The American education system is deeply biased and flawed. From the SAT and AP tests to the very institutions that make up American education, financial inequality remains prevalent and fails to allow American students a proper and fair education.
A system designed to standardize advanced education across the nation fails to properly prepare and assess its students.
An assumption is made throughout the education system that there is equality in education across the country. This assumption is proven erroneous through the inclusion of both private and public schools in American education. Private schools, through the funding of wealthy parents, are able to guarantee their students opportunities that those in public schools could never even dream about thanks to their minimal funding.
From access to superior facilities to more personalized teaching to more extracurricular activities, private schools remain advanced. They can afford to consistently progress and imbue modern inventions that make both teaching and learning far easier. They are able to create an environment that allows students to progress at much higher rates than that of their public school counterparts.
All students are lumped together when evaluated for things like college applications, and thus public-school students are left severely disadvantaged. The fact that it is only the wealthy who can afford to send their children to private schools also serves to perpetuate a cycle of inequality in which those poorer can never come out on top.
The fact remains true even within the confines of the public school systems, where disparities are rampant throughout the different schools, as localized funding discrepancies account for unequal availability of resources. Schools are primarily funded by property taxes, whose income generation can vary immensely from local economic demographics.
Uneven funding contributes to inconsistent resources, with some schools lacking access to necessary and up-to-date textbooks and technology. This negatively impacts both learning and opportunities, as students will lack the proper facilities to flourish academically, artistically and physically. Labs and gyms lack the funding needed to be maintained and upgraded, and events such as field trips are either limited or impossible.
Compounded by the often lackluster and inconsistent teaching across schools, the testing of the knowledge and skills gained fails to properly assess students.
Students spend countless hours learning and studying for a singular exam that covers the entirety of the subject. In just a few hours of filling in bubbles on a ScanTron and scrawling hastily, a student’s merit and knowledge is determined with no recourse for mistakes or retakes.
Unlike the regular and honors level classes offered in high schools throughout the nation, advanced placement classes are centered around studying for the final exam rather than the progressive teaching of new information.
This hastened pacing of the class only suits to benefit the current exam preparation design, something that directly hinders a student’s ability to remember and apply the information from the course in the long term. In addition to the poor pacing, its reliance on extracurricular materials and strict structure prevent an equal and fair opportunity for students.
With a significant emphasis on studying for the exam, many students struggle with the course’s textbooks, which are designed around a learning-based environment rather than a preparation-based one. This discrepancy motivates some students to turn to extracurricular textbooks and tutors that focus on exam readiness. While all students receive the same information and resources within the confines of the class, extra essential resources centered around a poorly supported yet significant portion of the class only become available to some of the students.
American courses are all designed uniformly and around the belief that they will be taught optimally and equally across all campuses – something that is rarely the reality. Differences between teachers leaves students’ success in the AP class dependent on who they are being taught by. While this is true of most high school courses, it is exacerbated by the final exam also being the same for each classroom, amplifying the issue and its effects on the students’ academics.
The American testing standards in themselves lead to the overall deterioration of teaching. According to an article by the National Education Association, standardized tests, no matter the subject, cannot accurately measure students’ learning capabilities as the nature of standardized tests limits the liberty one is given in its preparation.
The information and methods one can apply are severely limited, restricting the potential of numerous students who do not fit into the narrow and rigid standards one must in order to be entirely successful on these tests.
Furthermore, teaching in classes that involve AP tests are severely lacking. Rather than focusing on learning material students are instead forced to take a class for the sole purpose of passing a singular test. The equation of learning in these classes is left neglected.
Along with the problems concerning educational processes, the standards of American education contain many racial and economic biases. Forbes reported that working class individuals systematically score lower on the SAT in comparison to their wealthier counterparts. White students are seen to perform better than almost all other races, and the highest scoring students are evidenced to come from families with incomes over $200,000 – the lowest scoring with incomes of $20,000 or less.
This disadvantage can be credited to both the expensive preparations for the tests as well as the known cultural references in some portions of the test, making it easier for certain individuals with a more American background.
Many colleges have taken to making the SAT optional. Students who took the test and scored well have an advantage in the application process. The SAT still exists with all its faults and despite the fact one does not necessarily need to take it does not mean one should not. The test still remains powerful in its supposed representation of student intellect and is a reflection of the overall biases still contained with American educational standards.
A system built upon a principle of blind equal examination without the proper respects and consideration taken toward the various factors that influence a student will never truly accurately assess a student. With factors such as school funding disparity, student socioeconomic situations and exams that favor certain styles of knowledge application, students are left with an inadequate education and testing that does not reflect their true knowledge and skills.
In order to aid in the educational processes of schools nationwide, it is imperative for American schools to work toward piloting alternative methods of teaching to combat the current systems. Schools in themselves must be uprooted from ideology so old-fashioned and begin prioritizing the education of all students. They must attempt to provide equal opportunities to students no matter their differences and by doing so, will promote an all-around agenda of educational prosperity.