Essay/Term paper: Argumentative-educational reform

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Argumentative Essays

Argumentative
Since the early 1980's, the issue of America's faltering public school system has become a serious concern. The crisis in K-12 education is one of the biggest challenges facing the nation. There is a great deal of evidence to show this problem. The pathetically low results of American students through international test scores is one obvious fault. Another is the failure of many students to demonstrate their knowledge of basic skills and literacy. It is surprising that such a long time has passed without any sufficient effort put forth to correct the problem. Even more surprising, is the fact that some deny that such a problem exists.
The failure of the nation to adequately educate the students of America has an endless list of negative effects. With the lack of proper education, generations of kids are growing up without the basic, essential knowledge to be able to compete in the workplace. As a result of this, the U.S. stands a chance in losing its superpower reign of the world. Therefore, it is not only a social concern, but also a major economical issue.
Another alarming concern is the high rate of student dropouts. Now, instead of all students receiving a poor education, some are not getting one at all. The main cause for this is the students'lack of interest in school. So much of the teaching that goes on today is based on rote and memorization. Not all learning can be exciting, and sometimes memorizing things is necessary. Although teachers should find other ways of getting the information to the students. When students are taught like this, they get bored and tired of school, and this is why they dropout. Obvoiusly, if they drop out of school, they probably aren't going to earn there degree. However, if more kids do earn their high school degrees, the country would have less unemployment. More people in the workplace then leads to a stronger and more stable economy. If our society could find a way to keep more kids in school, our country would prosper, and the educational system on a whole, would be much better.
Inner-city inequality produces a great deal of problems in all aspects of life. One way it shows up continuously is in education. Although many people realize this problem, nothing is being done to improve it. Statistics show that wealthy school districts offer much better opportunities for their students. This increases the gap in the social status of America by educating the wealthy and leaving the others with the low paying jobs. This could quite possibly wipe out the entire middle class, leaving a huge gap between the upper and lower classes. While we accept inequality as a problem, we have not yet acted upon it seriously enough. Until some serious action is taken, and poorer schools are offered better oppourtunities, the education in America has no chance at becoming better.
Of course with such a highly diverse population, all people are not going to agree with each other. Those people that do not acknowledge the nation's educational program to be defective must have their own reasons for believing what they do. They might bring up the fact that the educational system has been good enough to make the nation the most powerful country in the world. Therefore, why change something that has produced such excellent results? What they fail to realize, though, is that the other first world countries are constantly trying to catch up with the U.S. So we must take precautions, constantly improve the education, and not take our power for granted.
Everything we live for was not just handed to us. Our forefathers worked extremely hard to put us where we are today. The world is always evolving and advancing technologically. Therefore, our generations of America must also work hard to keep up with the advances. Unfortunately, we have slipped behind in the area of education. Although we will not find a simple solution to our faulty educational system, something has to be done. What better place to start then accepting the fact that it is the biggest challenge facing the nation today?