Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

This is a sufficient description of the current American educational model that majority of primary educational institutions utilize to try and provide “quality education” to students to prepare them for the real world. Many argue that education systems are gradually improving through teacher-student communications. Yet, forms of testing as well as Common Core standards reinforced on younger students eliminate any ground of equal evaluation, while creating a hierarchical system of only providing the most resources to the students who have the capabilities to succeed via the use of already available resources.

One prime culprit is standardized testing. Attempting to create a general standard for evaluating students on a general scale may seem reasonable, but it only creates a hierarchy. Idolizing the performance of students who have the capability to solely memorize and regurgitate information effectively, such a system not only places blame in the face of lackluster performance on students but teachers as well. Teachers are evaluated in a negative light due to the lack of high performance of students in standardized exams, as they are held in the perspective that they simply were not able to prepare students well enough for such exams. There are various factors that go into such an issue, such as funds allocated to the school, the teachers that are hired, the students’ socioeconomic and home conditions, and various other factors that a governmental system cannot tackle in an overarching manner. However, these problems can be resolved, but the issues that can be taken care of immediately must be examined first.

Considering the ways that traditional models of education operate, people from standard journalists to philosophers have tackled the issue of what is called the banking model of education, a model which only gradually deteriorates the teacher-student dichotomy to a commodity. It is one which must be effectively harvested for the goods to be presented to data analysts in the form of marks and test results. Such a dichotomy puts education into an echo chamber and completely negates any value that education is supposed to garner (or we say it garners so vehemently in our day-to-day lives). This leads to the inevitable regression to a hierarchical possibility of success, with us clinging desperately to the anomalies that rise out of the difficult conditions.

We teach students to be the greatest of the greats, and if they cannot achieve the astronomical standards, they must merely be average. Such a mentality only adds further stress atop the education that they must maintain, leading to gradual slimming of chances of success. The problem also ranges across racial, ethnic, and economic lines, further narrowing the chances for students to rise out of the ashes that is our current education system. At the end of the day, we finally see the education system for what it truly is: a business made to receive political capital as well as money through testing companies, publications, and more. The exploitation of students is furthered in the name of the greatest gift to children, education, yet while not providing any of the promises that were given to their futures. The problem is complex, but solutions are available. Even then, current solutions have their shortcomings.

A common alternative that most analysts of this issue present is an overhaul of standardized testing and increased allocation of vocational education provided to students in schools. However, that does not solve the issue since ineffective teachers as well as improper teaching formats still exist. An altering of the ways that teachers present material to students ought to be changed, through presenting less bundled busy work and more interactive education. There should also be a promotion of oral examinations that are designed to examine the instantaneous thought processes of students, through the presentation of open-ended questions in subjects such as English, and problem-solving questions for subjects related to STEM could lead to massive improvements. It could possibly lead to students attempting to formulate their thoughts in a coherent way to properly communicate, analyze the impacts their words have on others, understand the concepts in a much more effective manner by explaining concepts to another human being, and more.

Such improvements and others can drastically change the rate of success students have in classes as well as potentially increase the amount of engagement that students have. However, this only tackles the systemic forms of education. The United States government should also fund more group instruction events as well as more afterschool events, through the allocation of revenue via funneling from other programs to which unreasonably excessive money is going to (Military spending, anyone?). Endorsements, if made consistently, can reach the ears of those in power, and with sufficient influence, may create potential solutions to a problem that is quite literally ruining the futures of new generations. It’s something we should think about.