By: Ian Larson

The American school system needs to change. According to Tahoe Expedition Academy the education system we are using today originated from the 1800s.

According to a poll by XQ institute, “93% of respondents feel like high school isn’t preparing students for the future”. The math and reading scores on the NAEP are getting lower and lower.

The Carnegie Unit was introduced in 1906 and became the standard system for education. You earn a credit for completing a class and if you get enough credits you can graduate. Most schools still have the same time in class, ~50 minutes, 5 days a week. The Carnegie Unit was helpful to standardize schools, however it doesn’t account for factors like how good the teachers are or at what speed the students learn.

Another big problem with the current school system is that a lot of students feel disconnected from their life at school. School increases mental health problems in students, making learning more difficult and causing some students to stop trying in school.

High school is the final thing preparing students for the real world of being an adult, but is it really doing a good job at doing that? Most schools in the US don’t encourage students to find their potential.

When students are just listening to a teacher when in class, they only use the left hemisphere of their brains. However, if they are being creative and solving problems they can learn with both hemispheres of their brain.

So, in my opinion, schools are in need of change these days as they still haven’t changed the way they teach from a long time ago.