The American Education System is Corrupt.
The structure of the American Education System is designed to make students unsuccessful. The creators do not want you to be one of the greats; they want you to be an industry worker. People claim that school is meant to set you up for success and prepare students for the world when its motives are to do the opposite. The use of history as propaganda, the omission of information, underfunding, and economic and political motivations foster significant challenges for everyone involved.
Though this may sound like a dramatic conspiracy, public education was built on reducing free will and free thinking. The American education system was heavily influenced by 16th-century Germany and the educational reforms made by Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Fichte's ideas are best described in his own words: "... to define more clearly the new education which I propose, I should reply that that very recognition of, and reliance upon, free will in the pupil is the first mistake of the old system and the clear confession of its impotence and futility." Fichte saw education as a means of indoctrination, and his system was the basis of mandatory American education. Horace Mann, an influential public figure and education advocate, used the German education model to influence his campaign for American education after traveling Europe. He called it the "Common School Movement". He was able to further it as he gained political power as a Massachusetts State Legislature, Secretary of the Board of Education, and U.S. congressman (Margeson and Justin, 2024). The campaign worked to establish mandatory attendance laws and public schools in all states. Schools were intended to be factories for creating obedient and malleable workers. Fichte well summarizes their goal, "Education should aim at destroying free will so that after pupils are thus schooled they will be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished … every government that has been in charge of education for more than one generation will be able to control its subjects securely..." This history reinforces that the system was corrupt from the beginning.
The most dominant influence on American education and views of intellect is anti-intellectualism, a concept from which American culture was built. Anti-intellectualism has been redefined many times as America has evolved, but in the simplest terms, anti-intellectualism is a reaction to threats to power, knowledge, and social hierarchy. Knowledge challenges the status quo and those in power; it makes us contemplate what we believe, which can result in citizens challenging those in power and social structure. Politicians have widely used anti-intellectual ideas since Eisenhower and have been utilized increasingly as the internet has spread false narratives.
Anti-intellectualism is a cause of a lack of education system because a lack of education makes individuals more malleable. It gives officials greater power and control, preventing individuals from thinking for themselves. If Americans were more educated on the government system, corruption, and the amount of issues caused by ulterior motives, more people would put effort into social reform. Intellectuals constitute a significant threat to power, and continuing the current structure puts the common man at a great disadvantage and benefits the privileged (Studio ATAO, 2020). Those who influence the school system often connect to these political movements who use these ideals to gain votes and influence.
Extremist right-wing agendas have increased the severity of undereducation. The principle began during Trump's campaign in 2016 when he said, "I love the poorly educated.". Since there has been a right-wing attack on education, that has only gotten worse. The motive is supposedly to remove "ideological indoctrination," which is highly ironic considering the education system's origins (Micheal, 2023). The right-wing movements aim to integrate curriculum consisting of propaganda promoting fossil fuels, undermining renewable energy, distorting environmental science, removing foreign language education, and erasing racial history. Essentially, white-washing and capitalizing on an already white-washed education system has been aggravated by Trump's claim that diversity is a threat to American culture and tradition, which dismisses racism. The basis of the movement is not to remove indoctrination but to increase indoctrination of their own racist, extremist, and anti-LGBT views. The efforts encourage discrimination and reduce diversity. It is to remove the representation of diverse people and ideas from being taught.
The issues also have a basis in racism and classism. After the great depression, white people were given loans and able to afford better homes in nicer neighborhoods, while black people and people of color were denied loans and forced to scrape by. Additionally, black people had a more difficult time finding jobs. White people were given a great advantage financially, resulting in a better quality of life. Schools in wealthy neighborhoods get far more funding than low-income ones due to property taxes and bias. Property taxes are the primary source of financing for most American public schools, and inherently, the funds in lower-class neighborhoods will be lower because they have less money. Teachers often leave potions in low-income communities to higher-paying districts to acquire more livable wages. This causes a higher workload for teachers left behind and a more appropriate student-to-teacher ratio, resulting in lower-quality education, widening the achievement gap between lower and upper-class communities, and increasing educational inequality.
The unfortunate reality of American economics is that it relies heavily on minimum wage workers with low quality of life. Their underpaid labor allows the economy to prosper at their expense. Teachers are paid unlivable wages and forced to pay for supplies out of pocket and without compensation to have a functioning classroom (Corey, 2016). They are paid 76% of the wages of those with other occupations and the same level of education (Cheeseman Newburger and Beckhusen, 2024). Due to the poor wages, teaching has become an unpopular career, and many quit to pursue careers with livable wages or move to a higher-paying district, furthering the education gap. A national teacher shortage has increased teacher workload and the ratio of students to teachers. The more students, the more education is diluted, and minimal student needs are met. Teachers cannot ensure student success and adequately work with every student when there are more than 30 students within 50 minutes. They especially cannot when they are burnt out and stretched thin by covering vacant jobs left by former staff and managing alternative careers they acquired to get by. Teachers have one of the most challenging and influential jobs, yet they are paid horribly for their hours. They are paying student loan fees for years of education they acquired to be overworked and underpaid. They do it because they care about the kids at their own expense.
