Dear Future President,

I would like to express my concerns about standardized education, which is good in theory, but when put into practice there are many areas in which it falls short. There is no one, single solution to fixing our education system, but there are steps that can be taken to move us forward. I would like to discuss how our government is too involved in education as well as how our education system needs to be more differentiated.

What has more value, increase in knowledge and capability or getting good test scores? The answer to that question should be simple, but because of the emphasis placed on standardized testing, it is not. The problem with standardized tests lies in that it can only measure a narrow field of capability. Standardized tests can't measure initiative, creativity, imagination, curiosity, effort, commitment, good will, ethics, or many other important aspects of a person. To answer the question I posed earlier, of course the most important thing that comes out of school is growth in knowledge and capability, but the emphasis on standardized testing has complicated that answer in they eyes of our educators.

I believe that teachers are the best part of our education system; however, their influence is being limited by all the government established mandates they must meet. Systems like the Common Core and the No Child Left Behind Act are preventing our teachers from doing what they do best: teaching. We need to give more power to the experts in the education field. These experts are not government officials, they are the teachers of America. Teaching every student in America to reach a certain standard of knowledge is a noble goal, but we need to remember that we are teaching students, not standards. Our schools are not a business, and are children are not products. The goal of education is not to make the children of America all fit into the same cookie cutter shape.

In conclusion, America’s education system needs help. There are many areas in which improvement can be made, but the first change needs to be giving the power back to the educators. We need to back off the government involvement in our schools in order to help our schools succeed. Our teaching needs to be differentiated for each student, and standardized testing needs to be reevaluated. Our students are our future, and I believe that more needs to be done to help them succeed. 

Sincerely,

Helena F.