In school, we have all heard it before, “it’s hard because the world is hard” or “we are just preparing you for the future”. My math classes in high school especially made sure I believed I would need it in college. But the fact that they had to reassure me that what I was being taught was going to be useful has been scaring me. Especially as someone who has suffered from not being able immediately apply the information I pick up, I found, and still find, this very troubling. This begs the question in everyone’s mind at this moment, “is school worth it? Is is necessary?”
According to the National Sleep foundation, ⅔ of high school students in the US are sleep deprived, getting less than the recommended minimum amount of sleep for humans their age. And it’s not like the problem stops there. A research study titled, “Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students” from Belgium’s Ghent University, shows that 50% of students who continue higher education up to the postdoctoral level are projected to have or develop mental disorders from their prolonged distress. These statements attest to a larger trend that has persisted since the 1960s. Students starting from the high school level have been drained and overworked, continuing to be as they move on in their education. In its current state of being focused on meeting national testing standards, the organized education system in the US has been found to be more difficult than it should be. And it has less than positive results. Pew Research Institute results, from 2018, place the US at 37th out of 71 countries in math and 19th in science. It is statistics like this that the US was trying to beat with the current Common Core system, without a really clear improvement from the past.
To take this trend of difficulty even further, many have begun to believe that education, at least in the formalized setting that has perpetuated this trend, is unnecessary. Drawing from my first paragraph, all students share moments when they legitimately question if what they are learning on a given day in school is worth anything. They ask if it will serve any purpose in their lives. In response, people have begun to home-school their children since the 1980s. According to the Gale Research Database, 2.3 million students have been removed from the education system and are being home-schooled instead. And interestingly, home-schooling have not been definitively shown to be performing less than their public or private school counterparts. The US Department of Education found home schooled high school students were actually being accepted into college at similar rates. The data shows that organized education is not the only way to progress in this economy. And if we take the argument back to the college & university level, hiring websites such as Monster or LinkedIn have shown a trend of businesses not requiring a degree or formal education to be employed. To be fair, there is a remaining advantage to having a degree in the current market, but the data shows we are moving away from that.
In conclusion, the answer to if school in the US is unnecessarily hard is a definite yes. It may be wise to see some longer lasting results, but it would be a good idea to continue to re-evaluate how we can educate our nation. If it is necessary is a bit harder to answer, but the data leans towards a yes as well. We will see how the US changes in the future, but as for the state of things in 2019, this is how they are.
Source:
- https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/high-school-students-getting-less-sleep
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048733317300422
- https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jun/24/has-university-life-changed-student-experience-past-present-parents-vox-pops
- https://www.thoughtco.com/why-homeschooling-is-on-the-rise-1832549
- https://wehavekids.com/education/Do-Homeschoolers-Really-Do-Better-on-Tests
Science & the Public Intellectual 
I suppose “hard” is all relative. I do think that most schools/teachers try the cookie cutter educational approach which is unfortunate as everyone learns in different ways- what may get through to one student may make another completely detached from the material. I think the same materials taught in a more customized approach would be far more effective (though nearly impossible to implement under current conditions- budgets, resources, etc.). I, however, do not think that homeschooling is necessarily the answer. I think that there are important social connections/gains made in a larger school setting- developments outside of the educational material on its own. Very interesting article!
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Really enjoyed your article! I am definitely in agreement- I believe that as children and teenagers’ brains are developing, it is necessary to keep stress levels to a minimum. I wonder if after all these admissions scandals and the trend of buying your way into college (either by donation or fraud), parents will catch on, realize that the admissions process is unfair anyway, and stop pushing their kids into studying enough hours a week to fulfill a full-time job.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this article! I most definitely agree that there needs to be more awareness about mental health’s relation to the consistent intensity and difficulty of school work. The statistic that 50% of students who continue higher education up to the postdoctoral level are projected to have or develop mental disorders is incredibly disheartening. I believe that this potential prolonged distress depends on the student and therefore, I disagree with homeschooling being the solution. However, I do believe that it is important for teachers to acknowledge student’s differences and therefore, should tailor their courses and how they teach their course material to everyone.
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