The United States educational system strong and weak points

By interviewing four different students with distincts high school backgrounds in

different parts of the United States it was possible to identify some aspects that make
that should be reinforced in the school curriculum and also some points that need to be
revisited in order to provide a better environment for learning and for the students to
improve their academics learning and also their social skills. I chose to invite people
with different social and economical backgrounds in order to make an average of what
the United States public school can offer according to the areas that the schools are
located.
My first interviewee was from upstate New York in a town called Poughkeepsie
and now he is a Berklee student. He told me that the most difficult part in school was to
keep up with his classmates learning pace.That happened because he had ADD and
other learning disabilities. In order to be prepared for class, his family was
recommended to as for professional help with a psychologist and private tutors. The
school he was going did not provide those services, and luckily his parents had the
financial conditions to provide him the extra help required for him to improve his learning
skills.
He also mentioned that the school had a very strong music program, and since
he started to have music classes in middle school the other subjects started to become
easier, since he developed a better mental focus and learn how to be more disciplined.
Besides the regular courses, he mentioned that one of the most important classes that
he took was home economics, where he had learnt activities that are useful for his
daily life, such as cooking, writing letters and cleaning in general.
Music was also present in the second student school environment. But differently
than the first one, he never had difficulties in learning other subjects. Although, besides
the music department his social interaction was not considered ideal. He claims that it
was difficult for him to fit in the school environment because he didnt have the social
tools that were appreciated by students outside of music classes. Those tools were
based on physical appearance (clothing and hair style) and skills in sports, which he
said were areas that he did not have interest in.
He also said that although the music program had a lot of different ensembles,
such as Jazz Band, Martial Band, Symphonic Band, the theoretical music knowledge
teaching was poor and he had to look for private lessons to improve his music skills. In
the regular courses, he felt that the teachers were more interested in give all the content
that was programmed than in the students learning per se. When asked if the
educational system should focus more in the areas that the students were more
interested he said that it would help both teachers and alumni to improve their interest in
show up for classes.
Different than the first two interviewees, who were raised in middle class
neighborhoods, the third person who participated this research was raised in a low
income area in West Philadelphia. The only program besides regular courses was
sports. He claimed to be a very dexterous athlete and because of that he got a
scholarship playing football. Unfortunately he got injured in his freshman year and was
not able to play football anymore. Because of that he lost his scholarship and was not
able to stay in college due to the high tuition values. That fact unmotivated him to keep
studying and he opted for the simple life, as he calls it, working as building concierge
in Boston, where his wife that he met at college is from.
He said that growing up as a black male in a violent area such as West
Philadelphia was very difficult and the school environment reflected that violence, when
it came to relationships with classmates and also teachers and school administration.
One of his complaints was that the government provided investment in metal detectors
in the school entrance, but never tried any policy to prevent the violence that was
happening in the neighborhood. Those conditions made teachers and students
unmotivated to attend classes with one or two exceptions, most of his classmates did
not finish high school or ended up succumbing to crime or drugs.
In a different area, but with a similar background the fourth interviewee also did
not have a variety in the schools she studied in North Shores, Miami. First generation
American, daughter of Haitian immigrants, she said that the school experience was far
from ideal. In the 90s bullying towards Haitians in Florida schools was a serious
problem. She affirmed that the other students even elected a day to beat up Haitian
students, the event was known as Haitian Fridays. Because of that, the Haitian
students started to walk in groups in order to defend themselves, what ended up in the
formation of gangs that now are feared in an area named Little Haiti. When I asked if
the school did not take any measures to fix this social problem, she said that most of
her teachers and the school principal hadnt any interest in get in the way of violent
students, considering that most of them were already involved with drug dealers and
other criminals.
Despite all this terrible environment she was immersed, the literature classes
were the area that she found the biggest interest in, and she was able to have a
scholarship at Barry University, located nearby this area. Her major was African
American Literature and now she gives english classes in the same High School she
studied and she also teaches academic english to foreign students, where I met her last
year.
After compare all the iterviewees experiences it became evident one of the major
problems related to the educational system in the United States of America. It seems
that the lack of investment in low income areas is evident and also there are no policies
of inclusion of people who have a violent background. In the first two cases, the families
were able to provide all the tools to fill the blanks that the educational system had. For
example, if my first interviewees family were not able to pay for private lessons and
psychologist sessions, it would be probable that his school life would not be as
profitable as it was. The third interviewee's school did not have any alternative than
sports for their students, and also the universities, at least at the period that he was
studying did not provide any support for its injured athletes. I sincerely hope this fact
had changed. The universities make a huge profit over its athletes and dont give them
any guarantee back, in my opinion those agreements must be revisited.
 In comparison with Brazilian public schools, the US schools are way ahead in
terms of structures, but I think that the context in low income areas are similar.
Unfortunately, I still think that the root of this problem is racism. The contexts presented
to me in the interviews cant make me think otherwise. In both countries, congress and
city administrators show no interest in change the the chaotic situation that poor people
have to deal with. Art and sports as a solid tool to insert people in a health coexistence
still seems to be the most powerful solution although those are the first programs that
are cut off the budget.
Both arts and sports are not more important than the other courses, but in my
view those areas are the ones that improve peoples self esteem easily, and that is
essential for someone to improve their learning and interest in classes, especially if you
live in a society where most of the values are based in the amount of money and
materialistic items that one has.
In conclusion, I would suggest that education specialists should aim in a more
global form of thinking about the school, because if the focus is on technical aspects,
the student as an individual will never improve. It is essential for educators to consider
that their compromise does not end at 3PM, and to do whatever it is possible for make
the students motivated to show up in class and learn about living and coexist.