An Analysis of the US Education System

Passion Project

Goal: I want to research further into the psychological consequences of early childhood education practices to become better qualified to hold my future Education Sciences degree and subsequently apply my findings to a systematic approach.

Current Reaction: My research for this project at this point in the initial post has shocked me by allowing me to realize just how intricate and important the work I plan to do is. The responsibility I hold to the children I plan to support is unwaveringly warm, yet daunting at the same time. The more I learn about the responsibility of teaching, the more I realize how every move I make will have to be carefully considered to protect my students best.

Synopsis: Currently, the field is understaffed and under-supported by the government. There have been reports of growing illiteracy in the youth of America as well as growing reports of attention deficit disorders that have yet to be accommodated efficiently. There is also a subculture of “unschool”-ing parents who have such little faith in the school system they have taken schooling into their own hands entirely, with little to no regulation or rigor. Not to mention, when kids are in school, Chat GPT is doing all of their work for them. Essentially, in recent years it has felt like the passion and excitement around learning has been eradicated. From a student perspective nowadays, there are only extremes and it all seems very overwhelming.

Analysis: Researching further, I discovered an example of a successful school system that I am interested in studying to better understand my goals for the US school system. The Finnish school system is a valuable point of reference when considering my priorities as they focus on the ideal psychological conditions for students to learn in as well as economic allocation of resources to ensure educational equality. For example, they give students a lenient schedule which allows them to learn when they are ready and live the lifestyle of a child, this focus on pacing allows students to indulge the curiosity through play and build their focus when they are ready to. Increasing breaks for creativity and exercise increases focus generally. Additionally, as expressed in the article below ,”The differences between the weakest and strongest students are the smallest in the world," meaning another strength of this system is educational equality. This is a direct result of targeted economic allocation. These are two examples of policies which could be implemented in the US Education system and I believe they would have beneficial results. My reasoning for this is the precedent of life-long learning in Finland.