- [Instructor] Hello everybody, and welcome back to the channel. My name is Blair or the iilluminaughtii and today I want to talk
about the US education system. But before I do, I've
got a few disclaimers I need to put out there. First of all, I want to recognize how absolutely privileged I am to have an education at all. There's countries in the world today that don't have schools, and there's thousands of children struggling to survive in poverty, that don't know where their
next meal is coming from. Let alone what their school is teaching. I'm not trying to say that advanced math, science and history should not be taught just that there's other subjects that personally might be a
little bit more important considering today's global economy. There's more than I'm going to touch on, rather than just what's taught even though I can't possibly cover
everything in detail, but I just wanted to explain that and get that out of the way now. Some of this is going to be opinion but I'm going to do my best just to present the facts you with as little bias as possible as always. So with that being said,
let's dive right in and get a clearer picture
of what the United States education system is like
and how it got so broken. Let's get into it. In recent years, we've seen more articles, more videos, and more discussion about what's being taught in school. YouTube videos like
"Don't Stay in School," have gone viral stating
how ridiculous it is that we know the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, but we're clueless when it comes to taxes. How we know the different
classifications of rocks, but basic first aid isn't mandatory. So many people can relate to this and it sparked some worthy discussion, about the education system. But before we get into
reform and what's broken, let's see who built the education system to be this way in the first place. It turns out a man named Horace Mann, is credited with creating
the public education system. He was born in 1796, and in 1838 founded "The Common School Journal." His six main principles
were the following. The public should no
longer remain ignorant. That such education should
be paid for, controlled and sustained by an interested public. That this education will
be best provided in schools that embrace children from
a variety of backgrounds. That this education must be non-sectarian, not affiliated with religious groups. That this education must be taught using the tenets of a free society, and that education should be provided by a well-trained professional teacher. And I can't say I really
disagree with those principles. Horace was the father of the
common school, a smart man and he recognized the
need for public education, and that's kind of incredible. So I don't want anyone
walking away from this video blaming him or something. In the early 1800s the problems, and the education system
were so incredibly different and the needs were not the same as where we're at now in society. It's not as if they did taxes
the same way we did today, or you know, didn't even
have them way-back-when. The first aid wasn't what it is. The stock market, the
process purchasing a home, hell the 30 human rights, that the United Nations
founded in 1948 didn't exist. So it's not as if a course on taxes, basic first aid, knowing your rights and all that good stuff was going to be at the
front of this man's mind, but then what was it that
Horace had in mind exactly? Well jobs, more specifically factory jobs. As William Treseder at mission.org wrote, "The modern American school system was primarily designed
to instill discipline, not to foster learning. Education was more about
forming behavioral traits to enforce mental habits, not vice versa. Let that settle in for a moment. Education isn't really about learning! More specifically, it isn't
about learning how to learn. It's about learning how to conform. Predictability is the ultimate goal. "The logic went something like this, if you can could compete,
you would be hired for a job. If you are hired, your virtuous habits would eventually lead to your promotion. As promotions accumulate,
your pay increases and eventually you
reach financial comfort. Or perhaps even significant wealth! Mann wanted every man,
I'm not sure about women to be able to compete in the economy. The fragmented social options weren't able to keep up with
the shift in useful skills. A more coordinated effort was required. If nothing happened, the United States would be rocked by social unrest as social classes drifted apart
into haves and have-nots." To put it briefly, the education
system is about habits. About everyone on equal footing
back in the 19th century. It was about getting everyone
to do their homework, accepting what they were assigned, completing projects and
caring about scores, and ranks, sitting still, those lessons. During that era, it was necessary. It's worth reminding ourselves now about the key characteristics
of the industrial era. And how we can see them manifested in the education system that continues to operate
across America to this day. Schools focus on respecting authority, punctuality, measurement,
basic literacy, arithmetic. Notice how these reinforce each other. You enter the system one way and are crammed through an
extended molding process. The result a good enough cog, to jam into an industrial machine. Dependable, interchangeable, replaceable. I won't pretend to understand
the world of Horace Mann, I've never lived in it. The structure was better than nothing. It gave people an opportunity
to work and basic knowledge, but why the fuck haven't we adapted now? Northwestern University economist says, "The early industrial capitalists, spent a great deal of effort and time in the social conditioning
of their labor force, especially in Sunday
schools which were designed to inculpate middle class
