Compulsory education both empowers and disempowers the American population. First, we need to understand what compulsory really means, which is mandatory or forced. This does not necessarily mean that it is public or traditional school, it could be a private, religious, or home school as well. Our compulsory education system is not without some flaws. However, it has more benefits, like higher literacy rates, better understanding of and involvement with the government, and even increase personal health. I also have a few proposals for how to improve our public education system to make it even more empowering and inadvertently increase the overall welfare of our country.
A lack of funding for schools and teacher’s wages, as well as the unwillingness of students to learn, are a few reasons why our compulsory education system can be disempowering. In some situations, the schools are without adequate learning environments and their buildings are not suited for education. For example, in Still Separate, Still Unequal, one elementary school in the Bronx was in an old skating rink and had very overcrowded and stifling rooms with no area for recess (Kozol 244). However, as a whole, our nation is greatly more empowered by compulsory education because it raises the national standard of education and intelligence. Without mandatory education our national literacy rate would be much lower. According to the CIA’s 2003 estimates, 99% of American’s of the age of 15 and older can both read and write. We would not be one of the leading world powers if we did not have mandatory education. I was also unsuccessful in finding another world power that does not have compulsory education. The reality is that many people would not go to school if it was optional. In the early 1900’s, we did not have a mandatory public education system, so many parents would make their children work to help support their family. However, if they would have been able, economically, to let them go to school, then they would have been able to get better jobs and make more money in the long run. Having a more educated workforce is very important for a country if they want to advance in science and technology.
Although voting percentages are not as good as they could be, at 55.3% in the presidential election of 2004, it is higher than it would be without compulsory education. Having a country that is highly educated not only helps the country economically, but also with the nation’s overall health. In Journals of Health and Social Behaviors, Chia-Ling Wu and Catherine Ross of the University of Ohio State and Illinois, interviewed over 4,467 people, ranging in age from 18-90 over an 11 year period. They found that “the well educated, have better health than the poorly educated” (104). Therefore, if we become a more educated nation our country’s overall health will also increase. This would cause a slight drop in the costs of Medicaid and Medicare for our government. This saved money could then be used towards education.
For the sake of the future generations of American’s, we need to invest more into their compulsory education because our nation’s future depends on it. In 2003, the federal government spent about $58 billion on education for the country’s education system. However, in the same year they spent over $296 billion on “defense” and “homeland security.”(Heritage.org) I understand that our national defense is important and costly, but I think our country’s future is worth a little more than 1/5 of our present defense budget. Also, our teachers need to be payed more than they are right now. In order for teachers to be certified, they must have at least a bachelor’s in education minor or major. They then must go through teacher certification for the given subjects they want to teach. According to the National Education Association, in 2004 the average teacher’s salary in Texas was $40,476 a year. However, according to the American Census Bureau, the average annual earnings of a worker with a bachelor’s degree will earn $51,206. It does not make much sense that a person working as a teacher should make such a low salary when we entrust them with the minds of our nation’s future.
Compulsory education in America is both empowering and disempowering. However, we must not focus on whether it is one or the other, but instead on how we can improve the education system for the future of America. Without public education, our nation would not be as economically or technologically advanced as we are today.
Work Cited
Jonathan Kozol, “Still Separate, Still Unequal.” Rereading America, Seventh Edition, Bedford/ St.Martin’s: MITP, 2005. 239-256
“The World Factbook United States.” CIA- The World Factbook. 6 September 2007
16 September 2007 <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html>
“National Voting Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960-2004.” Infoplease. 2007
16 September 2007
Chia-Ling Wu (Ohio State University), Catherine Ross (University of Illinois), “Education, Age, and the Cumulative Advantages of Education.” Journals of Health and Social Behaviors: Vol. 37 No. 1. March 1996
16 September 2007 <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-1465%28199603%2937%3A1%3C104%3AEAATCA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage> MITP, 1996. 104-120
Brian M. Riedl, “$20,000 per Household: The Highest Level of Federal Spending Since World War II.” The Heritage Foundation. 3 December 2003
16 September 2007
Washington (AP), “Teachers paid an average salary of $46,752, survey finds.” USA Today
25 June 2005
16 September 2007
