Final paper rough draft

"Incorporate" is a word that's used a lot in school. The idea of taking something and mixing it up with the rest, usually a fine idea on its own, but almost meaningless as long as diffusion is at play. It's clear that there is something wrong with the public k-12 school system, and it's clear that everybody knows; there's a constant campaign to add more money, retrain teachers, change the tests, maintain the arts, disperse the students and accommodate different types of learning. It can be frequently observed that teachers say the class will do something new for one session, something that will incorporate a different way of learning, teaching, or thinking. Whatever it was may be interesting, but when mixed in with the rest of the curriculum without any of its own context it seems superfluous, and proves to have little advantage. The idea of simply adding novel ideas is as flawed as the existing system that nullifies any attempt to change it, and if alternate teaching is pressed much harder the school system will be more fragmented than improved. The path to overcoming the ineptitude and complacency of the school system starts with a fundamental reconstruction of what the purpose of school is and how it intends to reach that point.

It is at this point that a critical divide begins to form; the purpose of education is a difficult one to solidify. Is it the prepare students for the real world? Is it to form children into insightful adults? Is it to create thinkers and leaders, or learners and followers? The issue involves the values of the culture. In many places the school system branches off into different paths at a fairly early stage, depending on the kind of education and jobs the the student will have. In America it's important to maintain the belief that anyone can be anything, so while it's easier to specialize branches of education it's important to maintain a single path as long as possible so not to separate the perceived workers from scholars. Within the single path of education every individual student needs to have the opportunity to become leaders or followers, learners, and functional adults, all while learning skills making them capable of performing in their desired jobs.

Such a wide array of requirements demands a school system that is flexible. A system where students can make decisions relevant to their goals while still taking certain mandatory classes. The concept of year grades keeping all students on a linear path also needs to be abolished, and instead students can leave whenever they like after meeting a minimum requirement and are not required to take more than the mandatory classes each year. It is important that students have these freedoms because a common problem in education is that some students learn very quickly while others may learn more slowly, or have personal reasons that don't allow them to devote as much time to school. A highly motivated student may move through the system quickly under a high load of classes while someone else may move more slowly. One student may focus on one type of classes before needing to leave for a more specialized college beyond the public system, while another may decide that they need a job sooner than later and begin taking courses related to the field of a job they can start doing immediately, perhaps while still taking courses headed for a long term goal. Standards and requirements would include taking specific classes before being a certain age, which would be accomplished by the attendance of mandatory classes, making students suitable for entry level jobs. The same method would be used for the the completion of classes required before leaving the schooling system entirely, which would not be based on strictly on age, giving students a large window to complete their public education, and they would leave as fully functional adults. Incorporating the standard array of classes at a young age is important to giving students a small experience of everything, while beyond that the mandatory classes only include everyday math and real world skills. The idea is that students will then have the freedom to take classes they want while still becoming real world ready, and because students are not required to spend as much time on subjects that are not interesting the same total number of classes will be taken throughout the system while producing more self-driven specialized students, competent at a basic level for entry level jobs, entry level jobs within a specific field, as well as prepared for higher level education in said chosen field, at no additional cost to the system.