Rios 1

Omar Rios
Ms. E. Parrish
English 1010
March 26, 2014

The Educational Paradigm
Education is very important to succeed in life, it is important because it decides what type
of future students will have and whether they get up every morning happy to go to work or not.
Education opens up new opportunities that would not be there otherwise, that is why I think that
it should be taken very serious. Over the past thirteen years that I have been in school I have
experienced our education system first hand. I have learned many things over these past years
but has the education system prepared me and other students for what there is to expect for the
future? I think there are some things wrong with our current educational system for example
teachers are limited to what things they can teach based on a curriculum that they have to follow.
Students have a lack in motivation to be in school and actually try their best to take advantage of
the opportunities they have for a better future. The Parents and community are also a big part of
the educational paradigm because they have an influence on the students.
Who decides what teachers are allowed to teach? Some teachers want to teach thing that
will actually apply to life but they cannot because the curriculum does not allow them to. At the
end students will be take a standardized test based on what the curriculum said should be taught.
This is a problem because the students will not get to learn things that apply to real life. That is
why I think that there should be courses offered that will help students prepare for college and
Rios 2

help teach skills that required to compete in the real world. Jobs today are requiring their
employees to have a higher education and more skills with technology. According to an article
by Benjamin Wood Technical education is important and beneficial for students "They can earn
a lot more money, whether that becomes their career or whether that helps them
pay their way through college," (Stephenson). This is why more classes that deal with
technology would be really beneficial for students to take. But it does not all have to do with the
classes it also has to do with what attitude the teachers have towards their students and job. Some
teachers are not as motived to help their students succeed and they are just there because thats
their job and most of them are not satisfied with it according to an article by Emily Richmond
Only 39 percent of teachers described themselves as very satisfied with their jobs (Emily
Richmond, the Atlantic). In her article it also said Teacher job satisfaction will continue to free
fall as long as budgets are slashed(Dennis Vann) that is why I think maybe teachers should be
paid more because their satisfaction will increase and so will their attitude towards teaching and
the students. If teacher were to be more supportive with students and push them to do their best a
lot more kid would be motivated to push themselves.
Teachers need motivation but so do the students. Students get tired of coming to school
because students think it is boring. According to an article by Laurence Steinberg students only
look forward to school because they can socialize with friends. Friends could be a good thing but
when they distract other students from learning that could be harmful for the students education.
On the same article by Steinberg it says that the United States is behind in education compared to
other countries for the same reason because students are not committed to trying their best in
school. I dont think that students realize how much their education will make a difference later
Rios 3

on in their life. This is a very big problem, I think that schools should try and make them realize
how important it really is and they should make students interested in school so that they actually
want to go to school every day. Students should take classes that will challenge them not only
general basic classes. Students should push themselves more because if they take easy classes
when they get to college it will not be that easy and they will not be prepared and will most
likely fail or have a hard time in the beginning. Taking classes like AP and concurrent
enrollment will help you develop skills for college and will also help you get ahead.
The Community in which the student lives in is also a very important part of their
education because if students have a supportive community the will most likely put more effort
towards school and try to graduate. But if students have a community that does not care they will
think that it is not important and they will give up. Not does the community affect the students
attitude towards their education parents also play a big role in their kids education because they
probably have the biggest influence on them. If the actually show them that they care and push
them to be their best it motivates them to do so. But if the students see that their parents dont
care why should they care and the students will not put any effort into their education.
If all the things that I have mentioned supportive teacher, motivated students and
community and parent involvement and teaching real life skills to students were to be improved.
I think that our educational paradigm would be much better and students would be more prepare
for the future.

Rios 4

Works cited

Steinberg, Laurence. "What's Holding Back American Teenagers?." 11 Feb. 2014: n. page. Print.


\Wood , Benjamin. "Push is on to prepare students for college and careers." Deseret News 28
Jan. 2013, n. pag. Print.

Richmond, Emily. "Teacher Job Satisfaction Hits 25-Year Low." Atlantic 21 Feb. 2013, n. pag.
Print.