Most people don’t even question our public school systems. I mean who has the time to question much these days? We are all so busy running this rat race and we don’t feel like we have the energy to think after the workday is over. You may say “I went to public school and I turned out alright.” But is alright all we really strive to give to our children?  There are definitely more than 9 reasons public schools are failing our society, but these are the big ones.

The future is not looking good for America. We rank 14^th in education and 2^nd in ignorance on social issues. That sure doesn’t look like a good combination to me. Yes, there are some good public schools, but there are more bad ones.  Every child matters. I would also like to propose some solutions to you and would love to hear your ideas as well!

1.Boring

The majority of kids will tell you that they do not like school and this seems normal to us. It’s like we automatically assume that school is supposed to be boring. Think back to something you learned in the past that interested you. Was that boring? Of course not! Learning shouldn’t be a chore.

You may say well they need to learn the stuff, right? Just because they memorize something for a test does not mean they learned anything. It seems like a big waste of time to me. Why is so much time and effort put into memorization?

This brings me to my solution. Schools should focus more on the individual’s interest.  Of course, everyone should learn basic skills like reading, writing, and math. But classrooms should be set up to better meet the individuals needs. Children learn more when they are excited about something. Montessori classrooms also work well for children. The older kids can help the younger children learn, while learning to become leaders.  

Most children these days don’t even understand the basics about our world. Ever ask a child where lettuce comes from? Many of them will say from a bag or from the store. And who can blame them? There are some schools that have nature classrooms. These outdoor classrooms allow children to learn so much more than they ever could in a classroom looking at a book. It wouldn’t even cost much to create one at every school and many parents would enjoy bringing in the resources necessary. Here is an article from the National Wildlife Federation discussing some amazing benefits of exposing children to the natural world. 

Kids are not meant to sit still all day long.  They need to move!  It makes no sense that all these kids are on drugs for ADHD because they are just being kids. My little brother just completed the fourth grade and he didn’t have recess the entire year!  Then his teacher suggested medication because he is hyper.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the real issue.

2.Parents don’t teach the Children at Home

People need to take responsibility for their actions and for their children. When a child goes to kindergarten and doesn’t know the basics, how is that teacher supposed to catch that kid up? Solution: Parents need to teach their kids. Simple right? If you are too busy to teach your kids, you are just too busy. I know many people that have kids that are going to kindergarten soon and are not ready. The parents have failed to take the time needed to teach their kids what they need to know.   It is abnormal to not be able to understand a four-year-old child with no disabilities or for them to not be potty trained.

3.Dumbed Down Material

Talk to any educated elderly person and they will tell you how much harder school was some years ago. For example, my college professor’s generation read the Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle among many other books that people don’t read today. They were able to understand it, but when he became a professor he learned from all his failing students that he had to dumb down the material.  Then a couple of years later he had to dumb it down again. My class read the Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck, which is somewhat similar. But many people even had a hard time with reading that.

Programs like No Student Left Behind encouraged teachers to make it too easy for any kid to pass.  They weren’t retaining the knowledge they needed to become successful. Seeing an A on a child’s report card makes parents proud. But you have to think is that an A any more than what a C was back in the 70s? Grade inflation is not a good thing in the long run.  Most kids these days get A’s and B’s, but how does this make sense if we’re ranked so low compared to the other nations?  Shouldn’t we be competing against them instead of falling behind?  Here’s a great article by Applerouth called When A is for Average: the High Cost of Grade Inflation.

4.Funding

The property tax of the area determines the funding. This is a huge problem. Poor children are off to a bad start from the get-go. There is no mystery behind a poor generation that raises another poor generation. It takes a lot of hard work on an individual’s part to get out of that poor mentality. It can happen, but it is rare and would be better if everyone was on a level playing field.

The solution to this one could come from many avenues. A pulling of the states property taxes and distributing them evenly throughout all the schools would help. But I think a better solution would be for schools to have to compete for funding. Take a charter school for example. They have to be competitive so more kids go there or they don’t get funding. 

