The Issues of Homework, Standardized Tests, and Insufficient Payment of Teachers as The Factors Hampering The Growth of Education in America

According to DoSomething.org “Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone. That’s a student every 26 seconds – or 7,000 a day” (“11 Facts About High School Dropout Rates”). The quality of life these students are giving up is tremendous. Dosomething.org also says, “A high school dropout will earn $200,000 less than a high school graduate over his lifetime. And almost a million dollars less than a college graduate” (“11 Facts About High School Dropout Rates”). It is unfortunate that students are put in a situation for them to quit school. It is true that some high school dropouts like Bill Gates, Johnny Depp, Katy Perry, and Princess Diana have achieved success in their lives, but most dropouts are not as lucky. To make sure education in America will grow to its full potential, people have to be aware of the issues of too much homework given; standardized tests; and teachers not being paid enough.

Homework is often dreaded by almost all students. All students hope that they will not be assigned homework for that day, but that is unlikely. In reinventing education, homework will be cut down to at least two to three times a week per class. Sandra Levy from HealthlineNews explains that homework can lead to sleep deprivation, stress, weight gain and loss, headaches, and depression (“Is Too Much Homework Bad for Kids' Health?"). With problems like these, no wonder many students have a hard time handling homework. Homework should be at least thirty minutes a day so students can have the time to go outside, get exercise, and to be social. Decreasing homework load can improve a student’s excitement about learning and about going to school.

Standardized tests are a huge controversy in schools. For the past year, the PARCC tests have made its way into my high school. At the time, I was a senior and the PARCC tests did not affect my grades. I remember one of my teachers getting so mad because he knew we would not try on the tests and that we would finish it as fast as we could. He was upset because many students who had taken the test did not have that particular class yet. The grades that the students got would reflect on his teaching credibility. Thomas Armstrong from American Institute for Learning and Human Development explains, “Standardized tests don’t provide any feedback on how to perform better. The results aren’t even given back to the teachers and students until months later, and there are no instructions provided by test companies on how to improve these test scores” (“15 Reasons Why Standardized Tests are Worthless”). It is unfair to be giving tests to students and to not show the questions that he or she got wrong. Learning from mistakes is a way for people to not make the same mistake again.

Allowing teachers to make more money will help benefit the classrooms. Teachers will have more excitement to teach and to go to work. Nicholas Kristof from The New York Times believes that paying a teacher more can create better teachers (“Pay Teachers More”). Teachers will be motivated to work harder and to teach students better if they can get paid more. According to Katie Lepi from Edudemic, she found that South Korea is ranked number one in the world for education, with The United States falling behind at number fourteen (“The Top 10 [And Counting] Education Systems In The World”). If America wants to be recognized as a top contender in education, then the first step is to pay teachers more.

Education plays an important role in everyone’s lives. Without it, people will not get the careers that they want and the likelihood of them becoming successful is slim. If schools start minimizing homework, getting rid of standardized tests, and paying teachers more, then America’s education system will be better off. Education will never be perfect, but with these few ideas the school systems will start heading in the right direction.