Declining American Education

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Thomas Jefferson once told James Madison, “Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty” (“Sustaining our American System of Public Education”). The United States’ education is slowly declining. Education has been an important part of America since the very beginning, “Our Founding Fathers recognized education not just as an avenue to vocations for our citizens but also as a practical investment in ensuring the strength and longevity of the newly formed government and its guarantee of liberty”(“Sustaining our American System of Public Education”). Most of the Founding Fathers had some …show more content…
The United States’ education is starting to decline;
Twenty years ago the U.S. ranked first in the world in the number of young adults who had high school diplomas and college degrees. Today we rank ninth and seventh, respectively, among industrialized nations. Compared to Europe and Asia, 15-year-olds in the United States are below average in applying math skills to real-life tasks. The United States ranks 18 out of 24 industrialized nations in terms of relative effectiveness of its education system (DeWeese).
Parents used to be the main source of education because, “society was agricultural” (Paul). Churches and the government did not have power over education. The current education system, “(...) does the opposite. Based on a factory-style model for the industrial age, the system was designed for efficiency, not excellence. Standardizing the way it teaches and tests made it possible to educate the masses” (Bush, Wise, and Horn). Senators and other elected officials also have a certain amount of power over education (Paul).Add more …show more content…
Duke University looked at multiple studies to find that homework does not affect long-term achievements in elementary school. Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, claims that students who get extra homework miss active playtime which is necessary for gaining social skills and proper brain development (Miller). Students in middle school who do a balanced amount of homework, which is about thirty minutes to an hour and a half of work each night, have better test scores when compared to middle school students who receive a large amount of homework. (“Do Students Have Too Much Homework?”).Frame quote “More than 70% of young people don't get the recommended amount of sleep for their stage of development (and sleep is essential for healthy brain development). Children have lost 12 hours of free time each week while homework time has increased by 50%. Homework is now given as early as first grade and reaches its apogee in high school where students now spend up to seven hours a night on homework, despite evidence demonstrating that it has no value up to 5th grade and loses its value if greater than one hour for middle-school students and two hours for high-school students”(Taylor). A recent survey shows that superintendents, “(...) essentially voted "no confidence" on GPA and standardized tests as strong predictors of college success. In fact, only 6% of
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