The school system nowadays make many people feel like it does not help the kids

anymore but sets them up for failure. The school system is now all about standardized test. As

long as you can pass this test you should be fine. They are also very key on why the school year

should be longer and have longer days. Some schools are even switching to year round
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schooling. While doing this will just makes students care less about school because they will not

have a summer to relax and to be kids. I overall think that instead of having kids memorize

information for the standardized test they should be teaching them and help them learn. They

should also help make school days shorter so kids don’t become bored in the class and drift off

or takes breaks in the middle of class to help kids refocus. A school that the United States should

start looking at is the Finnish school system. They are ranked number one in the world because

of how there schools are set up from the beginning. The United States needs to look a certain

parts of their schools.

The United States school system K-12 is something that hasn’t been changed in a while.

People need to start taking a look at how it is set up and what should start changing. The test,

their are to many and way too much pressure put on students to ace them. The age, why keep

moving up the age of students to start school. Do they really need to be starting school at three

and a half years old. Move the age up to seven so that kids get to connect more with their parents

or caregivers. The time, starting school so early in the morning doesn’t helps student because

their brains are not functioning. Even with schools wanting to go to year round schooling there

are is no proof. Looking into the school system will only benefit the kids and the teachers for

good. It is something that will end up helping them more than what they are use to now. All of

the problems within the school system are fixable, someone just needs to point attention to them.
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