There are not enough charter schools available and some even have to offer a lottery style system to decide what kids can get in. Many parents really want their child to go there. America spends more per student than any other country so this point could be argued. So a lack of funding is only a small piece of the puzzle.

5.Teachers Tenure

Yes, there are positives for teacher tenure. But, yet there are also a lot of negatives. I am all for protecting teachers because we know that false accusations come up very often.  At the same time, many children don’t receive a quality education. Some teachers think since they can’t get fired without a lengthy process (and many schools don’t want to go through that). They don’t have to try after their probationary period if they don’t want to. Good teachers are a HUGE necessity for student learning. They contribute to making a society successful. There needs to be closer monitoring of teachers performance, but they should still have protections.

6.No uniforms

I am a big supporter of uniforms. I remember being a poor kid in school. My clothes weren’t the nicest and some kids made fun of me. There were people who got it worse than me and I will admit it was nice for the heat to be off of me back then. It shouldn’t be like that. In schools where kids have to wear uniforms, it levels the playing field a bit.

Yes, there are still problems in schools with uniforms. This is real life. Problems are everywhere, but reducing unnecessary problems is the point.  I had one nice shirt in middle school and I wore it quite often.  Sure enough, I got laughed at and felt totally humiliated.  I think we all had at least one bad experience in school because of our clothes.

7.They don’t give alternatives to college after high school 

College is great for some, don’t get me wrong. I think education is very important, but the idea that college is the only way to get educated is naive. Some of the most successful people are either college dropouts or they never even went. Take Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, for example. He dropped out of college and is one of the most successful people in our society today.

Now, you may say they are the exception to the rule. I beg to differ. A person can go to school to become a teacher and make on average $44,848. They also rack up a ton of student loan debt. That doesn’t make them more successful than the postal worker that has no student loan debt and makes on average $53,100.  Many people with degrees are still living in poverty.

No one wants to talk to students about other career paths other than the one that involves a college degree. This is limiting to the students that don’t want to go to college. More options need to be a given to students.  It’s not you either go to college or else you are a failure, but unfortunately this is how many children feel.

8. Bullying

Implementing anti-bullying programs into schools only does one thing. Makes the people in charge look good.  Bullying is still prevalent in the public school system.  I imagine you were probably bullied at some point while you were in school.  I think it’s safe to say we all experienced it to some degree.  It hurts. Children shouldn’t be scared to go to school.  My brother goes to a good school, but there is still a lot of bullying going on there.  A lot of the teachers are not observant of what is going on.  Many times nothing’s done even when the issue is brought to the staff’s attention. There are great teachers that are mindful of what is going on their classrooms. They take the necessary steps to make sure everyone feels safe, but there are many that do not.

9. Indoctrinating children

This is a big one and a touchy subject.  Schools should only be teaching kids how to think, not what to think.  Why can’t the government just let the kids learn? Instead of shoving their agendas down their throats. Most boys like G.I. Joes and most girls like Barbie’s.  There is nothing wrong with that!  Let them be.

Did you know that the state of Oregon allows 15-year-olds to get a sex change without parental consent? 94% of children grow out of transgenderism by adulthood so most of these teens end up regretting it!  Since when have teenagers been known to make good decisions? When a child’s confused about their sexuality they don’t need people pressuring them to get a sex change, but to help them work through it. If they grow up and still want to get a sex change then so be it.  There are so many so-called “social justice” issues being thrown at little children that are doing more harm than good.

Schools could be awesome…

If we had more people who cared enough to change them. Everyone is so busy working their lives away that they don’t see what’s really going on. And there are some people who just feel powerless to fix anything. This is why we need to be informed voters. The right people need to get elected to represent the people.

If you are already a voter, ask yourself are you truly informed or do you only have half of the story? Take the time out of your busy schedule to get to know who is running for the federal and state offices. There is more to each candidate than what you see in a five-minute segment on the news and a Facebook meme to consider.

Related: Are Millennials The Worst Generation Ever?

Do you think public schools are failing our society? What are some of your ideas to make them better? Let me know in the comments below!

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