America was born from man’s innate nature to escape corruption and pursue freedom and liberty. It’s interesting that as Americans, we pride ourselves on our freedom, yet we find direct corruption in one of the most important social systems, our education system. Schooling in America has quickly become a cesspool, as money has taken over many peoples’ ability to rationalize correct thought. We’ve been conditioned to believe that education and self-betterment comes at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. We’ve come to believe that our character is based on numbers and achievements, and not our merits. We’ve been judged on who we were yesterday, not who we will be tomorrow. The American education system is in dire need of drastic change in order to progress society pass the stagnant state it presides in.
As of right now, the average cost for one year of college in America is $25,000 in state and $40,000 out of state, which means the cost of college has gone up 150% in only the last 40 years. People pursuing law or medical degrees often have student loan debt that stays with them for some 30 plus years. The daunting obstacle of the expense that is college is often what keeps people away from pursuing a collegiate career, creating a huge socio-economic issue. People who can afford schooling, textbooks, tutors, etc. are the ones who become educated, more apt to deal with societal issues. Meanwhile the people that can’t afford schooling stay uneducated and ruled over. In other words, the poor people stay poor and the rich stay rich.
Education and self-betterment shouldn’t come with a price tag that looms over you for the rest of your life, because some money-hungry businessmen see the education system as an opportunity to accrue capital. This issue proves that America is more concerned about money than it is about the well-being and progression of its’ people, which is a trait associated with the British colonies, the people we fought to escape from.
The college acceptance process is based on an application sent to a certain college that details your grades, demographics, standardized test scores, achievements, and essays, at the expense of $50-$75. The issue with this process is that the college really has no clue of the kind of person the applicant is based solely on their grades and essays.
Thousands of deserving individuals are denied passage into colleges where they can further develop their education, because they slacked off in their early years and wrecked their GPA, or they didn’t see the value of joining clubs until later in their life. As growing adults, teenagers are pumped with hormones that result in slacking off and ignorance as they try to find their way through high school and oftentimes grades are the least of their worries. People grow, they learn and become better people as they mature in life\; we are unfinished products and should not be judged until we are done.
College has become more necessary for many high paying jobs and the rates in which people are going to college is at an all time high with about 70% of all students in America seeking higher education. A higher rate of attendance in college is a great thing, but it also means that there are businessmen making billions off of eager students who just want to learn. I believe that education is a right that every American should be able to pursue without fearing lifelong debt, because education leads directly to growth, and our country has a lot of growing to do. In a world full of corruption, perhaps a cleansing of the education system is the gateway to further education.