Education has always been a hot-button issue in this country. One side of this polarizing issue demands respect for teachers unions; the other says standardized testing is paramount.
Despite the fact that there will never be a common ground, these two sides don’t even realize America is currently in an education paradox. Here are a few instances: Student loans have become increasingly easy to get and almost impossible to pay off. Young people struggle to find jobs after college while college dropouts — such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey — are worth billions. Diane Ravitch, a research professor at New York University, claims that the “kids today are, in fact, the smartest generation yet.”
But the reality is our students consistently fall behind other nations in math and science.
Though many pundits, politicians and parents say the American education system is broken beyond repair, that’s not entirely true. Even with our falling math and science scores, young people of other nations flock to the U.S. for an education. Why is this the case? Can they not see the glaring education paradox in front of them?
The strength of the American education system — a strength that makes up for the system’s many shortcomings — is that it promotes ingenuity. America has always been the innovator of the world. Bill Gates, the Wright brothers and Thomas Edison were all American citizens — that is no fluke. Ingenuity is truly an American quality. Ingenuity breeds creativity, which equals success.
But when you go back to the two hopelessly entrenched sides of the education debate, they promote policies that hinder the development of ingenuity.
The pro-standardized testing crowd touts that the only way to gauge student success is to conduct broad examinations and have a curriculum based solely on that subject matter.
These tests are good determinants of how well a student grasps universal concepts: calculus, reading and grammar skills. What is tested on these exams are black-and-white concepts. If you do X, what is Y? What grammar rule is being violated in this sentence?
But real life is not so clear-cut.
Creativity can neither be tested on paper nor proctored. A good education relies both on the strong concepts featured on standardized tests and creative reasoning, thinking and learning. Simply believing that exams are a complete solution to our national woes is unrealistic.
Those touting teachers unions would like to believe that every teacher is great, but reality suggests otherwise. For every great teacher, there is a handful of those not up to snuff.
And in America, the place you are educated determines the quality of your education. An inner-city school in Los Angeles, for example, is of a different caliber than that of a suburban school in Connecticut. I think it’s fair to say most good teachers would flock to the school in Connecticut, and as a result, schools in good locations have a monopoly on superior teachers.
Though standardized tests and teachers union issues generally gravitate toward high school and middle school, the college education system does its part to quell ingenuity. As a college student, I take a lot of lecture-based classes. Although these classes are a great time to catch up on sleep or update your Facebook status, they completely stifle creativity.
The tyranny of thought on the side of the professor is the main cause. A teaching assistant told me that I should not select the right answer on an exam, but the answer that my professor thought was correct. Those unable to think for themselves or afraid of confrontation acquiesce to the prescribed thoughts of the professor. Thinking for oneself is hopelessly squashed in lecture halls.
This country needs to embrace the virtues that made it a global superpower. Instead of ascribing wholeheartedly to the beliefs of older nations, we created a few belief systems of our own. Ingenuity by virtue of individuality made us great. Until we realize the true power our students possess, we will continue to underperform nationwide. But until then, at least the kids are out of the house.
[Michael Beato is a UF economics sophomore. His columns appear on Wednesdays. A version of this column ran on page 7 on 2/26/2014 under the headline “Get schooled: education system paradox in the US]