values and attitudes, so as to make the workers more susceptible to the incentives that the factory needed. In a post-industrial world, education may require
an equally bold rethink. It might mean more
comprehensive adult education, or regular retraining,
to keep skills sharp as old jobs disappear and new ones appear that require vastly
different responsibilities. Or it may involve integrating technology to create personalized
learning experiences." We have jobs today that
never existed back then. That citizens in the early 1900s, could have never dreamed of. Just as how I'm sure that, in 100 years from now we'll have new jobs that I would have never dreamed of either, and we need to adapt with it. It's not that traditional
subjects are dead. There's still students that go on to study science, or English, or math, but encompassing everything,
every opportunity and trying to set everyone on the same playing field again, it well, it hardly sounds possible. When the job market was
primarily factory worker, the education system
instilled the qualities it valued in its future workers. But now it's not just factory worker as a primary opportunity. There's jobs in video game
design, ski instruction, decorating cakes, airplane engineers, YouTubers for God's sake and
countless, countless more. The idea of teaching enough
classes for every job is just about impossible and I get that. A kid that wants to study math today, is going to be introduced
to it far sooner, than a video game designer who would want to start learning the basics of their field, unless they were doing
that in their free time. And hiring teachers in
hundreds or thousands of completely separate subjects to teach, it's just not happening with how little teachers are already paid. When education reform is
addressed by the government, it's still focused on test scores. No Child Left Behind, a law that held schools accountable for how children learn, was one of the more modern examples of an education reform that we've seen. But in my eyes, the problem isn't if the children know all their mathematical
equations or Shakespeare plays. It's what the schools are
teaching them in the first place. Although the Every Student
Succeeds Act which replaced No Child Left Behind in
2015 by Barack Obama, tried to correct problems that arose. It felt like no one wants
to take on the task, of tearing down what we've
got and starting over. Hell and I get why it sounds like hell, just thinking about it but what we have now
is incredibly obsolete and it's not helping anybody. As the Foundation for
Economic Education says, "Even though the curriculum of the public education
system has developed, the essence has stayed the same. Children are still taught in a standardized and industrialized way. As with anything that comes
from a centralized control, it is highly inefficient,
bureaucratic and wasteful. Children rarely are allowed to
be children, play is stifled. Children are crammed into a classroom and taught in a standardized way. Creativity is restricted. They aren't allowed to harness
their inquisitive minds. Questioning things that is
part of the analytic mind and a key to societal development, but this takes a backseat to examinations. The very nature of tests
relies on memorization, repetition and regurgitation. Tests infrequently harness
the analytical mind. They train students to know answers. However, they don't train them
on how to find the answers. Each child is unique in their own right. Each has a different personality and preferred way of learning. Under the current system,
each child is bundled under one standardized umbrella. When considering the
different types of learners, it is easy to see why
some get left behind." Not only does this method of teaching, paint everyone with the same brush and teach the same basic skills a factory worker would want, but it's stifling creativity. And there's a lot of
creative jobs out there. Like yeah, I'm on YouTube,
but what about painters? What about like the artists
that helped create my sprites? The editors that help me with my videos? Songwriters, researchers, writers, fashion designers
animators, videographers, photographers, illustrators,
actors, web designers, tattoo artists, and so on and so on. I'm not saying every school and every teacher suppresses this, but that the current system
does not encourage this. The focus is your MCAS,
SATs, tests and grades. Meanwhile, one gigantic reason young people say they don't vote, is because they aren't even sure how. When I was 18 and I
first went to the polls, I was embarrassed which you know, I admit I didn't even know what some of the topics
on the ballot were. I felt like I had done my own research but you know, when I got there, all my confidence just left and I was like I don't know what they're
even asking anymore. And I feel like that's something that I should have learned in school, because that's what you're supposed to do in school is learn, right. You learn about the government, and how to survive, and be
successful in the world. And yet I walked into a voting booth and I didn't know what the
hell I was doing entirely. These things alone, tell us
that the system isn't working. We don't need to know the skills to work a factory job anymore, in case that hasn't come
across loud and clear now. What we need are the skills to learn, to expand our interests and
function in the new world. One article from Teacher's College Columbia University
sums it up quite nicely. Not just as to why this
system doesn't work but why nothing has been done for so long. "Take our schools, their
problem has been misdiagnosed. The nation's school system
did not suddenly decline. Imagine a golden age of
schooling, perhaps in the 1950s. The highest test scores at that period would be inadequate for the present. The current economy and
burgeoning new technologies make the prior performances
