Dear Future President,

While 80% of kids graduate high school, less than half of them are prepared for what's next. 80% is an all time high graduation rate with 4 out of 5 students graduating with a diploma. This outstanding number is great, but overshadows the real problem, hardly any of those students can actually proficiently read. It can't be stressed enough, that there is no point in educating someone, if they can't utilize it in their future life.

This brings me to my next point, Teaching doesn't have any vitality, and is a very cut and dry process. This isn't always the case though, teachers sometimes do make strides to "spice" up the curriculum. But many teachers just follow procedure resulting in being a rather uneventful class for the students, speaking from experience, and results in less knowledge being more permanently implemented into our brains. That being said, students won't take much from the class, and, in my opinion, thus don't remember what they've learned as well.

“Schools are designed on the assumption that there is a secret to everything in life; that the quality of life depends upon knowing that secret." 

This was a quote from Ivan Illich where he beautifully discussed about how he thinks about how someone with a more schooled mind, is just more qualified due to the perception that education is the only way to unlock those life skills. There are no friendship classes, no classes on how to buy a house, love a child. School is regarded so highly as to be one's life smarts.

This doesn't exactly add to the idea that our school system is failing, but shows how current schooling ways won't teach you all you need, but are regarded as all you have, later in life.

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Sincerely, Henry S.