I’m here to talk about the
one-size-fits-all American education
system that is failing our students as I
flip through the pages to my SAT
exhausted from the previous passages
bubbling and answers on a scantron sheet
that might and my eyes were strained I
could barely bring myself to read
through the prompt I was expecting
another banal passage lifted from a
journal about how social media is
changing our youth culture or how
revolution or telecommuting is
revolutionizing the workplace but as I
started to delve into the Wall Street
Journal article by Peter downs I could
feel my anxious we’re changing the
article discussed the benefits of an
apprenticeship program one of the many
umbrellas under a non-traditional
education and I was amazed to find that
students and other places spent their
days learning a profession or trade
rather than studying the standard at
further ten standardized tests I was
currently taking upon reading this
article I was fascinated by the
different educational tactics used in
other countries particularly given how
efficient they appeared to be on the
outside as a high school student
interested in public policy I decided to
dig deeper into the politics
undergirding these education systems in
an effort to better understand how our
education system became so limited in
its approach before the idea of this
talk was even a possibility all I had
was a pressing curiosity about Education
Policy and a burning desire to change it
my own story starts with an academic
career as a solid B student always
feeling like school wasn’t for me I
wouldn’t call myself lazy you can often
find me reading an article about sports
science or car design but when it comes
to the traditional school subjects I
show her to bring myself to sit down and
do the work I’d always assumed this was
a personal failing a manifestation from
the distaste for my academics a my
unwillingness to dedicate endless hours
to the subjects I found irrelevant to me
as a senior everything changed I’ve had
the best grades in my high school career
and I’ve never been happier with my
academics what changed my classes of
course half my schedule is built from
subjects I’m passionate about
investments in entrepreneurship
economics English literature studies of
science fiction I look forward to my
time in class do my homework without a
complaint and generally feel like I’m
developing useful skills and
knowledge-based relevant to my future
careers this shift in my personal life
has only been possible because my school
recognized the need to move away from
traditional education system and
curriculum to better accommodate
non-traditional interests of course st.
Andrews only talked tackling a small
element of the problem by broadening its
scope of course offerings but many other
schools have taken the challenge to
another level and they’ve experienced a
level of success that the US should
strive for with its own public education
system many countries allow students to
learn hands-on with apprenticeship
programs according to the United States
Department of Education the average
apprenticeship in the United States
occurs at 30 years old whereas in
countries such as Germany Switzerland
and the UK apprenticeship slip link
students finishing a formal education to
the world of work given the great
success of youth apprenticeship programs
in these nations according to the u.s.
labor workers who compete apprentice
complete apprenticeships programs earned
$300,000 more over a lifetime than peers
who don’t making a more payant that the
US should consider transitioning to this
model why not offer students all the
opportunities opponents may point out
German companies lack of interest and
actually hiring these apprentices which
may pose a problem if the United States
Republicans refuse to agree to allocate
funding to the paying of youth
adjectives some cells in any context
apprenticeships may not solve the deeper
education gap with regard to the skills
American students learning at a young
age the massive gap in educational
opportunities across various
socioeconomic backgrounds even out of an
elementary school level separate
American students in two different
tracks that would make a cohesive
vocational system and accessible for all
students with the Nek economy currently
focusing on industries that rely on a
rapid technological advancements
American schools may not be able to keep
up with these fields that are in
constructing ever-evolving industries
but these issues of inequality will
exist with or without vocational
education systems
but perhaps a massive transition in
American public education will force
experts politicians and academics to
take these inquiry inequalities more
seriously and address them at the root
level with all these enticing avenues to
break away from the current education
system you may be wondering how we got
stuck in a rut we found ourselves in to
explain I’d like to take you down a
brief historical path starting with the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of nineteen sixty-one passed under
President Johnson as a major element on
his war on poverty the particulars of
this act might not widely be known until
one learns that this piece of
legislation is actually the foundation
of the common delay discussed No Child
Left Behind Act No Child Left Behind Act
reauthorized the Education Act under the
Bush administration 2001 and many of
these programs in the two bills were
reauthorized a third time in 2013 under
Obama only this time it succeed it only
this time it’s called every student
succeeds Act II SSA for short what’s
ironic about these bills which were
often marketed as education reform is
that their impact was not that
revolutionary at all and they did not
ensure that no child was left being was
not left behind or that every student
succeeded
although the strategy underlying these
bills was to implement federal standards
that would guarantee a baseline of
quantity and quality of information
taught in these elementary and secondary
schools the reality is without a recent
without a significant redistribution of
resources schools could not magically
accommodate in the wake of these reforms
SAT scores actually declined from 2006
to 2014 for all demographic groups
except for Asians and when a new
idealist standard I was six standardized
success was suggested in 2009 with the
Common Core State Standards the
Department of Education faced huge
