SuiWa Sarah Chan Professor Nayer English 1A: 11-12 02 May 2011 The Crisis in American Educational System The American government spent lots of money for education in the last 20 years. According to the “US Federal Government Spending Budgets” in 2010, about 149 billion dollars were spent on education. This becomes the one of the reasons for many people cross over the sea and come to America for their educational dream. American education was the top of the world before, but it is not at all now. Why the system goes downhill? The budgets cut from government, dropout rates from students and over use of technology show that the educational system fails to motivate students to love learning. The government cuts the educational budgeswhich makes the students have hard time learning. According to one of the news article from San Francisco Chronicle, the writer states, “… state budget cuts lock students out of community-college classrooms or force them to stand in class…”(Connacher). This means the budget cut from the community college cause the overcrowded class. Many students cannot take the class that they want which makes them delay their graduation date. Students cannot concentrate in studying when they stand in class because they will feel tired when they stand for an hour during the class time. Schools need to provide enough seats and comfortable environment for their students, but the budget cut problems make the schools don’t have redundant expense to help the students love learning. In the same news article, the writer said: “…unsung heroes of America’s education system, Congress last year considered a $12 billion, 10-year-plan to support community college – and cut it to $2 billion” (Connacher). This shows ten billion dollars is cut from education which means eighty-three percents of the budge is cut. Ten billion dollars are cut and no one knows where the government will spend this ten billion. The college will cut classes, cut teachers’ wages and increase tuition when they don’t have enough money to run their school.If the college cut classes, students will have less chose to take their classes and make them don’t have a flexible hour for their hobby. If the college cut teachers’ wages will make the teachers don’t have energy to teach the students. If the tuition increase, there will be less student go to college because they cannot assume the high tuition.Therefore, students and teachers will become the first victims in the budget cut issue.

　　Even though budget cut make the students have hard time to lean, many of the college students can apply for financial aid to support their educational expenses. The expensive tuition and books cause many student have to have debt problems, but the financial aid from the government helps them have more money to cover the cost from the tuitions and books. The U.S government and all state governments provide merit and need based student aid including grants, work-study, and loans. Therefore, financial aid should be enough to cover a normal student’s learning expense.

　　Although financial aid help the students to support their educational expense, rising price in tuition and textbooks make students have hard time to pay for the school supplies. Many college students drop out of the schools because they don’t have enough money to support their tuition. In another news article, “College Price Increases Moderate, But Reliance on Borrowing Still Rising” states that the “price increases at colleges and universities slowed down somewhat this year, but students who need financial aid are still relying increasingly on loans to pay for higher education...”. This shows the average cost of tuition and fees still increase this year, so the students need to find money to pay for their loans. As a student, the only way to find money to cover their loans is work after school, but this will lead to another problem because it’s hard for a student to handle both school work and their job. Many students will give up their educational life and enter the adult life when they feel job is more important than school work for them. In the same article, the writer points out that “The average cost of tuition and fees at a four-year college hit $5,491 this year, up 7.1 percent from 2004-2005… That was the smallest percentage increase since 2001-2002” (College Price Increases Moderate, But Reliance on Borrowing Still Rising). This means the number 7.1 percent already is the smallest percentage increase in the past five years. Can students assume about five thousand dollars per each semester and this five thousand is only for tuitions not including the books and other educational expense? If the students cannot assume the tuitions, the only way for them is drop out of school. So, the expensive tuition will cause the high dropout rate in college.

　　However, flexible hour for the college students would help them to find a part time job to support their tuition. One of the good things studying in America is the flexible study hour because the students in the other country cannot choose their study time. The school will schedule the hour for the student and they have to come to the classes on time in other country; otherwise,the teachers will drop their students who are not come to the classes.On the other hand, the American educational system let the students choose their time can help them to have time to work outside school. They can earn money from their part time job which helps them to pay for the tuition.

　　Over use of technology causes the American students forget the basic skills. In China, students need to recite the multiplication table when they are in the second grade of the primary school. The schools in china do not allow students to use the calculators during their exam. However, the American students use the calculators when they learn the mathematics first time. They can use calculators during their homework and exam. Imagine how many American students can calculate sixty-nine times forty-seven by hand in ten seconds? In David Gelernter’s essay, “Unplugged: The Myth of Computers in the Classroom” states, “computers make our worst educational nightmares come true” (279). Gelernter explains over use the technology during class or at home will cause negative effects like spelling wrong words in the in-class essay and wasting time on using calculators. Those effects will lead to the students get troubles in the real world. According to the essay “America, Still on Top” written by Vartan Gregorian points out, “Now America must increasingly rely on its own population to produce the necessary engineers, teachers, scientists and other professionals”(274). In order for students to produce more the professionals is stay away with the technology when people were in young age. Professionals need to be having a strong critical thinking and technology is the barriers to create a strong critical thinking. Over use of technology makes students lose their critical thinking skills and it become one of the educational system fails.

　　Consequently, the budget cuts from government, dropout rates from students and over use of technology causes the American educational system fails. School funding is very important, so the government should not cut the educational budget. Students need to be more self motivate and study hard. The schools need to let the students stay away to the technology and teach them use the brain more. The American educational system is giving enough freedom for the students, but over freedom will make the student don’t have energy to study and cause them not learning much at all.

　　Works Cited “College Price Increases Moderate, But Reliance on Borrowing Still Rising." Diverse: Issues in Higher Education 22.20 (2005): 17. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. Connacher, Kimberly. “For-profit colleges charging more while doing less for poorest.” San Francisco Chronicle News. Fri. 31 Dec. 2010. Gelernter, David. "Unplugged: the myth of computers in the classroom." The New Republic 19 Sept. 1994: 14+. General OneFile. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. Gregorian, Vartan. "America, Still on Top." Newsweek International 20 Aug. 2007. General OneFile. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.