The Education System Should Be Changed Argumentative Essay

For hundreds of years, schools have been the most popular way that we educate our youth. They have been society’s way of preparing children for the real world. This including teaching students to live on their own have a job, and how to be successful all-around people. Since the introduction of schools, they have changed exponentially. Today, students spend many hours a day at school, and when they finally go home, they must do more school in the form of homework and studying. The debate is whether schools and society have gotten too tough on students, or if this ramped-up school system is a positive thing for them. Others even say the school system should change completely to challenge children even more with an alternative form of schooling, focusing on critical thinking and developing important skills that students will need for their future. Some people say that struggling in school is a good thing for students because it better prepares them for an unforgiving world. However, others say that the current school system, along with society’s standards, is dangerous for students because of the health risks that they come with.

As I just stated, schools have gotten harder for today’s youth. Students, on average, spend about 7 hours a day at school. After this, they must spend several more hours doing homework and extracurriculars. This packed schedule often leads to students becoming overwhelmed and stressed, which can lead to many health problems. These health problems include mental illnesses, heart problems, and extreme anxiety. Another effect of the jammed schedule of students is that they are not able to participate in their hobbies or have much free time to do the things that make them happy. This has created a depression pandemic, as well as caused other problems as well. With hours of homework and studying every night, students are not able to get enough sleep for their developing brains. It is recommended that minors get between 8-10 hours of sleep to help their bodies develop properly. However, with our current school system, this is not possible. This can again lead to many serious health problems, such as heart and brain disorders, and issues with other organs. These disorders are very serious things that we don’t want our coming generations to be prone to. On top of these, the overwhelming load on students is shown to cause isolation and loneliness. A study has even shown that students on average spend half as many hours socializing with friends than students in 1987. (BESTLIFE) And as humans, being lonely is one of the most damaging things to our health.

Another change in the education system doesn’t even have anything to do with schools at all, but rather society. Society’s expectations when it comes to school are that every student should go to college, and every student that doesn’t go to college is lesser than those that do. This forces students into doing things “society’s way” over the way they probably should go about their future. An example of this is a young boy who is peer pressured into spending thousands of dollars going to college when all he wants to do is become a plumber, which does not need a college degree. Another way society has changed its views regarding our youth is that it says that students will not be successful unless they have perfect grades. This instills fear and stress in students, especially with the workloads that they are given on top of these high expectations. The Millennial generation is the first generation in decades that is shown to be doing worse than their parents. This could be because of the way society has changed its views on education.

Even with the seemingly negative changes in education and society, our world has gotten significantly better during the past few decades. Extreme poverty has gone down, life expectancy is rising, child mortality is down, as well as graduation rates are up. Even with the possible risks from the current education system, the world has improved, nonetheless. With harder education, innovation has skyrocketed in areas such as medicine, engineering, and even on social issues. This innovation includes the quick formation of the COVID vaccine, along with an increase in knowledge of social issues, leading to a decline in discrimination around the globe. These things have led to the bettering of our society, and possibly couldn’t have made as great an impact if our school system didn’t force students to spend so much time on schoolwork learning about them.

There is also a group of people that believe that schools are challenging for students, but not challenging in the correct ways. These people say that the reason that students are miserable in school is that they get bored learning about seemingly useless things and are not having to think critically to complete their work. This argument concludes that for schools to become better, they must challenge students by focusing on heavier problem solving to prepare them for the real world. Problem-solving and critical thinking are on many lists of skills that employers want most, which is another reason why some argue that schools should focus on challenging students in these aspects.

With this information, it is easy to see all sides of the issue on how the school system should change. Should it become more laid back for students, should it continue to be very difficult for students, or should school change entirely and focus on critical thinking and skill development. Since all of these have their pros and cons, it will take more research to determine the correct stance on this issue. With this being said, there are so many questions that need to be answered. These include, has school gotten too rigorous? Have society’s expectations hurt our youth? Have the changes in school and society led to the decline in mental health for students? Do students get bored in school? Do students need to be challenged more in the curriculum? These are all questions in which I intend to research further to try to solve this problem. To do this, I must use many sources. Some I have identified have been personal experiences from affected people, researchers in the field of human development, surveys done by professional websites such as PEW research, and university studies such as a study done by the University of Arizona. All these resources are very valuable and will help me piece together some conclusions. This is important because it shows that there is plenty of research out there to allow me best to formulate a research conclusion.

Now that both sides of the issue have been explained and my research is laid out, I must explain where I learned about this issue. Throughout high school, I have seen many of my friends become overwhelmed with the amount of work they had to do each night. In one of my friends, the stress led to him not eating and becoming diagnosed with anorexia. I also had a friend who I saw have a decline in mental health and struggle with depression. School made him believe that life is worthless. After watching two friends of mine have issues due to schoolwork and expectations, I knew it was an issue. However, as I pointed out, the world has been improving and our coming generations have been finding their way. This has caused me to grow hungrier to find out the effects that schoolwork and society’s expectations have not only in a short-term sense but also a long-term sense.

With my history with the issue and my knowledge of the issue, I have been able to formulate a goal. This goal is that I hope to learn the health effects on these past few generations of students from school and society-related stress and to determine the long-lasting impact on them. Along with this, I would like to determine what the best plan of action for our students is, figuring out what is successful and what is not. I want to be able to figure out what approaches come with positive or negative consequences. If I can do this through my research, then I will have been successful.

Now that my goals are expressed, it is key to express who I want to know the conclusion of my research or my audience. I think it’s important for parents to know what is happening to their students, whether good or bad, so they can then choose how they want to go about it. If bad, they can come together to make a change. And if good, they can relax knowing that their child will be okay and that their struggle is only helping them in their future. I would also like to make teachers, principals, and the entirety of the education system aware of my research. It is their work in schools that directly affects students, so the change must start with them. These parents, teachers, and others in the education system will be an ally of mine because they also want to do what is best for students. If we can all work together to get to the bottom of this issue, then our society will greatly improve through a healthy and beneficial education for students, leading to a successful future for generations to come.