pushback from states schools districts
and families who were finally frustrated
enough to stand up to the federal
government with their piece of tough
piece of scores continuing to decline
over this time period the standards
clearly did not approve American
standing is compared to the rest of the
world and even the education gap in our
own country was clearly not addressed by
these policies in a perfect world making
these commitments to national standards
and a universal curriculum
should have propelled our country
towards success and global acclaim and
the education landscape if that were the
case though we would not find ourselves
ranking 27th in the world in math and
24th in the world on reading on the Pisa
test well below the countries whose
education models we’ve denounced for
years students in California New York
Texas and Massachusetts all have a
requirement of 900 hours a year in class
however Finland requires 608 years all
right hours yet the Finnish scores
significantly higher on standardized
tests students spend 6.1 hours a week
doing homework in the United States
where the Finland Finnish spent 2.5
hours a week on homework do you see what
I’m getting at schools are letting in
students down in the US because students
spend more time doing homework and at
school yet on average perform worse and
these other countries who have less time
doing school related things this and
itself should be a topic of discussion
as our school system continues to waste
resources while underperforming given
how long we spend going to school and
doing homework we should be seeing much
higher outcomes for students across also
see owner socioeconomic backgrounds
unlike in other countries where absence
of wealth can prevent a student or a
child from receiving education
altogether students in United States
have this opportunity regardless of
their family’s income spend the same
number of time in class as their peers
from wealthier communities yet we still
face unacceptably low outcomes to me
this says that the time students spend
in class is often time poorly spent and
I hope to suggest several ways to flip
the script close an education gap
between the United States and other
countries and among different
marginalized groups in United States for
us the problem is deeper than just
scoring poorly on standardized tests
students in the u.s. lacking
apprenticeship opportunities tend to be
less prepared to have success in the
workplace schools in the United States
promote problem-solving critical
thinking and writing skills but they
lack structure to pair students how to
work with colleagues develop hard skills
within a profession or trade and
establish a network of similarly skilled
adults if you take anything away from
this talk I hope it’s to be skeptical of
our education system that we so highly
value in our country while their value
is certainly not misplaced in this
institution with the capacity to shape
our future generations
and set this country on an upward trend
of innovation in progress we ought to
acknowledge that their ways in which our
current institution has failed us in its
mission while I’m not purporting to have
all the answers and a genuine effort at
reviving an apprenticeship program will
require more than a thorough plan for
students in different age groups and
those from different socioeconomic
backgrounds I believe these are
conversations worth having on an
individual scale I encourage you to be
skeptical of your curriculum if it does
not inspire you but this get decision
should not amount to the complacency
simply because you don’t fit into your
school where you find discomfort or
irrelevance and what you’re learning
seek learning opportunities anywhere in
everywhere else outside of the classroom
and encourage your friends to do the
same thank you [Applause]
one-size-fits-all American education
system that is failing our students as I
flip through the pages to my SAT
exhausted from the previous passages
bubbling and answers on a scantron sheet
that might and my eyes were strained I
could barely bring myself to read
through the prompt I was expecting
another banal passage lifted from a
journal about how social media is
changing our youth culture or how
revolution or telecommuting is
revolutionizing the workplace but as I
started to delve into the Wall Street
Journal article by Peter downs I could
feel my anxious we’re changing the
article discussed the benefits of an
apprenticeship program one of the many
umbrellas under a non-traditional
education and I was amazed to find that
students and other places spent their
days learning a profession or trade
rather than studying the standard at
further ten standardized tests I was
currently taking upon reading this
article I was fascinated by the
different educational tactics used in
other countries particularly given how
efficient they appeared to be on the
outside as a high school student
interested in public policy I decided to
dig deeper into the politics
undergirding these education systems in
an effort to better understand how our
education system became so limited in
its approach before the idea of this
talk was even a possibility all I had
was a pressing curiosity about Education
Policy and a burning desire to change it
my own story starts with an academic
career as a solid B student always
feeling like school wasn’t for me I
wouldn’t call myself lazy you can often
find me reading an article about sports
science or car design but when it comes
to the traditional school subjects I
show her to bring myself to sit down and
do the work I’d always assumed this was
a personal failing a manifestation from
the distaste for my academics a my
unwillingness to dedicate endless hours
to the subjects I found irrelevant to me
as a senior everything changed I’ve had
the best grades in my high school career
and I’ve never been happier with my
academics what changed my classes of
course half my schedule is built from
subjects I’m passionate about
investments in entrepreneurship
economics English literature studies of
science fiction I look forward to my
time in class do my homework without a
complaint and generally feel like I’m
developing useful skills and
knowledge-based relevant to my future
careers this shift in my personal life
has only been possible because my school
recognized the need to move away from
traditional education system and
curriculum to better accommodate
non-traditional interests of course st.
