Education in Schools

For me, education is defined in a few ways. An individual with a good education is some one who can identify what is right and what is wrong, has the skills to do what they believe to be best, and what the believe to be best is what is right. Any productive member of society needs to have a good education. It is unfortunate that high schools cannot meet the needs of every student. With the focus of schools shifting to standardized testing, the status quo curricullum now revolves around a test kids are supposed to take. The high school system is taught by highly unqualified educators, who (there are infinite exceptions) teach in order to get a paycheck and not produce a good well rounded youth. Teachers in Finland are required to have a masters in their field of study, are regarded as one of the highest ranking professions in the country, and are paid well. All these are characteristics of a nation with a good educational system, qualities that the United States do not pocess. Do our schools serve the goals of a true education? No. This is an unfortunate reality because there is a rise in students lacking specialized skills, lack of critical thinking and logical analysis capabilities, a higher poverty rate, a higher crime rate, along with many other serious issues that United States citizens must figure out. Yet the question is, can they?