Slow Down for What?

                I am attending a state-wide mathematics competition tomorrow for an organization called Math League, and more can be found here. I like how much math and science programs have expanded, especially the STEM and another competition that I compete in is Science Bowl but we have already finished that in February. Not to mention robotics, even though I do not do much, the fact that there are more and more teams competing in Iowa and the United States. Although we are not technically doing as well as the Chinese are, it is very difficult to push the progression of education.

                One of the things that I do not think many adults understand because it has been awhile since they were teenagers is that teenagers prefer to do things at their own pace and if they are pushed sharply to do something, many will just push even harder back. Teens need to have an immediate reward and not a long-term questionable reward. As a teen, many do not think ahead or into the future much, and instead are all about instant gratification. I do understand, unlike some of my fellow peers, that education is very important in this day and age, but with a high unemployment rate, will there be room for the students who have no work experience, instead with a high education, to be hired? By job, I also do not mean getting a Ph. D in pharmacy but then end up working in a McDonald’s restaurant. As you can see, job security is not very much trusted in, and I do not think social security is either.

                At my school, we have a program where we can advance eight graders to a high school level. I think the school gets more money if these students take these classes. Back when I was an eighth grader we literally had only one person who advanced to the high school level, but now the school advances them regardless of whether or not that they are qualified to be in the class. I really am not trying to insult or offend the ones at our school, but many of them have been advanced past algebra and into geometry. Algebra is honestly one of the main fundamentals of math, and when these eighth graders do not learn it; they fall behind really quickly which is apparent in their grades. In our rush to surpass China and other “intelligent” countries, we are in fact making our own resources worse because we make them seem a lot smarter than they really are. History has shown us that this does not work. In the 1970’s there was a large movement after the Russian satellite, Sputnik, but instead what arose in America was a counterculture where people lounged around much more than they worked.