Education 3 points

School should be a place where people can gather knowledge from experts and through that process, find their passion. The goal of a high school should be to guide their students to find something they love to do and do well. High school should not just prepare you for college but for life. The staff should be able to confidently say the alumni have been properly educated to follow their passion or whatever good things they want to do in life. This responsibility should be mainly for the teachers.

            Some teachers in high schools feel apathetic towards their students. They only pay attention to the obedient ones and feel no responsibility towards their student. I have personally witnessed many teachers say “I am not responsible if you fail” or “This is your problem not mine.” It should not be acceptable for an educator to say this. This teaches the young adolescent that responsibility lies in only one person. That it is entirely student’s fault or the teacher’s fault. Eric Fromm wrote in his article that, “the teacher is satisfied if he succeeds in furthering the student; if he has failed to do so, the failure is his and the student’s” (Fromm).  This is the mentality teachers should have and they need to properly explain and carry out that statement. If they do not want to, selfishly believing that they what they do is right, these “teachers” does not deserve their job.

The occupation of being a teacher at a public high school is not well respected or well paid. Current teachers have no incentives to excel at their job because of the long hours, low wages, and continuous struggle from the school’s budget cuts. Many supplies are paid by the teachers and new statistics have shown that many teachers go into debt to start their careers. These people educate the precious children of America, yet why are the so badly mistreated and exploited. Nowadays one third of the student teachers quit this occupation recognizing these problems. In Singapore and Finland, high school teachers make high wages comparable to doctors. Actually in Finland the teachers can continue their education to a doctorate and still receive their wages. This gives a teacher more incentive to carry out their job thoroughly and effectively. Although this model may not be perfect it is very successful. Finland has many well educated people and this made them happier because they had a goal and passion in life.