It’s been 200 years, it’s time for a change. The United States education system has been using the same structure for years. Think of how many everyday items like phones, laptops, TVs and video games have drastically evolved from the past. The education system has not changed unlike everything else around it. Due to this, there are many ways in which the system is not serving students the way it should be. 

In a survey at BLHS, 87% of students said they did not believe that everything they were being taught at school would help them in the future. Those students also agreed that they felt they were simply being taught to remember things and forget them after a test. Students learn how to remember things for a test, but if they are simply forgetting them after then their grades on the test will not be a good reflection of how much they actually learn about a subject.

Educated individuals like Thomas Jefferson, William Shakespeare, Galileo and Plato were never given grades. However, students are taught that grades are the end goal. Grades have an inflated level of importance. Laszlo Block, former vice president of Google stated that “GPA scores are worthless as a criteria for anything, they do not predict how much a person knows.” Standards based grading should be all schools use. With this, students can focus on mastery of material rather than how a specific test grade will affect their final grade. Students would be able to take control of their learning and go in the real world and possess skills rather than study flashcards for a test.

Schools also are teaching students to depend on authority. When students aren’t able to take control of their learning, they fall into a pattern of needing to be told what to do and exactly how to do it. According to a survey of high school students by edadvocate.com, 86% of students want to go on to work a job in which they have an authority figure over them. When students fall into habits of depending on authority, it kills creativity. This also is setting students up to never be their own boss. Many college classes are also teaching students how to work for somebody else.

The importance of going to college is forced on students in this education system a lot as well. However, the truth is that some people do not need a college education to be successful. The outdated school system is partially to blame for the majority of kids believing they need a college education someday. With technology, there are now a number of skills students can teach themselves online for careers that they do not need a degree for. This would get rid of being weighed down by student loans after graduating college. People who do not have a college degree can be more successful than those with one. The education system needs to teach students about being more open minded about their skills and if they even need college for what they want to do. Since the internet can teach just as much as many professors can, the school system has no choice but to make a change.

Overall the education system has a lot of work to do on letting students gain control of their learning so they are getting knowledge useful to them and structuring things so grades are not the end goal. If people were willing to open their minds to restructuring the system, less students would be failed by it. Everything else is evolving to fit modern society. It is time the United States education system catches up.