of our students inadequate. High school dropouts, whose numbers were
dramatically higher than now, could get jobs working in
a factory or assembly line, making a salary sufficient
to support a family. Those jobs do not exist anymore. They have been replaced by low-paying, higher-skill jobs in the service sector. For high school graduates,
entering-skill levels required for jobs are also higher. The job facing our nation is
not to fix broken schools, but to remake our educational system to meet the needs for a new society. Unfortunately, we are
distracted by a diverse debate over whether children are less well-prepared academically
than in the past. We are focused on how
much we may have lost rather than how very
much more we need to gain if our youngsters are going
to succeed in the future. The nation has rightly recognized that education is troubled, particularly in urban and rural areas. Poll after poll shows better schools among the public's highest priorities. Any candidate running for office from dogcatcher to president must have an educational platform. Unfortunately, politicians
too often seek quick fixes, silver bullets, and newsworthy sound bites rather than comprehensive plans." The education system is as
outdated as it is broken. If it doesn't work for
us and hinder students from feeling encouraged, creative and free to explore the world around them, make no mistake it's broken. But thankfully things are
slowly starting to change. It's slow going progress but hey, as long as it's
progress, that's something. That same article from
Columbia University, also states, "Alternatives
to public education are being introduced around the country. Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Florida have created voucher programs allowing students to attend private, even for-profit schools
rather than public schools. Home schooling, which now enrolls between 500,000 and 2 million children, is permitted in all 50 states." And I understand homeschooling isn't possible for everyone. Plenty of families rely on two incomes, both parents working, or they don't have the resources or qualifications to do that. And it's the same reason a parent can't be expected to teach their child all these financial and technical things, they may not know the subject themselves. But at least I'd imagine, as long as homeschooling
was done properly, a student's teacher aka their parent would be able to help them
on a more personal level, center lessons around the
way their child learns and be able to include comprehensive and modern applications. And "Contrary to the name, homeschooling takes
place in an actual home. Only a fraction of the time. A great deal of instruction happens in community colleges, at libraries, or in the halls of local museums. These experiences have the effect of maturing kids much more quickly and cultivating "a trait
of open-mindedness," as a Harvard junior
and former homeschooler Claire Dixon told "Business Insider." Now this isn't me advocating, for homeschooling in particular. It's just alternatives or at
least an openness to them, especially when they've
been proven effective. "Research suggests that
homeschooled children tend to do better on standardized tests, stick around longer in college, and do better once they're enrolled. A 2009 study showed, that the proportion of homeschoolers who graduated from college was around 67%, while among high school
students it was 59%." There's also Montessori schools which are more hands-on lessons. It's a noncompetitive environment, where older students teach younger ones. So not only are students learning but they're learning how to teach and seriously, that's kinda cool. You learn how to explain
something to someone that doesn't quite understand it, and it encourages empathy. "America Magazine" states, each activity is intended to be
self-correcting and hands-on. They are very cleverly designed so that the child will discover step-by-step what she
is supposed to learn. Each activity is a
building block to the next. So when children learn to trace shapes inside metal inserts that
have various geometric shapes, they're unwittingly practice
the fine motor skills that will enable them to pick up writing, which they typically do much faster than the average child. Equally well-conceived are
the mathematics activities which work with concrete
materials like beads, and demonstrate that anyone is able to become comfortable with math. Now don't get me wrong, the idea of Montessori is pretty old. Maria Montessori developed it in 1897, but it's been adapted, and it's not about turning
kids into factory workers. They're known for being individually placed most importantly. Now we already know why some parents can't turn to homeschooling, but if Montessori schooling, has been around for some
time, it's proven successful and there's already schools
that use this method why hasn't heard of it? Why isn't it everywhere? I mean most articles I've found on the topic are overwhelmingly positive saying this method is superior
in almost every regard. Some argue it's because there isn't any real definitive proof
that Montessori education, is better than public school. There's too many variables in evaluating how a child grows, learns,
what kind of job they get. I mean it's far more than just school that impacts those things. So proving without a doubt, it's better as one hell of a feat and claims that Montessori is better would need to be validated, in order to overhaul the system. There have been a number of studies done to try and determine if children, can really benefit from Montessori though, even as young as preschool age. "Research on preschool education can be hard to conduct and interpret, because kids who go through
different preschools may differ in various ways, such as by socioeconomic status, which in of itself affects
academic achievement. To get around these differences, in a 2017 study, Dr.
