Symptoms of the System
Is your child depressed and avoiding social situations? Do you find that it is hard to wake them up for school in the morning? Do they often complain? Well, if your child experiences any of these symptoms, they may be suffering from an illness they’ve picked up in the public school system, a system that suppresses potential, diminishes creativity, and alienates our children. Although many parents see these signs in their children, they’re often not aware of alternative options or simply choose to tell their kids to “handle it.” Luckily, my parents did not do this to me.
Anytime someone asks me “What was the best decision you’ve ever made?” my answer is always, “leaving the public school system.” There were many reasons why I chose to escape. I felt that the material didn’t challenge me, I wasn’t being given enough creative freedom, and I wasn’t taking the steps that would help me create the future that I wanted for myself. After leaving public school, I felt that my life completely turned around. I went from suffering many of the symptoms that children in public schools face, to someone who began to grow academically, mentally, and culturally. After making the switch to pursue online school, I begin to pursue education on my own terms. I did this by traveling and developing a broader cultural understanding, managing my time without the guidance of anyone else, and putting myself in situations with people who could help me create a great future for myself. Do I believe that I could have done all of this if I had stayed in the public school system? The resounding answer every time is “absolutely not.” Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
When analyzing the current public school system, which seemed to bring negative side-effects to me and many of my peers, it is important to first look at how children are being educated. Currently, the educational model that schools around America are using is primarily focused on standardized testing. Research from the American Federation of Teachers supports this, stating that “test preparation and testing absorbed 19 full school days in one district and a month and a half in another” (“AFT Report” n.pag.). This research mirrors my own experience—when I was enrolled in a public school, it felt like each day was dedicated to doing something related to standardized testing. For example, teachers would spend weeks just teaching us methods of how to master test taking strategies. Now you may be asking yourself, “What’s the harm in my child’s day being spent on standardized testing?” Well, there are actually many problems with this model of teaching; not only does standardized testing fail to accurately measure student ability, it also narrows curriculum and fails to prepare students for the 21st century.
Standardized testing is not able to measure student ability for a multitude of reasons. One of which includes that they are made for a very—shall we say—“standard” group of people. For example, standardized tests don’t take into consideration non-native English speakers and fail to measure individualistic qualities such as creativity. Tests such as the ACT, which many colleges require a high score on in order to attend their school, are prone to this type of exclusion and unfairness. Although some may argue that standardized tests, such as the MAP (Measure of Academic Progress), are able to accurately track students’ growth, surely you are tracking your students’ growth through report cards and other means that many schools provide. It is not necessary that standardized tests take away such beneficial learning time when there are already other means of measuring growth. Furthermore, standardized tests also fail in the sense that many students don’t take them seriously since there is often not enough motivation to score well. Once I was in 11th grade and found out that my scores didn’t affect whether I graduated or not, I started being carelessly choosing answers on standardized tests such as the MAP. My choice to not take the testing seriously ultimately meant that my growth and my teachers’ abilities were not measured accurately.
Second, standardized testing narrows student knowledge to only a few subjects. One study from George Washington University found that “44% of districts reported cutting time from one or more other subjects or activities (social studies, science, art and music, physical education, lunch and/or recess) at the elementary level” (McMurrer n.pag.). Taking subjects like these away, deprives students of their individuality. Instead of creating, inventing, and expressing themselves, students are forced to fit into a mold by learning the strategies of test taking. Mary Kyung-Hee Kim, a researcher who has studied the decline of creativity, stated, “If we neglect creative students in school because of the structure and the testing movement—creative students cannot breathe, they are suffocated in school—then they become underachievers” (qtd. in Zagursky n.pag.).
Finally, our children are not being given the skills that they need to succeed in modern society because of the extensive amount of time that is spent based around standardized testing in traditional public schools. As I’ve begun job hunting, I’ve found that many employers are looking for people for are self-directed and who can identify their strengths. How can schools teach these skills when testing encourages students to follow a standardized path, and children are taught that their strengths are measured by a test? If you ask me, there’s something wrong if standardized testing, something that many schools pride themselves on, is taking away more from our students than it gives to them.
Now that you know the effect that the current public school education model—specifically standardized testing—may be having on your children, you may ask yourself, “What are the other options for my child?” Well, it turns out that there are many. Pursuers of alternative forms of education such as Johann Pestalozzi, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Amos Bronson Alcott, all believed that “education should be understood as the art of cultivating the moral, emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions of the developing child” (Martin n.pag.). Thanks to them, we now have forms of education such as homeschooling, online education, and open schools. Although all of these models have different benefits that best compliment different groups of children, I would like to focus in on online schooling which was the alternative educational form that I chose for myself.
I completed a majority of my high school education online. Participating in online school gave my parents and I benefits such as the ability to have a flexible schedule, a comfortable learning environment, the opportunity to advance forward in my career, and the time to improve technical skills. Once I started online school, instead of sitting in a classroom where I had to match the pace of 20-30 other students, I was able to distribute my time and schedule in a way that worked efficiently for me. This benefit allowed me to focus more on doing things that I believed would bring me personal growth. Not only did online school give me a number of benefits, but it has also helped some of my other friends who have followed my lead. For example, I have a friend who has been able to escape a difficult bullying situation she faced in public school and a friend who wanted to be able to focus primarily on athletics who is now a part of a state Minnesota hockey team. This only shows that no matter what type of situation you’re facing, alternative forms of education, such as online school, have the potential to bring some type of positive change to you and your childrens’ lives.
Many parents are beginning to see these positive impacts, and in a study done by Connections Academy, the school that I attended, there has been an 80% increase in students pursuing online learning between the years of 2009 and 2014; the study also shows 75% of school districts in the United States offer online courses (“Infographic: Growth” n.pag.). This data suggests that it is a great time to take advantage of alternative education solutions in the United States. Online schools, such as Connections Academy, often offer a public version so that financial burdens can be no excuse for parents to give their children a better education outside of the traditional classroom environment.
To conclude, in order to give our children the education they deserve and need to succeed in the 21st century, we need to begin by focusing on each child’s individual needs. Each of our children require different things from an education in order to succeed, which is why we should begin by analyzing our children and figuring out what their unique “medicine” for success is. Alternative forms of education, such as online school, can work to the advantage of many developing students whether they require more flexibility, an escape from a harmful bullying environment, the time to pursue sports or the arts, a head start on working in field they’re passionate about, or simply a change from traditional schools. I highly encourage you to take the time to sit down and talk to your children about what they want to receive from an education and where they want to go in life. Use the information that they give you to make an educated decision about what truly will be most beneficial to them and their future.
Works Cited
“AFT Report Shows the High Cost of Overtesting.” American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, 23 July 2013, www.aft.org/news/aft-report-shows-high-cost-overtesting.
“Infographic: Growth of K-12 Digital Learning.” Connections Academy, www.connections academy.com/news/growth-of-k-12-online-education-infographic.
Martin, Robin Ann. “An Introduction to Educational Alternatives.” Education Revolution
Alternative Education Resource Organization, Nov. 2000, www.educationrevolution. org/store/resources/alternatives/introtoalternative.
McMurrer, Jennifer. “Choices, Changes, and Challenges.” George Washington University,
Center on Education Policy, Dec. 2007, https://www.cep-dc.org/displayDocument.
cfm?DocumentID=312
Zagursky, Erin. “Smart? Yes. Creative? Not so much.” William and Mary, 3 Feb. 2011,
www.wm.edu/research/ideation/professions/.s/.