Children of the Future
School has become as simple as walking a dog. Ever since the Common Core standards have been placed in schools across the country, school curriculums have become way too simplistic. Students have not been becoming smarter because of these new standards, but instead are becoming much less intelligent.
When the time comes for these students to show what they know, they find that their intelligence is much lower than what their schools made them out to be. The United States educational system has had their schools curriculums made simpler because not only have schools hadlowered funding and less chances for students to excel, but also, students believe that school is so unnecessary because of how little they learn, that students decide to not go to school. To begin, school curriculums are being made simpler to accommodate for funding cuts. Susan J. Douglas, a professor of communications at the University of Michigan and an In These Times columnist, wrote, ” Public colleges and universities nationwide have seen significant funding cuts over the past five years, and while the recession is usually blamed, the Right keeps the fiscal screws tight by cutting taxes on the wealthy and corporations,” Schools all across the nation are having funding cuts to cut the taxes off rich corporations in the country instead of caring more about the education of the United States’ children, because of this, the only way for the schools to compensate is making the curriculum simpler.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the state pays more for its prisons than its school systems (Douglas). In California, their prisons are more important than their own citizen’s education. Prison seems to be more important to people than the future of students.According to Jennifer Ginn, an associate editor for the CSG. A high school called, The Learning Center, an alternative school in the Neshaminy School District considered closing the school because the district had a 14 million deficit. The school was on an Ebay listing for $600,000.Districts are losing money and instead of trying to find a way to fix the problem, they were trying to sell their schools, which should be one of the last things they try to sell. Some may believe schools should be the first things to have their funding cut when times become tough because they are not important to the economy, however they are actually the last thing that should have funding cuts because schools are children’s future and the country’s future, making the economy, and the country bigger, better, and stronger. Thus, school curriculums are being made much simpler to accommodate for the lack of funding they are receiving from the government. Additionally, school curriculums are certainly being made simpler because students have very little chance to excel anymore.
Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, stated in an interview with CNSNews.com “Now we have got the standards and the results of the tests that go with the standards. And [National Assessment of Educational Progress] NAEP scores nationwide show that the states that most strongly endorsed the Common Core have seen some of the biggest drops…,” Common Core standards are not helping the children learn, but are only ruining education and destroying the successful future students could have had. Peter wood explained, “I fully understand that not every parent is in the position to effectively counter what goes on in the schools, but the only option for most parents is Do It Yourself – teach it yourself…,”(Hollingsworth). Parents are forced to rely on an outside force other than their schools in order to give their children a better education, which wastes people’s money. It also makes things even harder for students to be able to excel.
According to Peter Wood, “The Common Core is supposed to be improving state standards in education, but its bigger effect has been a comprehensive dumbing down of American education at every level, from kindergarten through graduate school,” (Hollingsworth). Some may say that students are being too stressed over the difficulty of their work, though According to Kyle Spencer, a writer for The New York Times, David Aderhold, for some students, grades are all that matter to them, because grades affect what happens to one’s future. Though some may say that these students are smart and are succeeding, the same could be argued for those with lower grades. Many students think that grades can affect the opportunities they have, which is true, making them much more stressed, not because the work is difficult, they just do not want to make any simple mistakes. Therefore, school curriculums are being made simpler by lowering the amount of students who can excel in their learning, ruining the chance for their students to excel in their future life and education. Lastly, school curriculums have become so simple, that students believe they do not need to go to school to succeed in their lives.
According to Susan J. Douglas, the University of California and California State schools enrollments have dropped one fifth in the past year. That is 20 percent of students who stopped going to school in California. That must mean that schools there seem to be so unimportant that 20 percent of students stopped going to school there. According to a College Board poll, 46 percent believe that a college degree is not important, while a year earlier, it was only 37 percent (Douglas).
More and more students are beginning to believe that college is not going to help them succeed in life, they believe it because curriculums are being made simpler with less learning in mind, and more proof of teaching success. Students believe that college is trying to make them more competitive, rather than caring about their education, making students want to leave college rather than staying. Some people may argue that because students are able to be successful without the help of college, then it must mean the educational system is great. However, if people are more successful without the help of schools, then that just shows how much schools have made the educational system too simple and ruining the lives of others who stay in college thinking that they will lead better lives. To conclude, schools are being made so simple, that the schools are lowering the amount of students who believe that they do not need to go to school to succeed in their lives.
As aforementioned, schools are having their curriculums made simpler. This is lowering the funding of schools and paying more for prisons, lowered the chance for students to excel by making the tests and learning simpler, and finally the schools lowered the amount of students who even believe school to be necessary. Parents want their children to succeed once they have become independent so they may lead a wonderful life. If schools continue to make school simpler, than it is the same as dooming the future generations and the United States to failure. Would you want to destine your children to failure? We are the ones who need to change the educational system, so we can make better lives for the children of the future.
