Dear President of the United States of America,

Education is one of the biggest concerns facing the youth of America today. Education systems and teacher salaries within them should be funded at a much higher priority than they are currently. Education allows for America to compete with other countries, accelerates the total progress of humanity, and betters communities in many ways. We need better funded education to compete globally.

As it comes to college education, the U.S. has a lot to boast about. According to the Times Higher Education Rankings for 2010-2011, America has 15 of the top 20 colleges in the world ("World University Rankings”). These statistics look very promising but there is a great failure in recent American education. America was once the most educated country in the world but recently other countries have been quickly surpassing the U.S. (Wobbekind). Education systems in the U.S. are slipping and allowing for other countries to dominate the education system, lowering the impact America has on global advancement and progress.

As stated in an article on the Bulletin of Education and Research, “Education serves as backbone in development process. Open learning and distance education programs are serving as pivotal part of development process” (Mehmood, Tahir, Abid Hussain Ch, and Amna Saeed). Education is the tool we use in pulling all of humanity into the future of ideas and advancements. As these authors explained, the higher the education received by an individual, the more they are able to contribute to the total progress of mankind through advanced thinking and innovation (Mehmood, Tahir, Abid Hussain Ch, and Amna Saeed). Education advances humanity on a global scale and on a small scale as well.

Well educated people and better education greatly improves communities everywhere. Well-educated people are less likely to commit crimes and more likely to participate in voting (Wobbekind). In developing countries, education is in fact used to build more globally active and protected communities (Mehmood, Tahir, Abid Hussain Ch, and Amna Saeed). Along with these contributions, well educated people are also much more successful. On average, college graduates make twice as much money than they would without a degree” (Wobbekind). Students could be far more successful in graduation and earning college degrees if their education is financially supported.

I have personally heard from people that believe that the amount of money received by education programs is sufficient or even excessive. I have seen the obvious signs that this is not true at my own high school. At Central High School, one of the many funding issues includes that the school is unable to provide adequate amounts of books for students because the district forced the cost of books onto the budget of the school. Teachers are obstructed by this lack of funding, hindering the education of their students. This struggle is seen very often in schools across the nation. In this attempt towards taking money from school education programs, people argue to lessen the graduation requirements for teachers, explaining that there is useless money going into educating teachers because they say teachers should only need a simple understanding of the topic to teach it (Farstrup). This is a very ignorant viewpoint because lowering the standards for educators will completely drop the total education quality provided by schools since the teachers will be less prepared and far from proficient at teaching. This is abruptly against supporting the future development of the nation and the world. As of now about half of students enrolled in college actually receive a degree (Wobbekind). If teaching requirements go down, students will receive worse education, making them less prepared for college, and this number will sink far past 50% and into more devastating numbers. This is precisely why the U.S. needs to fund education at a much higher priority.

As Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Education needs to receive much more funding because it helps America to be respected and remain as a prominent power in the world, it directly aids the progress of mankind, and education betters communities and the success of individuals. The importance of education is so powerful that it requires America’s priority and financial support.

Direly,

Kade Hagen

10th Grade

St. Paul Central High School