Dear Next President,

Education is a big problem in our country. There are many problems with education that cause students to have average or lower than average grades in most subjects compared to the rest of the world. If those problems don’t get fixed soon, it will affect the future generations and will cause many problems in the future.

One problem that causes students in America to have average or lower than average grades is with the amount of time students are in school. Schools in America have less school days than in most schools around the world. On average, there is between 179 to 181 school days in America. However,the average amount of school days around the world is 193 days: a full 2 weeks more than schools in America. Additionally, schools in America have school hours that are shorter than most schools around the world. In Korea, students spend about 16 school hours per day and as a result, they have much higher grades in tests compared to other people around the world. However, we spend only about 7 school hours per day. With less school days per year in America compared to the rest of the world, and with less school hours per day, America has a very short school time.

Another problem that causes it with is with school funding. In 2012, the government spent about $107 billion. While that may seem like a large amount, that is only about 3% percent of the total amount the government spent in that year. Also, recent budget cuts have affected some schools in America by causing them to have less money. Schools with less money means that those schools will have less staff, fewer resources and less services for children. It also means that conditions there will be poorer, causing a worse education for kids. This shows that the government making budget cuts will affect schools negatively, and creates a worse education for kids and should spend more money for education.

One more problem that I will talk about is with help for low income families. Lots of children in school are in low-income families, and most students in low-income families have bad conditions, and barely can afford the living standards. Also, students from low-income families are doing bad in school and have failing grades. This also adds to the problem about America being behind in most subjects. Also, colleges with lots of students from low-income families have less graduates than in collages with only a few students from low-income families. This means that less poor people in America will be successful and their children will most likely be unsuccessful and will ultimately create a cycle where most people who are in the cycle will be unable to escape from. This shows that the government needs to do something to help low-income families, and also help the children there as well.

This problem is important to me because, it affects me. If these problems are not fixed, it will affect my education and might affect my future as well. I want to be successful and get a job, and these problems might lower the chance for me being successful and living a good life. Future president, I hope you will make the right choice and fix these issues by increasing funding for schools, and help low-income families and their children so that they will have a better future. I know you have other important issues to fix, but this issue is just as important as the others, and if you don’t fix them, the country’s future will be affected.

Sincerely,

Alden Sevilla

Cites:

http://www.theedadvocate.org/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/17/public-educations-biggest-problem-keeps-getting-worse/

http://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/10-major-challenges-facing-public-schools

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/putting-a-number-on-federal-education-spending/?