“Did you know that out of all of the nation’s fourth graders, only ⅓ of them can read a page from a book proficiently?” This is according to studentfirst.org. For fourth graders that is extremely low. Using fourth graders as a small example, this demonstrates a big problem our country faces. In many cases, America’s education is very poor and not enough to have a successful career in life. There are so many causes that affect and ruin the meaning of receiving a quality education. I as a student, among many others, want to be successful in the future with the generations to come. I believe that the many negative causes toward education needs to be fixed to receive a quality education and ensure our future.

One of the possible causes of our poor education is the quality of our teachers. Being a teacher should be one of the most important jobs out there. Many people say that our teachers are fine where they are and that they require no more education than they already have. However, teachers are the source of our learning. It doesn’t matter what we are learning or the materials we have. It matters who is teaching us. Teachers should have a high education and be able to use their knowledge to pass on to their students. Many don’t understand the importance of education and learning. To fix this problem, we just simply have to have a higher education requirement for our teachers. Edutopia.org talked about education in Finland, they said, “Their demanding training is practical as well as research-based, and requires that talent, engagement and multiple skills must be demonstrated by both teacher educators and student teachers. Student teachers graduate as Masters of Education.” Instead of requiring only a bachelor's degree they should be required to obtain a master's degree which will in return help the teachers by becoming the best they can be with in their teaching post, and they will be able to pass on the information to the students in the best way possible.By doing this, we will have a better teacher-student relationship to help us learn and achieve our education goals.

Another cause of our failing education is simply because we don’t have well designed internal components in our education system such as curriculum, teachers, tuition, classrooms etc. Whether it’s high college tuition prices or poor teaching habits they all play a part in the problems we face. High college prices is a big debate today. Many students that graduate high school don’t go to college because they can’t afford it. As more and more students refuse to go to college, the more danger we will face in our future. The prices are skyrocketing, and with our economy today, that isn’t exactly reasonable. Many American’s struggle with simply paying bills and putting food on the table. Even with the high unemployment rate it’s hard for young people to even go to college. It’s understandable that you will have to pay some amount to go to college. But to be spending your life savings to where you can hardly pay your bills is hard to comprehend. According to OnlineUniversities.com, they say, “As tuition rises and students are forced to take out bigger loans to pay for school, fewer young people are able to fulfill the long-standing American dream of homeownership.” By lowering the costs more students will be able to achieve a higher education which in return will allow them to get better jobs that can supply for their families.

Take a look at America’s scores compared to other countries. We are among the lesser performing countries. So many other countries have way more advanced education systems, and it shows in their students scores and efforts. According to Ranking America, “We as a country are ranked 17th out of other forty other countries of educational performance.” We as American’s strive to be the best. We shouldn’t be so far behind in educational performance. America as a whole is coming in close to dead last for the performance of math and science. This is a major problem for our future generations. As the world continues to advance the less educated we are, the farther behind we will become. I see this as not taking an opportunity. We want to be the ones to make the discoveries and advances. I think it’s important to stay as far ahead as we can. And it all starts with where we are and what we know.

Overall there are so many causes that play into ruining our education systems. I only listed a couple, but there are countless problems that also go into it that greater impact the problem we face. Our education simply isn’t accomplishing what it is supposed to. Looking for solutions we would have to have a serious reconstruction of our education. Take a look at other countries. For example, Finland is one of the top nations in the world with very high education performance. What about Finland is so different than us? Kelly J, from fillingmymap.com, talks about how Finland focuses on all aspects of learning. Meaning, they don’t just focus on what is being taught. The take into account rest time, free time, less testing, and fewer school hours. At first glance you might think these are all negative aspects to achieving learning potential. However, learning must take into account not only our mental capacity, but also our physical and emotional health. By including these factors students are much more alert and ready to learn without loads amount of stress. I think we as Americans are so focused on learning the material as fast as possible without taking into account all aspects of learning. Learning isn’t just about sitting in a desk and taking notes. We as a country should focus more on how to learn instead of what we are learning.

This is a major problem we need to act upon. Mainly for the purpose of our future generations. The generations to come are going to be the one who will shape this country. The problem is many of the new generations don’t take school seriously or don’t go to college. This is a major problem. Everybody should have the same chance to succeed. According to DoSomething.org, “ Over 25% of high schoolers fail to graduate high school on time”. This means they are spending so much time on trying to catch up that they are missing out on much of the material they need to learn. We should be learning for our future, in high school, but we should also be able to have time to rest and live our lives as well. By having time to ourselves we can remain motivated and stay strong through our school career.

We can’t fix everything about our education system, but we can improve it to where it is more manageable and a better learning experience. Our education system should simply be better. There are so many problems facing our country and poor schooling for our future generations is one of them. Many of the solutions proposed are attainable. Through hard work and effort I believe it can happen. It needs to happen.