State of the Educational System

Singleton knows that many will dismiss his plan as banal and simplistic, but he says it is not and sets out to prove his point by considering the implications if the plan were followed. Singleton is not recommending giving F's indiscriminately but only to students who have not learned the required material. The basic problem with the educational system now, says Singleton, is that there is a common practice of giving out grades that have not been earned. In this way, school systems--and teachers--have contributed to the growing ignorance of th

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. Yardley cites statistics to show how an absurdly high percentage of graduates of Harvard Law School are awarded honors, suggesting that when 75 percent of the class is awarded honors, these honors have been tarnished until they are meaningless. When asked, educators give reasons for the high marks given to students, reasons which Yardley calls rationalizations, such as lighter course loads which give students more time to study, the desire on the part of professors to please students, the fact that students do not attend schools known for tough grading, and the pressure on universities to place their students in good and remunerative jobs. Yardley says all these reasons are valid, but he sees two more troubling trends in American education and culture as being the true culprits. The first is greater emphasis on test-taking rather than real learning, and the second is "the pervasive notion that accomplishments are less important than rewards," an assumption that is apparent in the new buzzword, "self-esteem." Yardley examines each of these issues in turn and notes how they affect education in schools and how they have indeed reshaped the way educators think about the subject at all. Yardley blames the 1960s for much of thi
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Approximate Word count = 1561
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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