I feel like our education system is better than a lot of different countries, and behind in a lot of others. As far as developed countries go, our education doesn't compare to a lot of other head-countries. We need to organize our curriculum more. Oh, this common core crap needs to go too.
@the OP, while 1 year of art might be to "initiate creative thinking and problem solving" and you might think it's sufficient that we gain this through life experiences, I posit that we need a clearer and more focused emphasis on this throughout our education system, putting students through more real-time situations that requires spontaneous problem-solving. Furthermore, a healthier dose of the liberal arts would be good for the soul, in expanding possibilities for solutions to problems in a more inter-disciplinary manner.
Our education system is definitely better than a lot of places, but it puts too much emphasis on standardized testing. You have to take a standardized test to move forward practically every year you are in school. Even to get your license to practice in the medical field you have to take a standardized test. I think the education system could improve by putting more emphasis on critical thinking and problem solving, though I think that aspect has improved significantly over the years.
I don't live in America, but I had a teacher who would just show us YouTube videos until the last lesson before the test where he would start teaching us. Failed his class so hard, really feel for people who have to go through this with every class.
I am from Canada. I think our K-12 education system is quite good compared to say the US. Not sure how it stacks up to the UK or Australia though. Here I think the biggest issue is class sizes. Too many students in one class and despite their best efforts the teachers cannot handle it. They are paid very well here btw. Easily double what they make in the states. But it's the class size that places a burden on trying to give enough attention to each student individually. Grade wise and graduation nunbers we are still above the US. If you do not get your high school diploma though you are basically SOL. And as for English class it should absolutely be mandatory for all years. I hated it but I could not image how I would have got through University if I did not grasp the basics in High school. How many times have you watched someone not be able to read bigger words or worse yet how many people cannot spell? Too many people lack the absolute basics so yeah mandatory english class no matter how boring it is.
As for arts. I would not shed a tear if they axed all arts budgets in grades 6-12 and post secondary. Let the little ones play with their colors and paints to learn about color and fine motor skills with painting but after that big waste of money. Picking from a color wheel is not going to get you anywhere. Nor is putting on a school play in drama class. Put that budget money into business, engineering, medicine, or other science fields and actually provide something that will benefit the general public. Harsh words but that is how I feel.
In America, we're better off than most countries, but by far the best.
It's free for the first 12 years, but those years are pretty much shit.
Teachers are paid less than they need to be, making them not care, letting the kids roam free. And the teenagers are horrible. At least the ones that act up. They're scary enough to make teachers cry. Now they're introducing "common core" where there's no more algebra or geometry. It's more like math 1, math 2, math 3.
2 + 2 does not equal 4. It's like
But then again, it's free and MANDATORY that you throw your kid in a shitty social setting if you can't afford to pay thousands for them to go to a private school. It's 50/50 on how your kid will turn out depending on who they hangout with.
And then college, omg, tuition can get up to past 50k for one year. You can save yourself 48k, and throw your social life in the trash if you want to go to community college, but that's only if the government wants to LOAN you around 2k for school. If your parents can shop at the 99 cent store, then you can probably kiss that loan goodbye. Then you have to go into a degree that will actually MAKE you money. Because college =/= money. Not college =/= knowledge.