Another variable contributing to the low wages of teachers is the public's view of the profession, as it is considered feminine and a lowly profession. Societal views of positions greatly affect funding and the quality of life of teachers. Often, teaching positions do not provide job security or benefits, such as health insurance.
What would happen if all of this were fixed? Right-wing anti-intellectualism vanished, teachers were finally paid for their efforts, schools were equally funded in all areas, and schools changed the system from focusing on creating industry workers to financially stable adults with fruitful lives. Firstly, redistributing funding would ensure all schools had proper resources to give students a fulfilling and effective education and prevent teachers from needing to use their funds to provide for them. If states followed the model of North Carolina and provided additional funding to schools in low-income communities, educational inequality would be combated, education would improve, and so would the quality of life for teachers. Increased wages would combat teacher shortages and allow them to drop additional jobs and focus on being a teacher. This would help reduce stress and burnout, and more teachers would help distribute the workload evenly throughout schools, allowing students to have a better quality education. Combating anti-intellectualism would encourage students to think and research for themselves and help reduce miseducation caused by quickly accepting information as fact. The system would also focus more on teaching truthful things about the world and more life skills to foster well-rounded adults.
If all of these positive effects would occur from educational reform, why haven't we done it already? Why are we still undereducated and easily convinced? It is partially due to a need for more awareness regarding these issues and the motivation to keep people undereducated and unaware. If students were taught to think for themselves, they would be more likely to confront issues and wrongs that the upper class and those in power want to keep hidden. It would challenge their ideas and what they want. We should focus on the real problems in America that benefit them because we will keep chasing our tails with the same old pointless debates.
Additionally, social reform is hard to achieve because of the amount of misinformation and the undereducated and ignorant people in America. However, if citizens were aware of the problem, awareness would inspire motivation to create change, and there would be conflict and debate. Still, if successful, the product of the conflict would be educational reformation, which would ideally produce the previously mentioned benefits.
Ultimately, reform is up to the people and requires us to spend more time contemplating our opinions and second-guessing the information social media feeds us. Classism, racism, sexism, and unethical morals are affecting the lives of Americans and perpetuating an already messed-up system that many are unaware of. America must be suspicious, second-guess our sources, and support one of the most influential and noble occupations: teaching.
SOURCES
Allegretto, Sylvia, et al. “Public Education Funding in the U.S. Needs an Overhaul: How a Larger Federal Role Would Boost Equity and Shield Children from Disinvestment during Downturns.” Economic Policy Institute, 12 June 2022, www.epi.org/publication/public-education-funding-in-the-us-needs-an-overhaul/.
Cheeseman Newburger, Jennifer, and Julia Beckhusen. “Average Teachers’ Earnings Declining, Lower than Similarly Educated Workers.” Census.Gov, 7 Nov. 2024, www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/07/teachers-among-most-educated-yet-pay-lags.html.
Fichte, Jogann Gottlieb. “Full Text of ‘Addresses to the German Nation. Translated by R.F. Jones and G.H. Turnbull.’” Archive, 1922, archive.org/stream/addressestothege00fichuoft/addressestothege00fichuoft_djvu.txt.
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Huang, Edric, et al. “Understanding Anti-Intellectualism in the U.S.” Studio ATAO, Studio ATAO, 4 Sept. 2020, www.studioatao.org/post/understanding-anti-intellectualism-in-the-u-s.
Marcotte, Amanda. “GOP Book-Banning Morphs into a New Goal: Defunding Libraries.” Salon, Salon.com, 13 Apr. 2023, www.salon.com/2023/04/13/defunding-public-libraries-republicans-on-reading-goes-nuclear/.
Margeson, Mike, and Justin Spears. “The History and Results of America’s Disastrous Public School System, Part I.” Foundation for Economic Education, 6 Feb. 2024, fee.org/articles/the-history-and-results-of-our-disastrous-public-school-system-part-i/.
Taylor, Fedrick Winslow. “The Principles of Scientific Management : Taylor, Frederick Winslow, 1856-1915 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, New York, London, Harper & Brothers, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/principlesofscie00taylrich/mode/2up?view=theater.
Turner, Cory, et al. “Why America’s Schools Have a Money Problem.” NPR, NPR, 18 Apr. 2016, www.npr.org/2016/04/18/474256366/why-americas-schools-have-a-money-problem.
Viola, Ashley. “Gen Alpha Can’t Read And It’s Worse Than You Think.” YouTube, YouTube, Jan. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeVZ9Tb48c0.
Wilterdink, Nico, and William Form. “Social Change.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 28 Oct. 2024, www.britannica.com/topic/social-change.
Written by Red Jordanger
Written October 25th, 2024
Electronically Published December 7th, 2024