Andrews only talked tackling a small
element of the problem by broadening its
scope of course offerings but many other
schools have taken the challenge to
another level and they’ve experienced a
level of success that the US should
strive for with its own public education
system many countries allow students to
learn hands-on with apprenticeship
programs according to the United States
Department of Education the average
apprenticeship in the United States
occurs at 30 years old whereas in
countries such as Germany Switzerland
and the UK apprenticeship slip link
students finishing a formal education to
the world of work given the great
success of youth apprenticeship programs
in these nations according to the u.s.
labor workers who compete apprentice
complete apprenticeships programs earned
$300,000 more over a lifetime than peers
who don’t making a more payant that the
US should consider transitioning to this
model why not offer students all the
opportunities opponents may point out
German companies lack of interest and
actually hiring these apprentices which
may pose a problem if the United States
Republicans refuse to agree to allocate
funding to the paying of youth
adjectives some cells in any context
apprenticeships may not solve the deeper
education gap with regard to the skills
American students learning at a young
age the massive gap in educational
opportunities across various
socioeconomic backgrounds even out of an
elementary school level separate
American students in two different
tracks that would make a cohesive
vocational system and accessible for all
students with the Nek economy currently
focusing on industries that rely on a
rapid technological advancements
American schools may not be able to keep
up with these fields that are in
constructing ever-evolving industries
but these issues of inequality will
exist with or without vocational
education systems
but perhaps a massive transition in
American public education will force
experts politicians and academics to
take these inquiry inequalities more
seriously and address them at the root
level with all these enticing avenues to
break away from the current education
system you may be wondering how we got
stuck in a rut we found ourselves in to
explain I’d like to take you down a
brief historical path starting with the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of nineteen sixty-one passed under
President Johnson as a major element on
his war on poverty the particulars of
this act might not widely be known until
one learns that this piece of
legislation is actually the foundation
of the common delay discussed No Child
Left Behind Act No Child Left Behind Act
reauthorized the Education Act under the
Bush administration 2001 and many of
these programs in the two bills were
reauthorized a third time in 2013 under
Obama only this time it succeed it only
this time it’s called every student
succeeds Act II SSA for short what’s
ironic about these bills which were
often marketed as education reform is
that their impact was not that
revolutionary at all and they did not
ensure that no child was left being was
not left behind or that every student
succeeded
although the strategy underlying these
bills was to implement federal standards
that would guarantee a baseline of
quantity and quality of information
taught in these elementary and secondary
schools the reality is without a recent
without a significant redistribution of
resources schools could not magically
accommodate in the wake of these reforms
SAT scores actually declined from 2006
to 2014 for all demographic groups
except for Asians and when a new
idealist standard I was six standardized
success was suggested in 2009 with the
Common Core State Standards the
Department of Education faced huge
pushback from states schools districts
and families who were finally frustrated
enough to stand up to the federal
government with their piece of tough
piece of scores continuing to decline
over this time period the standards
clearly did not approve American
standing is compared to the rest of the
world and even the education gap in our
own country was clearly not addressed by
these policies in a perfect world making
these commitments to national standards
and a universal curriculum
should have propelled our country
towards success and global acclaim and
the education landscape if that were the
case though we would not find ourselves
ranking 27th in the world in math and
24th in the world on reading on the Pisa
test well below the countries whose
education models we’ve denounced for
years students in California New York
Texas and Massachusetts all have a
requirement of 900 hours a year in class
however Finland requires 608 years all
right hours yet the Finnish scores
significantly higher on standardized
tests students spend 6.1 hours a week
doing homework in the United States
where the Finland Finnish spent 2.5
hours a week on homework do you see what
I’m getting at schools are letting in
students down in the US because students
spend more time doing homework and at
school yet on average perform worse and
these other countries who have less time
doing school related things this and
itself should be a topic of discussion
as our school system continues to waste
resources while underperforming given
how long we spend going to school and
doing homework we should be seeing much
higher outcomes for students across also
see owner socioeconomic backgrounds
unlike in other countries where absence
of wealth can prevent a student or a
child from receiving education
altogether students in United States
have this opportunity regardless of
their family’s income spend the same
number of time in class as their peers
from wealthier communities yet we still
face unacceptably low outcomes to me
this says that the time students spend
in class is often time poorly spent and
I hope to suggest several ways to flip
the script close an education gap
between the United States and other
countries and among different
marginalized groups in United States for
us the problem is deeper than just
scoring poorly on standardized tests
students in the u.s. lacking
apprenticeship opportunities tend to be
less prepared to have success in the
workplace schools in the United States
promote problem-solving critical
thinking and writing skills but they
lack structure to pair students how to
work with colleagues develop hard skills
within a profession or trade and
establish a network of similarly skilled
adults if you take anything away from
this talk I hope it’s to be skeptical of
our education system that we so highly
value in our country while their value
is certainly not misplaced in this
institution with the capacity to shape
our future generations
and set this country on an upward trend
of innovation in progress we ought to
acknowledge that their ways in which our
current institution has failed us in its
mission while I’m not purporting to have
all the answers and a genuine effort at
reviving an apprenticeship program will
require more than a thorough plan for
students in different age groups and
those from different socioeconomic
backgrounds I believe these are
conversations worth having on an
individual scale I encourage you to be
skeptical of your curriculum if it does
not inspire you but this get decision
should not amount to the complacency
simply because you don’t fit into your
school where you find discomfort or
irrelevance and what you’re learning
seek learning opportunities anywhere in
everywhere else outside of the classroom
and encourage your friends to do the
same thank you [Applause]
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