The Problem With Modern Education

by Barry Wickham

Today has become increasingly hard to achieve success. Is it because of our lack of ambition? Or could it just be too high of standards to shoot for? We notice that there are higher education requirements and greater skills to be learned, but in each generation do we see a greater deficency in knowledge and skills? These questions all need to be considered when trying to determine the quality and amount of education youth are getting in America.

The first really big problem, and perhaps the most overlooked, is the quality of the education the students recieve in school. Most schools today are still in the same rut of teaching the same standards for many years because they are resistant to change. Although, many adults believed it to be adequate enough for their children to learn the same education the recieved, the opinion for change in standards seems to be on the rise. Today, youth need higher standards to compete with skillful and technical careers. When business owners were asked to comment on new high school graduates, they complained particulary that they lack basic math, writing, grammar, and spelling skills. Six out of ten parents agree that academic standards are too low in their local communities. Why this is the case? It could stem from numerous items. One is safety and order of our public school. Many Americans, including myself, agree that schools have become so disorderly, violent, and undisciplined that learning simply cannot take place. Some aspects include: violent gun confrontations and threats, major drug abuse, fights, and poor teaching. Recently, I had a frightening experience of an unsafe school, a relatively large, metropolitan high school in San Antonio which my girlfriend attends, had its classes temporarily shut down for three class periods because there were idle threats of a gun on the property. For three periods, students sat idley in dark classrooms, doing absolutely nothing. Crucial educating was lost, and time relatively wasted for basically nothing.

All of these violent accounts are justifiably brought about by parental neglect. In a recent survey conducted by the YMCA, 78% of youth indicated that they turn to their parents for guidance and in times of need. More and more teens see to it that family timeis a top priority. But those teens who recieve little or no parental involvement, tend to lead a more chaotic life than those who do. However, too much parental involvement could lead to a more rebellious outlook for a teenager as well. What I see as a good waypoint to keep a happy medium, is to just have a family talk time, and be sure to address touchy topics with ease as a friend would address it. These little talks and conversations could either help guide a child, or better help the parent to understand their child.

In addition to better understanding teens, many teachers now seem to have a closely knit relationship between teacher and student. I notice that some teachers take the parental role with some students and that helps them have better aspirations. This relationship lets youth have more confidence, a sense of power, belonging, and usefulness.

In conclusion, with the teaching and caring and understanding of youth, we can only hope that the majority of today’s youth will be able to learn the new skills required for jobs, have more of an ambitious outlooks, and have more control of their lives as a whole