Lillard and her colleagues compared to educational
outcomes among 141 preschoolers who had been randomly chosen via lottery to attend either a Montessori preschool or a traditional preschool. The two groups weren't
academically any different when they started school, but by the end of the three-year study, the kids who had gone
through Montessori preschools were more academically advanced and had better social skills than those who went to
a traditional school. The Montessori students also
reported enjoying school more." And again, I've got no idea if most, any, or all kids would benefit
from this kind of learning, but it shows that traditional schooling is at the very least
falling behind on the times. Even with alternatives, public school is still typically the easiest to access and most affordable option
for millions of families. Vocational or vo-tech high schools offer some traditional courses, as well as other programs
like agricultural, business, computing, construction, creative, culinary, healthcare, human services, mechanical and technical. Some fees might be affordable if you're in a county of
a vo-tech high school, but at other times they
can run upwards of $16,000. And don't even get me started on the cost of private schools. Even without Googling that shit, I've seen the costs go up and up to the price near expensive colleges. So where do we go from here? Should every parent put
their child in Montessori, vo-tech, homeschool them,
or eat ramen forever so that their child can
go to private school? No, because education should
be free and easily available. So I'm not going to say that an alternative is
the permanent solution. A temporary one may be,
and if a parent believes that Montessori, vo-tech,
private schooling, homeschooling, boarding school, whatever is best for their child. Well then that's their child so who the hell am I to judge? Unless of course you know,
that school is abusive but the only permanent solution, we're going to see here is education reform on a massive scale. I'm not saying all at once but it definitely needs to happen sooner rather than later. Some articles such as
one from "The Atlantic" entitled, "America's
Not-So-Broken Education System," seem to downplay this issue. They're far from the only news source that insists, 'The root of the problem is not in competent design, as it is so frequently
alleged, nor is it stasis, rather it is the twofold challenge
of complexity and scale." And here's where I have to disagree. The problem is all of these things. The design may not be incompetent, but we're relying on a system that values specific
traits sought in the 1800s. It was competent then, it's not anymore. While some things do change, such as training given to teachers and history books
growing thicker with time many things don't, budget
cuts are still rampant, teachers still protest. And in Oklahoma, the
budget cuts are so severe that in 2018, 30% of
public school students went to a school with no art classes. So how is this encouraging creativity? How is this not stasis? Calling it hysteria or
saying we shouldn't talk about building from scratch sure. I'm not saying fire all the teachers, bulldoze the schools, enroll everyone and let's take the time to do a redo. I don't think anyone is and I don't want you walking
away with the impression that everything you've learned is useless. Even learning that the mitochondria, is the powerhouse of the
cell, isn't entirely useless. It's fascinating to learn how things work and those lessons that
introduce kids to science and sparks their interest. You know, those are interesting things. We need biologists out there you know. Though, I guess you could argue it also can turn some kids off to certain topics being forced into them rather than feeling they have a choice. There's two sides to every coin here. But rather than ingrain different mathematical formulas
into each kid's head, what if we taught them financial
planning in a math class? What if in an English class we had lessons on how to make resumes and understand contracts
for apartments or homes? Why can't history class
explain the foundations of our political parties, how to vote and our human rights? Again, I'm not saying
no schools do this now but mine sure as hell didn't, and I know without a doubt, I'd be miles ahead if I did. The first step to make change, is to be aware of a problem
and then talk about it, and then talk to our
government, talk to our schools and make it known that
this is something we want. This is something our
future children need. So with all of that being said that's where I'm gonna end today's video. Let me know your thoughts,
comments, opinions, down below in the comment section. If you like today's video, make sure to hit that like button and if you're new here, make sure to hit that subscribe button. And if you guys want more content from me you can pop open that description box, you're gonna find links
to all of my social media, discord server, second
channel for my puppy Casper, Sad Milk collaboration channel. It goes on, and on, and on all the cool stuff is
in the description box. So again guys, thank you so much for making it to today's video. I love you guys so much and I'll see you in
the next one, bye guys. (upbeat music)
