Story Of American Education Essay

Education has been a fundamental aspect of human society for centuries. The aim of education has evolved immensely over time, with different cultures and societies placing emphasis on different aspects of education. However, the overarching aim of education within the United States is unique. In the beginning, education was focused on equal opportunities, creating functioning citizens, and freedom of the people, similar to what the colonist moved to America for. However, over time, I believe that the aim of education has evolved to be different depending on the district. It has become extremely dependent on the wealth of the district, and the quality of education is not equal because of this dependency. There needs to be reform within the education

As seen in the film “School, The Story Of American Education”, The 19th century saw a significant expansion of public education in the United States, with many states passing laws requiring all children to attend school. The purpose of education was to provide individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in society and to prepare them for life as citizens. Many saw it to be extremely important for children to all be required to attend school in order to become functioning citizens. I personally believe that this was a very important step taken to reach country-wide education for children and equal opportunity because prior to this, only wealthy children were able to attend any type of schooling. Poor children often were forced to skip school in order to help tend to the farm. Creating a bill that requires children to attend school created an equal opportunity for children to develop into functioning

Continuing, I have had multiple teachers tell me that they need us to score high on state testing in order to receive better funding. However, even when our school system received better funding, they did not spend it on resources for our classroom which would have made us more competitive as a district. They instead spent that money on a brand-new gym. This is just one example of the outrageous funding issue that alters the aim of education for children everywhere. In Rothestein’s “Where Has The Money Gone?” the author discusses the exact division of the funding for the average school. He says that thirty percent of the new money goes to special education, eight percent goes to increasing teacher salaries, ten percent is put towards meal plans, and much more. It equals out to eighty percent of the funding going towards things other than the education of students. The story is not the same for children who originate from a better-funded school