Why is the educational system in the United States so outdated? In part, this is a result of our factory model of education. It produces depressed students, forces students to take prerequisite courses, and fails to produce a diverse generation. A more effective education system is one that promotes the pursuit of personal passions and interests. We must stop forcing our children to learn things they don’t enjoy and start teaching them what they really like.
The education system in the United States was designed to meet the needs of the industrial revolution, not the modern, hyper-connected society. Today’s educational system is simply unable to meet the demands of an increasingly globalized society. Several policy elites claim that the educational system was outdated even when it was first established in the United States. This view is based on a fake history of high schools. Historically, high schools in America offered classical training to the sons of merchants. Today’s high schools function very differently than their predecessors.
The educational system in the United States is rigged against students of low socioeconomic backgrounds. While the scores are not overwhelmingly impressive, they do show an improvement. But despite improvements in some areas of educational performance, there are still troubling gaps in performance among ethnic and racial groups. Black and Hispanic students have seen the most progress, and scores in these groups are now comparable to those of their richer counterparts. Even if the United States’ educational system is outdated, it is still a far cry from the one that is used internationally.