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Jack Tanklefsky

Mrs. Stover

Teacher Cadet

December 12, 2018

American Education: Darwinism Evolution

The philosophy of Darwinism is based on the ideas of all creatures changing, adapting,

and evolving to thrive in their environments. Ancestral fish evolved from living under water and

feeding on seafloor algae to being able to temporarily move to dry land for nourishment.

Ultimately, these fish evolved so much, that they were able to fully prosper on land. Evolution is

paramount to elicit change, and for this reason, it has not purely exclusive to change in species.

The American educational system, for example, has also experienced much evolution. Schools

are no longer fettered to the trends of segregation or sexist teachings. Some trends, like corporal

punishment, a teacher’s purpose of education, and teacher evaluations have largely changed and

evolved, and will continue to do so.

The Merriam Webster dictionary describes corporal punishment as “a term that also

denotes the physical disciplining of children in the schools and at home.” Corporal punishment

in the American educational system has evolved from being popular in the 19th century to being

almost non-existent in the 22nd, a trend that will likely go extinct. For example, in 2008,

according to the United States Department of Education, approximately 216,000 children were

subject to corporal punishment. In 2012, however, the amount of children subject to corporal

punishment was severely reduced to 163,333 children, a drop of more than 50,000 children

within four years. Although corporal punishment is legal in thirty one states, only seven states
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reported utilizing corporal punishment as a means of disciplinary action more than 10% of the

time. It is obvious that corporal punishment in American education systems is dissipating in

usage. Even in states where corporal punishment is legal, the districts may act in own interest,

banning physical means of punishment. Colorado, for example, is a state where corporal

punishment is legal, but used in less than 1% of schools for discipline. Because of this, it can be

reasonably inferred that in the foreseeable future, corporal punishment will no longer be

prevalent. Foreseeably, teachers will have to resort to other methods of punishing their students,

such as detentions, suspensions, and in drastic cases, expulsions. Students will not be punished

physically by the teacher, but punished intangibly by the school’s administration. Although some

trends evolve to become more relevant, corporal punishment is likely to peeter out although

some trends seem to peeter out, however, others seem to become more intense.

Currently, in the American education system, teacher’s purpose for education is to teach

students many subjects to diversify the student’s potential future vocations. Students have up to

eight possible classes, where they can take myriads of classes like mathematics, science, social

studies, political sciences, American literature, American language, or many physical education

classes. However, schools did not always used to be like this. For example, during height of

World War II, students were taught specific vocational training, such as carpentry, mining, or

marksmanship. The purpose for American education will always be preparing students to

succeed to the best of their ability in future tasks, however, this may change based on what

American society needs at the time and the current society needs diverse learners. Additionally,

American educational system offers specialized courses on subjects such as technology, nursing,

and electrical engineering, specialized education likely trending to become more and more

popular. Because of possible rise in popularity, schools could offer more specialized classes that
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would garner to the interests and strengths of the students of who take them, ultimately leaving a

large impact on future education and educators. There will be a higher demand for teacher with

knowledge in germane areas of study. Students will benefit from possible classes of interest and

people who are trained in specific vocational studies will benefit from new jobs available in the

schooling system, thus, creating a symbiotically mutualistic scenario.

To make sure that teachers are effectively teaching students, teacher evaluations are

becoming more important and rigorous in today’s society. In the 1700s, evaluations of teachers

did not exist. Teachers were given loose curriculuthey m in which to teach their students. It was

only until the 1800s that teacher evaluations became more popularized and normal in urban

schools, and mid 1800s that they spread to rural area schools. After the turn of the century,

teacher evaluations were in every school -- rural and urban -- and started to become more in-

depth and rigorous. When teacher evaluations become more lengthy and rigorous, they are able

to give more insight to how well teachers are instructing American students. One can surmise

that because teacher evaluations help to maintain the quality of education in the American

education system, the trend of teacher evaluations becoming more lengthy and frequent. This

will, in cause, impact future educators because it means that they will be subject to more

evaluations. Future educators will need to remain motivated and objective, which will not only

help them pass their evaluations, but help their students pass their exams and fully succeed in

life. Although educators may not be thrilled about the idea of being evaluated more frequently,

this will lead to incentivised work, insuring families that their children are getting a suppliant,

education. If teachers are evaluated more often with in depth evaluations, both the student and

the educator will be the beneficiary of the efforts.

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Although the evolution of the American educational system and Darwinism are akin in

the ideas of evolution to spark change, American education does not need to be one dimensional,

like that of the Darwinist thought. All things in life need change; in this case, it is to seek a better

scholastic system. Rather than just evolving to move to dry land, it can evolve to be less

physical, more individualized, more frequent, more rigorous, more complete to fully benefit

student and teachers alike.