From the day I entered this high school, the idea of academic rigor and excellence has been pushed upon me by various school authorities. It would seem that high priority is set upon adequately preparing students for college and whatever their future may hold.
However an enormous amount of time is wasted every single day of the year. It seems hypocritical to push and support academic rigor, while wasting student’s time every day. The globs of time wasted lead to a bigger problem I believe, and that is whether Public Schools in America today are failing the youths enrolled in them.
During a typical day in my schedule, minutes are wasted chit chatting at the beginning and end of almost every period, during passing periods, at lunch, the announcements, and various other parts of the day.
First off, classes should start when the bell rings and end when the bell rings again. Why should some student’s education be weakened because another student can’t seem to make it on class on time? I’m not saying that teachers shouldn’t inspire and motivate all kids to learn and be successful, but that they shouldn’t hold students back from their full potential. Our school should be preparing students for real life.
Life doesn’t wait for everyone.
Another huge place where I feel time is wasted is the end of the day announcements. I know sometimes that there are announcements that need to get out and I am completely fine with a quick one minute or so announcement. But the five minutes repeating of everything that was said in the morning gets ridiculous.
It may not seem like these small minutes could actually account for any learning done. However, when you add up all the small minutes and factor in the number of days in a school year, a good two weeks of school time is wasted. Two weeks is a lot of time to be wasted and a unit could probably be taught in that amount of time. Education is not free, and wasting two weeks of school time isn’t fair to students, or to parents/guardians that are contributing the money.
At this current state, I feel like part of my education is a complete joke. I would push to be homeschooled if I didn’t think it affected college application. Not only would I get more work done during the day, but also I could complete it faster and more efficiently. This is just the harsh reality in my opinion and is an incredibly sad reflection on what education has come to in America today.
Mark Twain once said, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” I wish I could be like Mark Twain and not let school interfere with my education, but the problem is that it does. It’s an inevitable force that I believe has lost its educational roots and is failing the youth of today’s culture.
This problem is huge and isn’t easy to deal with. It’s a combination of a ton of things that causes this problem. If people want a change they need to speak up and be heard by those around them. Public education is wasting America’s time, and it needs to change.
--Submitted by Bradley Wilson, Staff Reporter |
