Education Through the Looking Glass

One of our greatest leaders, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, said “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.” If our nation depends on a strong education base to push forward into the future, then why are some students being deprived of this right? Each year, hundreds of thousands of kids go to school and do not even receive the minimum education standard set by the state. This lack of adequate education could be changed with a movement to reform the equity funding the schools across the nation receive.

There is not enough emphasis on the funding for public school programs such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) that are vital to the future of the nation. Awarding grants for STEM programs will encourage students to pursue more rigorous courses that will improve the technological capability of the U.S. These changes would greatly impact my generation. We are the generation that will have to compete in the worldwide marketplace in critical fields such as math and engineering to ensure the United States retains a position of technological leadership. The United States should invest in future generations by improving funding in education, to create a new infrastructure for the nation.

In this competitive field, students need resources so they will be able to perform on a higher level and compete with students from across the nation and around the world. In worldwide ranking systems of educational performance for industrialized nations, the US consistently ranks below other countries, such as Canada, Finland, and New Zealand. Children in middle and elementary school years lack in the fundamental skills that children in other nations obtain at a young age. A stronger foundation in STEM disciplines will help students to join the workforce in more advanced fields. If we continue to delay making the necessary changes, then it may be too late for the future.