Quality of Education Essay Sample

The quality of a society is reflected in the quality of its education. Education is how mankind achieves answers to their questions. Therefore, to satisfy the hunger for answers, we need quality schooling to be able to show children what the world has to offer. A good education system should enlighten students and show them the opportunities they may have in the future. Our current system, however, fails to do this because our schools use rigid curricula, lack creativity, and do not give students an accurate understanding of the world around them. 

The rigid curricula of our education system limits growth within the students. Every student has their way of learning, and that is why this system of education can never be effective. From Emerson’s take on education, he stated that “this function of [education] is not to be ful-filled by any mechanical or military method; is not to be trusted to any skill less large than Nature itself” (Emerson). Learning should be a natural process with our schools acting as catalysts for the young and impressionable minds of these students. However, when the school system is unwilling to be adaptive to children, It forces the students to conform to the school and fit into a mold that is never just right for them. It is almost like trying to mass-produce students which leads to the becoming of an unchanging system with no growth, from which no children can truly benefit.

The lack of creativity in this educational system leaves the students uninterested and forgetful of what they learned. This system where every lesson sounds the same, every teacher feels the same, every day becomes indistinguishable from each other. This is the world of education that this lack of creativity has brought us. The human mind needs stimulation, that is why when there is that one amazing teacher, they are always the most memorable and beloved. They compel us to remember the information because it stands out, it gives us something to look back on, to remember, and to learn. David Sedaris understands this quite well as he said, “for the first time since arriving in France, I could understand every word that someone was saying”, in reference to his teacher(Sedaris). His teacher taught in a very unique way, she scolds and belittles all her students, this sounds quite terrible on paper but in practice, it was rather effective. If Sedaris was able to understand French through this unique way, then it means that it was effective, therefore being creative and different allows students to learn more effectively. 

When a system of education is unfaithful to the world around and provides children with a wrong view of the world, that causes major societal problems. Education is meant to solve problems, not create them, however, due to our current model of education, this is not the case. James Baldwin elaborates on this subject further using the example of racism, stating that, “any Negro who is born in this country and undergoes the American educational system runs the risk of becoming schizophrenic”(Baldwin). The school system teaches history clearly from the perspective of white people and that directly harms people of color as what they are learning contradicts what they observe and absorb in the real world. If the education system does not faithfully teach and tutor these impressionable minds, then the young minds will begin to realize that they have been lied to, therefore leading to more and more problems from misunderstandings and distrust. 

The current education system that we have fails to educate students and show them the opportunities and paths in life. The lack of creativity and rigidness of this system creates an environment not suitable for quality schooling. These schools are too unchanging, too boring, too unmemorable and it expects the students to fit themselves into the mold that is the education system. Furthermore, the information taught is at times biased which leads to conflicting views and more problems as these students grow up filled with mistrust in society. This is how decade-long societal problems are created from bad education. If our education system creates a flexible system, that conforms to the student, and faithfully informs students, then society would be a much brighter place, filled with more knowledgeable and satisfied students.