Education Essay.

IDIOCRACY

Every time I watch a documentary about our Educational System in America, it seems my faith

in hope and humanity diminishes just a little bit. If someone asks me what horror movie is the

scariest to me, I snicker in my response and say, “The scariest, most terrifying movie I have ever

seen was the movie Idiocracy.” Most people are confused in my response but to be honest, the

movie hits so close to home… especially when talking about our education system here in

America.  While watching "Waiting for Superman", my fears of America turning into this bestial,

obtuse society are starting to come true. I hear everyday from someone attached to the

education system, whether it be a teacher, student, principal etc, that the "system is broken". It

seems that they're not wrong. Despite countless efforts to change our educational system, I

was shocked at how bad things actually are. I now feel angry at our education system because

we need to change this. It’s petrifying to say the least.

 Just the other day, while I was playing an online, shoot em up video game, a kid said, “You got

died" instead of “you got killed". While my mouth dropped open while disgust played over my

face, I was speechless and almost felt chafed. I was beyond myself in disbelief that this kid, who

sounded around 15, had no better grammar than a four-year old. This had to change. While

researching statistics, I found out why. According to Students First, reading proficiency is

nothing to write home about among our middle school and high school students. “On the 2009

NAEP Reading Test, about 26 percent of eighth graders and 27 percent of twelfth graders

scored below the "basic" level, and only 32 percent of eighth graders and 38 percent of twelfth

graders are at or above grade level.” (StudentsFirst)  Take a moment for that to sink in a bit.

You might need to re-read the statistic again because God knows I did. We are not even near

50% of all eighth and twelfth graders who are at the basic level in reading. It’s no wonder we’re

getting closer to that Idiocracy fear of mine. If we can’t even read at a basic level, it’s going to

take a miracle to teach, train and inform individuals how to do basic everyday functions.

Moving on, the confidence in America is definitely one to be noted. It seems the saying

“America is #1” has been hardwired into our psyche since birth. We hear it all the time. It’s no

surprise to me that when academically tested, we’re over-confident in thinking we are the best.  

“Although America is falling behind in math, our kids are first in confidence.  American students

get terrible math scores compared to their international peers, but they think they’re great in

math—in fact, they have more confidence in their math skills than students from any other

country.” (Education) I might shock a few people in saying this and risk my accountability of

being a patriot, but WAKE UP AMERICA! WE AREN’T #1 ANYMORE! This overconfidence is

costing us million in taxes. We spend so much on education just to see so many of our kids

dropping out of school throwing that money away really. “Over one million children drop out of

school each year, costing the nation over $240 billion in lost earnings, forgone tax revenues,

and expenditures for social services.” (DictionaryProject). We need to stop glamorizing shows

like Jacksass, Nitro Circus, and/or Dumbest Stuff on Wheels because it teaches kids that this

behavior is ok. Before I open that can of worms and risk changing subjects, I’ll move on.

Now, I’m not going to fill your brain up with overwhelming facts of impeding doom. There are

some worthy and notable advocates that are helping our educational system implement

positive change.  Some individuals are starting to get the right thought-pattern and waking up

to the idea we might be doing it all wrong.  White knights like Michelle Rhee, who are strong-

willed, courageous and innovative on how to bring forth some of those changes. She “is a

change agent who had already transformed many urban public school systems through her

work with The New Teacher Project (TNTP) which she founded in 1997, and is now a nationally

recognized leader in understanding and developing innovative solutions to the challenges of

new teacher hiring.” (NCTQ) It takes some strength to stand up to the big bosses of our

government and to ‘the system’. I commend her work and hope others will copy her

courageousness and stand up for what needs to be done.

With hat being said, in the end, my fears matter. Every single human being living and breathing

in this country should be worried about our education system.  We need to get our heads out of

this conceited way of thinking that we’re number one because, clearly we’re not anymore.

Be afraid people. Despite the best efforts of amazing teachers and educational advocates, we’re

still declining and moving closer to watering our plants with mountain dew-like substance

instead of water, like the movie.  God help us.