The problems with education is one of the most heavily discussed topics in the United States. The truth of the matter is that there are many problems with the education system that we currently have. Of all of the problems, I think the two that need to be addressed the most are the length of high school and the attitude that the students have about school. Those are two problems that are currently affecting our education but they are also two problems that can be solved.

High school is simply too long for students. By the time most students become sixteen, they are ready to be done with high school. Some people say that it's because high school students just want to finish because they are immature, but that is simply just not true. As a student, I know that high school starts to feel pointless by the time a student becomes a junior. It's not because we're immature, it just feels like we shouldn't be in school anymore. Some people think that high school students only seem immature because they are being held back by high school culture, a culture that is heavily influenced by good looks and popularity, and that students could never mature while they are still in high school (Let Teenagers Try Adulthood). Students are just ready to move on. AP or Advanced Placement classes are already offered to juniors and seniors -AP classes are college classes, this means that students that take these classes are already ready for college.

There is actually a term that students came up with for students who are so sick of high school that they just want to move on and basically quit trying at school because they are so unmotivated.The term is senioritis (or junioritis if you are a junior). Students who are suffering from this can have grades start to slip and sometimes develop lazy habits. Staying in high school too long actually causes these students to become worse students, not better. If these students are already ready for college then what is the point of holding them back? They are losing one or two work years of their lives and are falling behind.

There is a way to solve the problem of high school being too long. There should be an exam that would determine if students are ready for college. They could take it after their sophomore or junior year. The teachers would also have to submit recommendations stating that the student is mature enough and would be able to handle college. This would ensure that the right students are being put into college and they would not be wasting their lives in high school when they should not be in there anymore.

The length of high school is not even the biggest problem. The biggest problem of high school is the attitude that the students have. Nearly every teenager hates school. Norman Rockwell's painting The Spirit of Education perfectly represents how students feel about school. High school is set up in a way that makes all students hate it. If students don't want to go to school, then they don't get educated nearly as well. A poor attitude about education is most likely what caused us to have fairly low scores in the international math survey (International Math Survey). If students don't want to learn math, then they won't learn it. Something has to be done about students' Attitude or else they will continue to fall behind.

In order to solve the attitude problem, I think that technology should be used more often. Teenagers love technology and it would make things more interesting for them if it was used more often. My school just received iPads for its students and we love to use them. It has really helped our motivation for school. Another solution would be more interesting homework or assignments. Doing random math problems out of the book is boring and boring assignments demotivate people. If there were more interesting assignments, people would have a better attitude.

The two big problems of education are length of high school and the students' attitude towards school. If these two problems were fixed, students would be educated much better. If students were more motivated and weren't in high school for too long, then our education system would be vastly improved, and we could move on to other issues.