“The Kids of today are the leaders of the future.” Every single one of them has the potential for greatness, happiness, and fulfillment, yet we limit them to a specific educational made to inspire factory workers.

We are told as kids that we can be anything we want if an effort was put in, but the schools shape students to become mindless followers who listen to orders, wro draw inside lines, who think inside the box. Our intelligence is evaluated on the basis of grades on standardized tests. I--just like so many other students-- have failed a test like the STAAR or the TAKS test, But does that mean I am not smart?Perhaps, it means I can’t succeed in school? Students, and people in general, all learn differently: some learn verbally, some learn hands-on, some learn by repetition, yet we are all forced to take the same test and we are expected to all have the same spectacular scores. Tests, like the STAAR, limit the creativity of children as well as motivates them; all the meanwhile degrading their ambition. Isaac Newton believed that school restricts thought, and being in a time where school was not required, he dropped out of school. Isaac Newton--today-- is considered the father of science for founding the laws of gravity and motion that we use in the modern world, and this is without the limitations of the school system. The reason why we don’t have more people like Isaac Newton is due to the fact that we don’t question others. We don’t look for the reasons why.Why don’t we?! Because kids like myself are working eight hours in school, being taught to regurgitate information and attend eight classes every day.

Confused about the reason and history of school, I researched it. My studies showed me that students are taught in rows and raise hands in order to be familiar with the factory working settings. Schools were used to prepare children for factory work. The conclusion I came to was that during the 1870’s the country was becoming more industrial. Therefore, they needed more workers, and so they trained children to do the work. The true surprise is that we still use the same education system that we used over 100 years ago. We are technologically advanced, socially diverse, and economically fortunate, but we still teach like the 1870’s-- a time of racism, poverty, and illiteracy.

The question is when are we going to change and how? Recently, I discovered an article in the news. It was an author of a poem whose poem was used in a standardized test. She took that test and failed miserably. If the author of her own poem cannot pass a test about the poem, how are kids like myself suppose to pass them? I have always struggled with literature arts, and to know that the author could not pass the test i was taking was frightening. Furthering my point, students are forced by the state education to take tests that are flawed, do homework, attend eight hours of school, and have longer school years. To shed light the mistake of our education, Finland is one of the world’s most educated and most brilliant countries, but the students have short school days, short school years, and homework is non-existent. Despite Finland’s success, we still continue with the flawed teachings that we have used for hundreds of years.

In roughly a year I will graduate; I will graduate not knowing how to do taxes; how to interview for a job, or even how to apply for college.However, I can say I will graduate knowing how to simplify radical expressions, write out chemical formulas, and even know how to analyze a story (Sarcasm implied). I can give all my thanks to our wonderful education system for teaching me the useful things of life (Sarcasm continued).To be frank, the students of America are being dismissed to the reality of the “real world”. Students are told that the “real world” is tough, unfair, and unkind, yet we are not taught how to survive in it!

I call for a restructure and replanning of the system. In order for students like myself to leave and graduate with confidence for the future, we need to change. We need to add practical application classes. Subtract the forgotten skills. Half the workload. Double the inspiration for creativity. I WANT to graduate knowing that my education will be of use to me, and not a waste of 13 years. I DESIRE when I go to college-- to become a lawyer--that I have a wide range of the spectrum of knowledge under my belt. I WISH, for the students of future generations, that they will be mentally tougher, more educated, and will be better students than I once was.

We all dream of a good perfect life. That dream leads students on a path in which wisdom and knowledge are required, and we entrust the school system to teach us that wisdom; still, we are not taught that. We need to reform the system meticulously: to inspire to encourage creativity, to allow the freedom of expression, to get rid of obsolete tests, and most importantly to think. The school system needs to be sho “One of the biggest mistakes in life is assuming that other people think the way we think.”