What does education mean to you? Let us turn our attention to solving one of the nation’s most pressing problems, education. Education is one of the most important, if not the most important, foundation that needs to be instilled in today’s children. The fact is that every parent dreams of seeing their children vote and eventually achieve a higher level of education. Will other countries overtake us, will they quickly become the world’s leading authority and provider of higher education?
It is clear that we need higher education. We are in an education based economy, we have doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists and the list goes on. If we can’t hire the workforce with the education and skills we need, big companies will find it necessary to relocate to the countries where the talent resides. To state the position as simply as possible: we must hire the best workforce in the world in order to remain competitive. We outsource our needs because we don’t have the level of expertise needed to sustain our own economy.
The need to outsource is only seen as a last resort because we cannot keep up with the rest of the world. Often we don’t have much choice; We need raw materials and advanced technology to be competitive, and that comes with advanced education.
So how do we keep our education up and not sacrifice our economy? First, we need to develop self-discipline and give teachers the tools they need to make a positive impact. We need to do more to ensure teachers are trained to teach the subjects they present with a deeper understanding of the curriculum. The fact remains: “The United States has the lowest high school graduation rate in the world.” If we want to compete in a knowledge-based economy, we need to devote more resources to our teachers. Teachers need to focus more on science and math to better prepare students and enable them to compete on a global scale.
While other countries are graduating scientists and engineers at an impressive rate, our students are moving away from these fields. We have many students looking for a quick fix. They are unwilling to put in the time and effort to really understand the syllabus. I saw this firsthand when I was in high school and college. Many students who did their homework the night before didn’t put any research or real effort into their work. I remember many students who had great memories and could remember just enough to get by.
Understanding is the key to success in anything you do when we complete our work without thorough understanding; we will not be prepared for higher “university” education.
Our level of education will play a big role in whether or not our future will be successful in today’s competitive market. When performance and test scores drop, who needs to step in and take responsibility? Should it be our parents, our schools, our government, or a combination? The debate and dilemma will continue until this growing problem is addressed.
Thanks to Dr. Paul Singh Sran | #Americas #Declining #Education #Impact #Society
