The Value in Improving Our Children's Education System: Providing for Our Future
Schools in our country are among the most poorly funded in the industrialized world. Students of lower socio-economic status often have little access to resources proven to assist in quality education, such as small class sizes, excellent learning materials, highly qualified teachers, and solid curriculum.
Research tells us that when we invest in improving our education system, we provide for not only their future, but our country’s future as a whole.
Here are a few ways that improving our children’s education improves our world:
Better education improves our economy long-term.
As the quality of education increases in the United States, we see more achievements, graduation rates rise, and future outcomes such as employment and salaries improve. These statistics are especially true for children of low-income homes.
These increased levels of achievement and graduation result in long-term societal savings, as they translate to less incidents of crime, lower rates of incarceration, higher employment rates and wages, and less welfare.
By improving our children’s education system, we help close the poverty gap.
A nation-wide study by Northwestern on school finance reforms reported that “children from low-income families in states that spent 20% more on them over the 12 years of school experienced graduation rates 23 percentage points higher than similar children without this benefit. Their advantages carried on in later life too: household income for these students as adults increased by 52%, and the gap in adult poverty rates between them and their more affluent peers was eliminated.”
Quality education teaches our youth to challenge ideas.
As children are challenged and encouraged, they are motivated to question the status-quo. A well-rounded curriculum encourages both creativity and logic. This allows our youth to form their opinions, make judgments, and take action. Teaching our children to think outside the box and challenge ideas is a necessary element to providing for our future.
Improving education improves our health.
A well-funded school includes physical and health education. It is vital that we teach our children the importance of maintaining a healthy body and mind. Historically, people with higher education exhibit less anxiety and depression. Some researchers even associate education with better physical health outcomes, including a longer life span. When students are encouraged to take care of themselves, they are more equipped to take care of others in return.
Quality education provides confidence.
Education helps children believe in themselves by improving their decision-making capabilities, growing supportive social groups, and providing opportunities for acknowledgement and recognition. Those who have received a quality education are more likely to be encouraged to take on world issues and feel confident that they can overcome them. As we move into the future, this is a quality we cannot afford to compromise. - Eyal Gutentag