Flaws In the System

Devan Almquist

Slack all chapter. Cram all night. Memorize dates and associate names. Pull out an A- with hardly any effort. Everyone has done it at some point in their lives. The education system nowadays allows for people to pass a test without really knowing the material.

On the other hand, you have the students who know the material but consistently receive only a mediocre score on the tests. The problem is: it's easier to succeed and fake the knowledge rather than learn it and earn the grade. This is putting only a small number of our brightest students into the mortgage-size payment universities (no offense to our Honor Students).

Everyone has the kid in their class who is probably smarter than some of the teachers, (no offense to our amazing faculty) but is consistently pulling lower or average grades, just because of the way the system is designed. The current testing format hardly tests a student's knowledge but rather the student's ability to memorize names and dates. This is a serious disadvantage to those students who know the material but have problems with mind-numbing memorization. This alone keeps many students out of our colleges, forcing them to take middle class jobs and live the "blue collar" lifestyle.

Isaac Hinckley, senior, said, "It seems like most of the tests I take won't do me any good once the bell rings; I just memorize what I need and forget it when I'm done. Easy A."

The education system isn't totally crumbling though. The current format creates a more level playing ground, even if it takes away some valuable hills. The system allows everyone an equal chance to bluff their way through class, zone out for a few hours doing pointless homework and then either cheating or guessing their way to an A on the test.

Nathan Almquist, sophomore, said, "I like the way our grades work. It's easy to do the homework. Just put a little bit of time into it, then it's easy to pull a decent grade on the test without much studying."

The easiest way to fix these flaws would be to cut down class size and to increase teacher/student ratio. However, our public education systems do not currently have the money needed for these improvements. The only way to get more money for the schools is a higher tax, and that is an entirely different story.

Another easy fix for this is that students could start putting an effort into actual learning instead of putting the emphasis on their grades. Grades are important, but as one wise owl reminds us all, "Knowledge is Power!"

Both solutions require change, and the change looks to be far off. Maybe someday things will improve, but for now keep the coffee on the pot, the book open and get ready for that all-nighter!