The current school system is outdated, and frankly has no place in this day and age. It is inefficient and does not function properly. The youth are the future of every nation and we would be gravely wounded should we forget this. In this age of information, children and others can easily educate themselves and are not limited to learning only at repositories of knowledge like schools, while we force a general curriculum upon them regardless of their differences in knowledge. Children are made to focus on efficiency and speed rather than mastery; this ends up leaving them with no foundation for understanding their future learning, which can be problematic and inefficient in their educational process. It would be better to sort all children based on their level of education and skill in specific subjects, as then no one would be slowed down or unwillingly sped up based on general curriculum. The current education system teaches kids based on speed and not understanding, knowledge, or any other key things other than if they can do the work right and fast. In summary, the current school system has children that are forced ahead or slowed down by the general curriculum, has students focused on speed rather than understanding, and has no way of dealing with any smart children aside from slowing them down, even when smart and knowledgeable children are more common due to the rise of technological education.

In this age of information anyone can educate themselves with the click of button via the internet. Anyone can learn anything very easily and information on all subjects is much more easily accessible. This is different from earlier years where one required specific institutions to educate people on everything generally, whereas now, anyone can learn anything independent of assistance should they be so inclined. This goes to show that we really only need to help students minimally and incentivize them to learn. This illustrates that we really don't need to spend as much time on learning. The current system of education assumes children have no prior education, and that is a grievous error on behalf of the schools. In most cases children need only a small education to have the tools to be able to learn what topics they wish to or should, all we have to do is educate them to that point and then provide incentives for them to acquire knowledge with no assistance.

The school system requires students to adhere to a standardised curriculum regardless of academic proficiency. This stifles creativity and can reduce enthusiasm for learning. This cannot be abided by as many students have varying skill and intelligence levels and schools are teaching them all the same thing. This only bores the knowledgeable ones among them providing them with only an excessive review. It would be a lot more efficient if we sorted classes on merit and educated students at according speeds and difficulties. If we educate them all on the subjects they are not proficient in then we could have all students sufficiently educated in all subjects. Students should be taught new things as much as they can and have a speedy and healthy knowledge intake so as to not make them complacent in their mental superiority. If we teach them at the level and speed that they learn then all people will be educated and none will be slowed down or forced ahead based on their knowledge. When we sort them based on their proficiency in each subject it means that we can teach each class new things at a pace they can agree with and understand while at the same time having those who need more time get it. We need to solve this as children are in need of an efficient, modern education system.

The United States spends ridiculous amounts on a school system that fails to spend its money effectively. “Of the $3.2 trillion in total expenditures for local and state governments in 2012, education accounted for nearly 28 percent, or $869.2 billion.” This is an enormous amount and is almost double that of public  welfare, an equally important cause. The U.S. is 18th in the world in the ratio of efficiency to spending on postsecondary education, though we spend incredibly more on it than most others on the list. The current system grades children based on their speed and ability to complete the problem rather than their understanding. This can prevent children from properly learning the material, which undermines their learning ability. It teaches children that understanding the subject is not as important as doing it quickly and correctly. Once they learn to do this it is hard for them to learn that they need to understand things. It also teaches them to stick to what they know and not guess or take risks, even though many successful people in this age have taken many risks or have not even gone to school because they dislike the ways it taught them to function and work. If we grade children based on their skill and understanding rather than speed it would allow more students to learn more information more quickly. We need to skillfully implement this for the good of children and society as a whole because children are our future and the future of the world, they deserve to learn. If our children are educated properly it will lead to prosperity for our nation, while educating them badly and with a generalised curriculum will lead to failures in all areas of society.
The United States is spending egregious amounts and doing a lot of other things to attempt to improve our education system but it just fundamentally is outdated. In this modern day of free information, knowledge is easily accessible which can lead to knowledge inequalities and learning inefficiencies. This issue is further added to by schools forcing the same curriculum on every student, further securing learning differences and educating children at the same pace, forcing some ahead and slowing others down. These two fundamental issues are compounded upon by the fact that the schools grade kids on speed of completion rather than understanding or knowledge. We must all remember that children are the future of every nation and that we must not be cheap or overlook the issues when it comes to our schools’ inefficiencies. The education of our young is paramount to our success as a nation, and while we spend very much on it, that spending is used inefficiently and takes up too much of our budget as it is. While we need to revitalize the education system, we must also rework our spending to be more efficient, while at the same time sorting children by speed and previous learning to educate them more comprehensively.

Sources:
Ross, Terrance F. “Where School Dollars Go to Waste.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 30 Jan. 2015

Watters, Audrey. “The Invented History of 'The Factory Model of Education'.” Hack Education, 25 Apr. 2015