The high school education system is so perfect that to truly understand its greatness, one must understand each aspect the contributes to its glory. From the teacher’s salaries, to the student’s eagerness to learn, to the grading system, there are several qualities that make the high school education system so great. As a society we value good competent teachers which can be seen through our willingness to pay them for their work.
So even if a teacher is not excited at the thought of spending almost seven hours a day with disrespectful teens, they can at the very least be comforted by the facts that they have a well paying and rewarding job. In addition, teachers rarely have to take work home or stay after school to complete it. They almost never have to stay after school to assist students with their work or for them to make up exams. Another benefit is the lunch break. It is during this time that teachers can relax without being disrupted by students barging in asking for help. The occasional exam or homework assignments that need to be graded are the only thing teachers would need to bring home, but even then, they are a rare occurrence. Because of this minimal workload, teachers come to school enthusiastic and ready to teach and this enthusiasm is reflected onto the students. While teachers do contribute to the learning atmosphere in the classrooms, it is the student’s who are the base of everything that goes on.
In all of my classes, every single one of my classmates is focused and attentively listening to our teachers. They are absorbing the knowledge being taught with a passion that is unlike any I’ve seen before. I am consistently challenging myself to find a student that does not give their fullest attention to the teacher. I have yet to find one student with their heads down texting or zoning out. I am amazed at how dedicated and driven my classmates are.
It is extremely rare for a student to miss school; I have many stories of parents trying to convince their child to take a day off and sleep in but they insist on attending because their desire to learn is too great. My only concern is that in the regular classes, the teachers follow the curriculum exactly; in the majority of my honors and AP classes, my fellow classmates raise their hands and give their opinion on the topic being discussed. Now, one would assume these students would be punished, however, the teachers not only permit this type of behavior but oftentimes encourage it. Hopefully, the proper behavior of the other teachers and students will soon rub off and change the behavior of the honors classes. The grading system where letters are given to students depending on their score in the class is fantastic. Most likely the best part is that it trains students to remember the material they study for only as long as they have to and then remove it from their brains once the exam is over. This is finest method of learning for students because they have no need to remember material from previous years and can focus on the current one.
The method of mass practice before an exam and then forgetting it is perhaps the best way to learn because it teaches students that the only thing that matters is their grade and not remembered material. Hopefully after reading this essay, one can see just how flawless the high school education system is. Teachers are rewards for their work with a well paying and secure job but the students are really the ones who make it all happen. With their passion to learn and ability to learn the material and disregard it afterwards, the students deserve a round of applause. Furthermore, the grading system presents a learning opportunity to retain knowledge until the exam passes; this allows the students to rely solely on their instincts to survive life after graduating.