Failure of Secondary Schools - Essay Example

?Running Head: Failure of Secondary Schools Failure of Secondary Schools [Institute’s Failure of Secondary Schools Every stage of schooling has a well-defined and essential role to play in a child’s development. Primary school teaches children basics mathematics and language skills. Secondary school then further strengthens these foundations enough for the child to use them as an adult, when he or she goes on to university and to have a career. To prepare the child for these, it also teaches several other functions, such as critical thinking, and socialization (Ferrante, pp. 369, 2010). For this reason, secondary schooling is vital to how successful the child is in the future, while he or she is gaining further knowledge or working hard to build a career. Recently, however, experts have observed a failure of schools to prepare their students for the future. They trace this failure down to specifically secondary schools, as the skills and confidence that they consider lacking in the adults of today, are those, which one is supposed to acquire in secondary school (Anderman and Maehr, pp. 287, 1994). One example of this failure was published in the press release in the UK, when FSB Education Chairman Collin Williams pointed out how, "The secondary school system is not producing enough sixteen year-olds that can hit the ground running on their first day in the world of work” (Politics.co.uk, 2007). He explained that he thinks that the British GCSE examination system helps to hide this failure until the student has graduated and is searching employment. However, the truth reveals itself once these students are employed and conducting their duties. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) reports the shocking statistics: almost ten percent of the businesses have trouble in finding people to hire who have the required mathematical and literacy skills. The recruits often need training after they are hired, so that they may be taught again, things that they were supposed to have learnt in secondary schools. Apart from this, the FSB also reports the woes of several businesses, who complain about the laws and regulations, which are governing these education policies. They say that when the government changes the minimum working age to eighteen, it should expect a benefit out of this only if it corrects the secondary school system first. According to them, these students will not stand any more a chance of pleasing their employers at the age of 18 than at the age of 16, if they will still receive schooling through the secondary schooling system. They suggest that the secondary schools keep in mind the requirements that the children’s future employers will have of them, before commencing to educate them. They raise this suggestion in the light of the fact that the students, which organizations are currently hiring were not educated with these requirements in mind, which is why they fail to please most employers who entrust them with jobs ((Politics.co.uk, 2007). In addition, one can deduce that the failure of a student to be able to do so can be traced down to the failure of his secondary school. This is because it was a function of the secondary school, as mentioned earlier, to prepare the student for his or her future, may it be as an employee or a university student. Moreover, if this is lacking in the student, then one may blame the secondary schools for this failure. Another aim, which a child has from secondary school, is the need to socialize. A child attends secondary school during the ages of 11 to 16 (Vlaardingerbroek, & Taylor, pp. 30, 2009). At this age, a child learns to meet new people, and discover the different kinds of people that are present around him. He starts to discover himself, and figures out what his personality is like. He learns about himself, learns to like himself enough to present himself to the world for acceptance. Equally important, he learns to accept and bear rejection. All of these processes are a significant part of growing up, and they are essential to the personality of the child turning out well. Moreover, they are a major reason why a child finds adolescence such a difficult part of his life (Greydanus, pp. 72, 1997). It is very important that the child is given the proper time and space he needs to be able to socialize and discover all these processes on his own. While each child goes through this socializing process, some children are luckier than others are. They are able to balance the different pressures in their lives, such as the pressure of academics, the pressure of pleasing their parents, the pressure of making and maintaining friends, and finally, the pressure of being part of the popular crowd. Children, who are able to manage these pressures at that age, strike gold (Carr, 2002). They are eventually able to come out on victoriously from the socializing process, with a well-rounded personality and confidence that will facilitate them forever. These children have parents, teachers, and friends who understand the importance of not putting too much pressure on the child (Greydanus, pp. 79-84, 1997). They realize that it is unfair and unhealthy to pressurize the child to achieve one specific goal perfectly, at the cost of others. In other words, they realize how each pressure in the child’s life has its own importance. These children grow up to be successful, satisfied adults. However, due to the current state of secondary schools, such children are as rare as they are lucky. The current state of secondary schools is as follows. The school, from a very young age, reminds the child constantly of how much importance academic excellence holds in the life of the student. It emphasizes the importance of good grades in the student’s future. This applies to their acceptance into prestigious institutes, their finding a good job, their acceptance in society as a respectable adult, and in eastern societies, even finding a good spouse. When the student continuously thinks of all factors (Simonton, pp. 80-88, 1994) upon which his grades have a bearing, she starts taking his grades as a grave matter. She starts focusing all his time and effort on achieving good grades, because it is important to her that all the aforementioned factors in her future turn out well for her. This leads to the drastic and tragic withdrawal of her attention from all the other important things in her life. These other important things include family time, social needs, and time with friends (Phelan, Davidson and Cao, pp. 224, 1991). When a student spends all of his school time in class or the library, studying, she sacrifices a lot (Phelan, Davidson and Cao, pp. 224, 1991). She is not able to maintain his friendship with the other students who may not be as studious as he is. This makes her a loner, who has no company and no one to talk to when she needs them. At school, she will be a ‘nerd’ who is only concerned with books and grades, and has nothing more important in her life (Simonton, pp. 95-100, 1994). This will lead to a severe drain on her popularity in her social circle. Finally, when school time is over, she will arrive home with studying on her mind. She will not care about spending some quality time with her family, or concerning herself with how her other family members are faring. She will be immersed in her strict study routine and she will care about her grades only. This way her family life, her friendships, and her social life will deteriorate, leaving her an A-grade student who has no one to talk to (Eaude, pp. 20-36, 2006). Apart from this, they will also develop shyness, which is not easily