School: It is something that every child between the ages of 6 and 16 is legally obligated to attend for up to eight hours each day. However, most children find the simple word “school” to be anxiety inducing and downright repulsive. The U.S. School system has remained relatively unchanged for more than one-hundred years and has failed to adapt to the growing environment in which we live. Moreover, it is in dire need of a full-blown renovation in order to adapt to these changes in furtherance of keeping up with the countries around the world that have. It is important to note that the American system of education ranks seventeen of forty nations in overall quality and international scores. This in and of itself is enough to validate the claim that the system is not working as well as it should be and is directly representative of the lack of passion that students have for learning and education. In order to increase student interest in school and improve the U.S. school system we must foster children and their intrinsic passion for learning and teach them to be collaborative rather than competitive in order to make school something enjoyable for the millions of students which populate the country.

To improve the U.S. Education system and make it enjoyable, we must strive to foster a passion for learning and teach collaboration over competition. The current, streamlined education system of the United States fails to recognize individual talents and interest in an attempt to raise international test scores. However, the system of education still ranks rather low on an international scale ranking number seventeen of forty nations. In order for students to become interested in school they should be able to choose classes that will help them prepare for what they as individuals want to do with their lives rather than things that will become useless to them as they progress into their professional lives. Additionally, the U.S. system of education’s main focal point revolves around test scores and grades. This creates an environment where children feel as though their grades are the most important aspect of schooling rather than their own personal gain and furtherance of knowledge. It is a proven fact that when you are interested in something and have a passion that you will learn because you want to, which is why affording children the opportunity to pave their own course of curriculum and choose vocational paths could help to make school something that students look forward to. Additionally, another way to make school enjoyable is to rid it of the monotony and rigor that a school week usually consists of. Teachers should strive to be engaging, interesting, and avoid stressing children to unhealthy levels Furthermore, one way to do this is by creating specialized activities that all students can enjoy and avoid the act of assigning tests. Rather, students should be graded on their performance during the activities which should encompass the learned material without causing stress. These examples will help to improve the U.S. education system and make school something pleasant for students.

There are numerous countries around the world that have adopted unconventional systems of education the likes of which rank much higher than the U.S. in education. One of these is Finland whose education system ranks first of forty nations and scores first in math as compared to the U.S. rank of thirty-four in overall math scores. A synopsis of the Finnish Education system can be described as an unorthodox system which ignores all social formalities when it comes to education to create a pleasurable yet effective environment when it comes to educating students. Moreover, some of Finland and its education system’s basic values are to remove the focus from grades to refocus them onto personal gain and enlightenment for individual students.  It is important to draw ideas from countries with systems that are proven to work well for students and their individual futures. If we model the United States education system after proven and successful education system, we will be opening a gateway to the long-term success of American students in their professional lives. Furthermore, it is up to us as the American people of today to be catalysts of change and to improve the system for the generations of students that will follow behind us.