If you have 5 minutes, please grade my issue essay

[invincible49]

A nation should require all of its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

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Education is key to the development of a nation and it is crucial that every child receives proper, well-rounded education. However, instituting a nationalized curriculum brings together a host of problems, both immediate and for the future. Implementing a nationalised curriculum has the potential to increase drop-out rates, decrease the number of well-educated children entering the work force and, perhaps most importantly, decreases thought sharing and innovation.

Today all research suggests that education must build upon what a child already knows: that education must supplement his/her environment. He/she should be able to make sense of what is going on around them. However, a national curriculum just assumes all children’s surroundings are the same. Would a child in a village really know what a pizza is? Let alone calculate what fraction of the pizza is left after eating 4 slices. As such, a national curriculum has already placed a huge disadvantage on children who are less exposed to the outside world, than say a child in a metropolitan city who can immediately Google and learn something he/she has never heard off.

Moreover, the fact that not all children understand what a lesson is trying to teach them, makes them quickly lose interest in their studies. As seen in places like India, this causes high drop-out rates. Children simply tend to leave schools and end up working as daily wage labourers. Such a situation is highly detrimental to the economy. Loss of well qualified students leads to a decline in the work force which, ultimately, results in huge losses to the nation. It is, therefore, important a nation ensures a holistic education curriculum, which is localised.

But, even if students did all learn from the same national curriculum and make it to college, how productive would their time there be? Clearly college and university life is about debates, about sharing ideas and about innovation. If everyone studies the same subject, the same way, there would be a severe shortage of such ideas. It is imperative that debates and interactions take place for if everything is stagnant and agreeable, there would be nothing novel coming out of our universities. In time, research and innovation is sure to decrease or worse, stop.

Having said that, it is understandable why many have called for a national curriculum. The idea that it allows all students to be graded equally is tempting. The country could then decide where the students are strong and what concepts needs improving. However, these are nothing but short-term goals and understanding grades of students plays no role in gauging their interest in a subject, which is far more important.   

Implementing a national curriculum is certainly a contentious issue and one which will not die down soon. However, if students are not taught a curriculum which they are familiar with, interest would soon be lost. This is not good for anyone, neither the child nor the country.

Edited September 15, 2017 by invincible49