American Education System

850 Words4 Pages
Education is the starting point for every person on this earth. Everyone has some sort of education, from the standard schooling to work-related training. In the United States of America, there is compulsory schooling. This is a privilege because this is not the case in all countries. But, even in the United States of America there is a lot of refinements that needs to be made in the school system. In both the essay, The Sanctuary of School, by Lynda Barry, and the movie, Waiting for Superman, the topic of how to improve the educational system and school environment is discussed. For example, in the movie, Waiting for Superman, it talks about how failing schools result in failing neighborhoods. This affects the people of the neighborhood…show more content…
But, the average prison sentence for four years costs $132,000 (Waiting for Superman). To put it another way, these prisoners cost more for four years than thirteen years of education of the future leaders of this world. More money needs to be contributed to the school system than the jails. The schools, especially “dropout factories”, could benefit from the extra money by creating more extra-curricular activities. The extra-curricular activities such as art, band, and sports are what makes children excited to come to school. This would contribute to lowering the rate of high school dropouts, as well. In addition, the school needs to reflect the community center approach. In order to do this, it goes back to the money. As referenced in The Sanctuary of School, teachers will have to have higher salaries than they have currently and before- and after-school programs need to be established. Teachers are crucially important to a student’s success in school and are what keep the world going. Raising their pay will possibly give them extra incentive to be more active with the students. The students will then feel closer the teacher, rather than having no relationship at all. This could result in the children having someone to talk to because they have no one to go to at home. Additionally, before- and after-school programs can be a place of refuge for children, like Lynda Barry, who have difficult home lives. Without these programs, children are possibly stuck with having to deal with an unhappy life outside of
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