The American Education System

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Education.
Noun.
e-jə-ˈkā-shən.
the knowledge, skill, and understanding that you get from attending a school, college, or university
Or that’s what the dictionary says anyways.
But is that really the true meaning of education?
And more importantly what is a true education?
These are all very good questions in trying to determine how effectively the American education system serves the goals of a true education, because we first must figure out what we mean by "true education" in order to determine whether or not our system is working. Only when we truly define the meaning of a "true education" then can we dictate the nature of the American education system’s success in our nation.
 
Everyone knows what an education is. I could ask any random …show more content…

But if I had asked them to define it in words… ah, yes there’s the problem. How to define education in definite meaningful words… That’s it. An education can mean different things to different people, and this can make the true definition of education a fuzzy concept. But in order to critique the American education system, we must have a clear idea of what we are, in fact, critiquing. A number of people over the years have tried to define education, and what it means. One of these people was the American writer, speaker, and thinker Ralph Waldo Emerson of the 19th century, who wrote an essay that was literally called Education. Emerson directly states that “The very definition of intellect is Aristotle’s: ‘that by which we know terms or boundaries.’” Emerson had …show more content…

Are they being taught to think in this way, or are they taught insufficiently…to memorize random facts in order to pass a standardized test, only to forget the next day. That’s the main issue. Are we educated? This question has been written about, debated, and discussed about just as voraciously as the definition of education. I know why the caged bird cannot read, written by modern writer, editor and critic, Francine Prose, is one such example of a critique written about the education system in America and its faults. Mrs. Prose’s essay focuses on the mundane, bland, and ever so impressively inadequate texts that todays high school students are forced to read and analyze for life lessons, and how not only does this provide little to no educational value, but on how it may also be the reason for todays teenagers to despise the art of reading. I wish I could quote the whole work, because truly this entire essay shows the faults in our educational system, but alas! I really can’t because I will get points marked for such a thing (Oh, the inhumanity!) … So, give me a minute to find a good quote…Kay? Great…*5 minutes later* (author sighs) I found one. In this quote Prose comments on the outdated and ill-written “classic” texts that are often given to students to read: “…the mind of the reader is being

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