Thirteen years total: 180 days per year, five days per week, seven hours per day. This is the bare minimum required to graduate high school. By the time the average student has graduated, they are eighteen years old, and have completed one quarter of their lives already.

But the diploma chase doesn’t stop. After fulfilling thirteen years of primary and secondary education, students are expected to progress to higher education, whether through college or vocational school. In October of 2013, 65.9% of high school graduates in America were enrolled in colleges or universities. This has been a constant over the past few decades. In 1997, 67% of students were enrolled in college. From these statistics, it can be determined that approximately two-thirds of the population for the past 16 years have completed around 17 years of formal education in the United States.

To devote this much of a person’s life preparing for one’s future says something about the values instilled by the American education system. It doesn’t take a person who is well-informed about public education to recognize that something else is going on here. Is the essence of public education really to teach students necessary skills that they will be required to utilize in their future?

It depends on how the “necessary skills” are defined, and that definition has been changing exponentially over the years. At one point in history, “necessary skills” could have simply been defined as basic literacy and basic math skills.

“At the end of the nineteenth century, census takers defined illiteracy as an inability to read or write more than one’s own name. By that standard, about 10 percent of the population was illiterate. Today, illiteracy has been redefined as "functional illiteracy” -- meaning an inability to read at a particular grade level, complete a job application, or fill out an income tax form. By this standard, an estimated sixty million (or more!) adult
Americans -- most of whom can read some things -- qualify as illiterate (Kozol 1985).” (Best, 2001)

So the definition of “necessary skills” has changed from denoting “basic literacy”, meaning the ability to read and write one’s own name, to “functional literacy”, meaning the ability to use the English language in everyday context. Back in the nineteenth century, being able to read and write to an acceptable level was the difference between being the mayor of a town or doing mindless work laboring in the factory. In the twenty-first century, 99% of American adults can read and write because literacy is a fundamental skill that Americans need to function using everyday communication (emails, text messages, sms, etc.).

If public education did not exist, in today’s day and age, would it be possible to achieve literacy using alternative methods? I’d argue yes. My younger brother, now a sixth grader, taught himself to read when he was around four years old. No, my parents didn’t brainwash him into studying flashcards every night to force him into a third grader’s proficient reading level. He learned how to read by surfing through TV channels trying to find shows that he liked. This is not uncommon. Research is beginning to prove that kids can teach themselves to read just as well as if forced to learn during school because books are readily available, and because of the constant influx of words and texts surrounding today’s generation of children. It is no longer necessary for parents and teachers to use flash cards with images to teach their kids how to read. With technology ubiquitous in our society, yes, students could teach themselves to read and write simply for the purpose of survival in the age of the computer.

So what are students supposed to learn in school if they aren’t focusing diligently on learning basic literacy and math skills like they were in the old days? In the twenty-first century, American students are required to take courses in math, English, social studies, science, foreign language, gym, health, art, and music. The purpose of being required to take this large variety of classes is so that by the time each student graduates high school, they have a wide understanding of a multitude of subjects, preparing themselves to be able to hone in on subjects that they find interesting during college. Furthermore, if students find they do not excel in particular classes required by the school, they now have the ability to take alternative classes that would not have been available to them in the years’ past.

Taking this quantity of classes could lead to up to seven forty-five minute periods consumed by learning per day, and students are expected to dedicate themselves thoroughly to each class. In addition to this, each student has only a few minutes of passing time between each class, in which they have to completely transition their minds from one subject to the next. This is easily overwhelming to students, especially considering the variation of talents and aptitudes each student possesses.

While one student may play Beethoven’s piano concerto No. 5 like an angel, that same person may struggle to understand even basic concepts in geometry. Though he may do all of the homework, study, and stay after school for geometry, the fundamental ideas never seem to click in his head. Eventually he may begin to ask himself, “why should I try if I’m never going to have to use this in the future?” Unfortunately, this is the most common question that teachers hear, and one of the most frustrating ones. Here’s where people tend to become confused about the primary purpose of education.

While some people want to learn for learning’s sake, most people want to reap the rewards of education so that their time hasn’t been wasted. It’s easy to think that the reason you’re learning all of this information is so that you can use it in the future. However, this is no longer the case since information is readily available at the touch of a finger now that the internet is so easy to access. It’s important to always consider how you are benefiting your future self by your present actions. If you’re constantly trying to memorize information in school, is it really going to be worth it in the future? That same information you spent days and nights memorizing could be found through a Google search with 147,580 results in .17 seconds. In this day and age, it’s more important to apply knowledge through critical thinking than memorize information like they did in the old days. Without focusing and applying yourself during school, it would be difficult to attain the skill of critical thinking.

Why do you want to spend thirteen years of your life attending public school plus two to four years in college if you aren’t even going to use the information in the future? Because school teaches you to strengthen your mind so that you are prepared for any situation that may arise during your career. Though most of the information learned during school may be forgotten, the struggle you had to go through to memorize and cram information before a big test, the time management that you had to deal with while having a job, doing your homework, and playing sports at the same time, and the social pressure that you felt to follow the crowd will prove to be vital skills during your career.

It may not seem like school is that important now, but just imagine strengthening your mind the way you would strengthen your body for a sport. Let’s say you’re a soccer player. To improve your soccer skills, you have to practice often with a soccer ball of course, because it doesn’t make a difference how fast or strong you are on the field unless you are good at handling a ball. However, another vital part of being a soccer player is training. You have to run every day, because soccer requires a great deal of endurance. In addition, it’s just as important to get into the weight room and increase your muscle mass. The more muscle you have, the harder you can kick the soccer ball. It requires a dedicated person to become a great soccer player the same way it requires a dedicated person to have a strong mind.

Yes, it is important to gain experience in life, to have internships, to get paychecks, and to enjoy yourself, but it is just as important to get a strong education. The skills learned through applying yourself to your own education are infinitely advantageous. Being able to think critically and creatively in the future is going to be the difference between having a job and not having a job. This is the true purpose of education: to strengthen the mind in preparation for any problems that may arise in the future by teaching vital skills of critical thinking and creativity.


Bibliography
i. "College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2013 High School Graduates." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 June 2014.

ii. "COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF YEAR 2000 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13 Apr. 2001. Web. 02 June 2014. Best, Joel. "Social Progress and Social Problems: Toward a Sociology of Gloom."Sociological Quarterly 42.1 (2001): 650-62. Web. 2 June 2014.

iv. Lockyer, Chris. "United States Education Stats: NationMaster.com."NationMaster.com. NationMaster, 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 02 June 2014. Gray, Peter. "Children Teach Themselves to Read." Freedom to Learn (2010): n. pag.

v. Psychology Today. Sussex Directories, Inc., 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 2 June 2014.

vi. Guo, Philip. "The Main Purpose of Education." Philip Guo -. Curriculum Vitae Publications, Oct. 2010. Web. 02 June 2014.