Megan Volk

English 2010
Kati Lewis
10/25/15
How to Change the Education System
When you hear the word schoolyou don't get very good feelings. You get a mix of emotions.
Mostly because school is a place of boredom and learning. Have you ever thought that there might be
a way to have good feelings towards school or that learning could possibly be fun? Maybe in your
fantasies, right? Since everything else in the world is changing like legalizing gay marriage or
marijuana in some states, or having a woman run for president we might as well change the education
system. There are a few things that you were not a big fan of in school and you were right to not like
them. Like middle school. This was a horrible time for everyone. Hormones were roaming the halls of
the school, everyone was moody and awkward, and this went on for
three years. There isn't really even a point for middle school. A study
of New York City schoolchildren found a sharp drop in math and
English scores in students who went to separate middle schools,
compared to kids in K-8 schools.(Evans). Many cities have already started to get rid of their middle
schools and start the K-8 system. This change could create a lot of helpful learning environments.
Our education system has been the same for too long. Times are changing and our education
system needs to as well. I have seen the need for change and I want to find a way for us to change it. It
gives me hope that we are making some change with the K-8 idea and that we are giving some new
ideas a chance. Some things we are going to have to take baby steps with and I feel that our whole
reformation of the education system will be that way. Some other countries have started their
reformation and are very successful in their decisions. One of which is Finland.
Finland's new approach is almost the complete opposite of our education system, but it is

working outstandingly. The U.S has an average graduation rate of 75%, not very high, but not too low.
Finland now has a graduation rate of 93%. Only 7% of their students don't graduate. And their test
scores beat everyone else around the world. Obviously they are doing the right thing here. We can't
even image having that many of our students graduate that number is impossible. Here is why Finland
is kicking our butt in education (Biljak).
Their teachers are geniuses. They have to have a
masters in order to become a teacher and only 1 our of
10 become teachers. Since they are so good at what they
do they get paid as much as doctors and lawyers do. Our
teachers get paid an average of $50,000 a year, and in
some areas of the U.S it is even lower than that. The
teachers in Finland have a student teacher ratio of 1-12
where is in the U.S we have a student teacher ratio of 124 how to do teach 24 students successfully within a few
hours? It doesn't make much since if you ask me (Biljak).
Standardize testing in Finland is kept to a minimum. The only major standardized test they take
is when they graduate which by that time I am sure they are well prepared for it. I can't even count how
many standardized tests I have taken all through my schooling. We have the ACT, the SAT, and then all
the other tests you have to take at the end of every semester. You can't get any more overwhelming then
that. Can you imagine a school system that only has you take one test when you graduate? Wouldn't
that be the life? You would only have to stress over one test. It makes me feel calm just thinking about
it. You know what else keeps the stress down? No homework. You know who has no homework?
Finland. They don't really have any homework until their teenage years and even then they try to keep
it as little as they possibly can. No homework and no testing, can it get any better? How about adding
an extra hour onto your recess? In Finland they get 75 minutes of recess each day. In the U.S we get 25

minutes of recess each day because we can't miss out on our testing and homework. Teachers there
believe that children learn better when they are ready, why stress them out?(Hancock). Amen
Finland, Amen.
It isn't just one area in Finland that this is associated with, this is the education system for all of
Finland. All the schools are the same so no matter if you live in poverty or royalty you will get the
same education. And yes it is publicly funded. How can that happen though? The U.S is publicly
funded yet those who live in poverty don't get as well of an education as those who live comfortably. I
think those in charge of our education system need to take a little field trip to Finland to find out how
they manage to keep everything equal. Oh and to top all of that off students get free health care. Where
is all your money coming from Finland? Could we afford all of this for our education system but we
just aren't because the government thinks there are other more important things to put money into like a
gigantic fancy wall to separate the U.S from Mexico? Just a thought. We do have some hope in
changing our education system thanks to Sir Ken Robinson. He is a creative expert who challenges the
way we are educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school system, to cultivate
creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. He believes that the main way to change our
education system is creativity (Robinson).
There is more wrong with our education system then I've talked about though. We are doing
what we did in the past. Why would we use the same
system we used when we were teaching in church
buildings? Our whole world is changing. We have new
technology that we should be incorporating in our school
systems, instead we are pretending that they don't exist
because they are a distraction. I believe that they wouldn't be a distraction if we used them to help us
learn. We need to adapt to our surroundings, not run away from them and hope one day we will
magically forget about them and focus on what the teacher is trying to mold into our minds. There are

many ways we can incorporate them into lessons because some teachers somewhat are.
There are apps that can be downloaded onto smart phones and i-pods that act as a buzzer or a
survey that the teacher can receive answers from, almost like a game show. I am sorry that I am more
focused on the cute picture my friend put up of us on Instagram than your lesson. Maybe you should
make your lesson more interesting so that I won't want to focus on everything else that is going on in
my life (Robinson)
We are stressing out about getting into college that we don't even know what we want to go
into. We have been brainwashed to think that college is the only way into getting a career. This isn't as
true as it once was 20 years ago. There are multiple jobs that don't require a degree that still pay as
much as a job that requires a degree does. So why are we still in this mindset that we have to go to
college to be successful? I'm not saying college isn't important because it definitely is, yet some people
it might not be necessary for so we shouldn't put that stress on them. Especially since everyone is
different (Robinson).
Nobody learns the same exact way. In Finland they understand that. They don't have grades
based off of one type of student, they focus on each individual student and grade them upon their
standards. So you aren't in competition with the other 1000 students in your school, you are in
competition with yourself.
You focus on doing better
than you did before not
doing better than some
random Joe in your
chemistry class.
There is a website
called KhanaAcadamy that
is online schooling that

uses perceptual learning. This is the start we need. I have found a way that causes students to think with
both sides of their brains. You may be thinking don't we already use both sides of our brains? I have
been reading a book in my Art class called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The author talks
about how we could use perceptual learning. This Type of learning would involve us to think so
much more and use both the right and left side of our brain so we can actually understand what we are
learning instead of just memorizing it without any understanding. Perceptual learning is a sensory type
of learning so it's main focus is on art work. Studies have shown that by using artwork to learn you use
the right and left side of your brain because of the creativity as well as learning information. This new
system could be the start of a new generation of intellectual people. If something is broken we need to
fix it and the education system is definitely broken (KhanAcadamy)(Edwards).
From all of these different sources we can do something about our education system. We know
what we need to fix so we should go out and fix it. We can use what we have learned from Finland, but
create it to fit the education system in America. Also what we have learned about perceptual learning
and how it is proven to help students learn more efficiently. It may take some baby steps and
experimenting, but if we start now we can achieve it in just a few years. Lets make this happen.

Works Cited
Biljak, Marina. "There Is No Homework In Finland." Content Marketing Blog. 4 Mar. 2013. Web. 1
Nov. 2015.
Edwards, Betty. Introduction. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in
.........Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence. 4 ed. New York: Penguin Group, 2012. 284.
Print.
Evans, Robert. "5 Things It Turns Out You Were Right to Hate About School." Cracked.com. 14 Mar.
2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
Hancock, LynNell. "Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?" Smithsonian. 1 Sept. 2014. Web. 23 Oct.
2015.
Khan Academy. Khan Academy. Khan Academy, 2015. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
Robinson, Ken. "Changing Education Paradigms." YouTube. RSA, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
Robinson, Ken. "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" Ken Robinson:. TED, 1 Feb. 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.