curable. Students who spend all their time studying and insufficient time with peers and friends, are more likely to lose the confidence one needs for social interaction. They will shy away from the public because not only they do not have time to interact, make friends, and enjoy, but also because the student was never able to develop the skills needed to socialize (Simonton, pp. 99-104, 1994). To analyze this, one needs to consider the possible implications of this behavior and predictions for the student’s future. He will become one of those people who are afraid of public confrontation, and approaching and meeting new people. While he may continue at excelling academically, he may also end up with zero social skills. This could possibly affect his future adversely, instead of positively like the grades initially intended to affect it. He may grow up to become an adult who cannot enjoy his life to the fullest because his achievements are purely academic. This is another way in which secondary school fails to meet the requirements, which a young mind needs in order to develop properly by the time the student graduates. It fails to equip the students with the skills that they need to be able to face even the toughest aspects of life. Without the adequate social skills, even a degree from the most prestigious university in the country does not hold much worth in the professional world today, where success is dependent on the relationships one builds up with their customers, subordinates, bosses, and peers (Giles & Endsley, pp. 470-476, 1988). For this reason especially, one can see how these schools fail to do the one large duty they are entrusted with, preparing the child for the world outside. This is also true considering the main aim of education. People receive it so that they can grow up to be literate, educated adults who can present themselves to the world as well-educated and respectable people. This is hardly true for the adults that secondary schools nowadays aim to produce. According to recent studies, “More than 30% of U.S. 17-year-olds don't know that Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. Almost half do not know who Josef Stalin was, and 30% can't locate Britain on a map of Europe” (Moore, pp. 388, 1993). Not to mention, the nervous wrecks of children who emerge from the schooling system are not fit to present themselves to society (Moon et al, pp. 39-47, 2002). The schooling, which has made them accustomed to deadlines, quizzes, exams and worry, has forgotten to help the students learn in the process. They emerge from the schooling process with more knowledge about books than about life itself. One cannot consider it anything short of a failure on the part of these secondary schools, when they teach a student how to ace a quiz while failing to educate him. As Mark Twain said, “I never let my schooling interfere with my education” (Simonton, pp. 165, 1994). Another way, in which secondary schools do not do justice to the duty they are responsible for, is when they fail to acknowledge the bright students amongst them who are skilled at activities other than studying (Savage & Faulty, 2007). People believe that everyone is good at something. This saying comforts those people who find themselves unable to perform as well as others at some certain activities, which are often linked to excellence, such as studying. It brings them hope and motivates them to keep working hard to achieve a happy, satisfying life (Moore, pp. 388, 1993). Secondary schools are often responsible for not letting this hope rise. They remind their students every day, how their grades are the most important tool, with which people will judge them. They allow no other skill as much importance as the skill to study well (USDE, pp. 20-27, 2004). This disheartens all those students who may not be as skilled as the ‘excellent’ students are (Moore, pp. 388, 1993). Furthermore, these disheartened students might display brilliance in some other field, be it sports, music or art. The school will not encourage these skills when it feels that they are not performing at par in their classes. It will make their extraordinary skills sound like unimportant hobbies rather than valuable assets for the child. Finally, the school ends up giving more attention to most gifted students while leaving behind the ones who are gifted at things other than studying (Savage & Faulty, 2007). This leads to further problems for students whom the flawed school system left behind, as they do not receive the amount of attention they require from their teachers. This is linked to the No Child Left behind Act, which was first started in 2001, an initiative taken by President Bush to eliminate this major problem in the secondary schooling system (USDE, pp. 29-43, 2004). Education also aims to act as an equalizing force. It brings equality amongst children who come to school from various social and financial backgrounds. It first brings uniformity amongst them all by giving them equal education, and then encourages them to work hard to achieve more by utilizing this education (Politics.co.uk, 2007). While this may not be a function which is specific to secondary schooling, secondary schools still play a major role in this function. However, what is often observable in secondary schools in the United Kingdom is that the schools become an indicator of social status for the children. This is because of the varying fees of the different schools, as well as their being specific to the hierarchical statuses of the students they admit. For example, the fees in 2009 for a semester of schooling in the United Kingdom, a prestigious school was around 1500 pounds, while a less prestigious school would charge around half of this amount for its tuition fee. In addition, the students who graduate from the former carry around the status of having graduated from an ‘elite’ school, while those from the latter do not, even if they worked equally as hard as those other students. This again, leads to a failure of function of the school, as they only add to the social inequalities, which the child faces. All these reasons explain why the so many people believe that the secondary school system has failed to fulfill the needs of the students. It fails to keep them motivated for their true visions, and makes their lives all about good grades. It makes them afraid to work for their real goals if these goals are out of the ordinary or not acceptable according to the established norm. It fails to give them a proper social development and education, even though they are at a tender age during secondary school. It fails to make the skilled students who are not good at studying, feel like they are equally special and likely to succeed in life. Finally, it ends up focusing on the brighter students so much that the rest are left behind. All reasons why people are starting to lose faith in the ability of secondary schooling to shape children into well-educated, well-rounded adults. References Anderman, E. and Maehr, M. 1994. “Motivation and Schooling in the Middle Grades.” Review of Educational Research. Volume 64, pp. 287-309. Bauer, A. 1987. “A Teacher’s Introduction to Childhood Depression.” The Clearing House. Vol. 61, pp. 81-84. Carr, D. 2002. Making Sense of Education. An Introduction to the Philosophy and Theory of Education and Teaching. London: Routledge. Eaude, T. 2006. Children’s’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development. Exeter: Learning Matters. Politics.co.uk. 2007. “Failure of secondary schools hidden by GCSE results, says business.” Press Releases and Events. 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