Downfall of our Public Schools

As much as we would like to be able to assert that American public schools are the best in the world , time and time again we have been proven wrong , at least partially . The American system of public schools is failing those it serves . It has failed to provide equal educational opportunities to all students , it has failed to train them to take jobs and advanced careers , and it has failed to secure the future of American prosperity by failing utterly to create the kind of necessary professional and skilled labor balance that

is critical to our continued prominence as a nation . On structural , financial , and curricular levels , the system is not designed to succeed . What it does do well is prepare a very small number of people who come from wealthy families to have any opportunity they want to take advantage of and leaves the vast majority of the nation to fend for itself - often without the tools support , or ability to do so

The American public system of education bases its curriculum on several overarching principles : generalization , focus on the liberal arts , and an emphasis on individual achievement and self-selection (meaning that individual students determine the course of their own education and career path rather than being funneled into specific schools and programs as is common in other countries . Each of these philosophically , is designed to help students achieve the greatest level of self-reliance and independence while providing the broad liberal foundation that can be , theoretically , applied in any situation , in any calling . Those are the benefits of a liberal foundation , but the detriments are that without specialization in education , students aren 't able to focus intensely upon their particular subject area until as late as college , and perhaps a small amount in high-school . The result is that students focusing on a general education for 12 years are allowed only 4-5 years of specialization (Browser , 10 . Other nations , notably Japan and Germany , employ a system of education that , as early as elementary school , begins to identify potential school types and careers for students and puts them through specialization 4-6 years earlier than the US (Browser , 10 . This results in many of these nations excelling in math and science where the U .S . falters . But , this is not the only point of failure of the U .S . system , the 2005 study of reading and mathematical proficiencies of 4th and 8th graders nationwide found that less than 40 of all students tested were grade-level proficient in those subjects (Standard Poors , pNA . This figure gets worse when the schools are dominantly African-American or Hispanic in population Graduation rates are similarly dismal - only 69 .7 of American high school students matriculate ( High School Graduation Rates in the United States , pNA

The American public school curricula is failing its students . There are a variety of opportunities throughout the continuum of public education to directly assist students in determining the career path that best suits not only their individual skills and needs , but those...