Math and Science Push Going Too Far

After our class discussion on Wednesday about the increasing awareness of national rankings and the emphasis on math and sciences that has resulted because of this, I started thinking about my own personal experiences with this subject. At my high school, I remember a man coming in for an assembly to speak to everyone in my grade about the importance of jobs that are focused on math and science because it is the “up and coming” field; he also mentioned national rankings in education. So of course, he talked of the importance of taking advanced math and sciences classes while in high school to prepare yourself for the future. I can honestly say this assembly deeply disappointed me, as I have always struggled in math and science courses. Not only do I have to work three times as hard to achieve the grades I want and understand the material, but I thoroughly do not enjoy these subjects at all. The disappointment that I and many others like me felt in our interests and strengths is where I believe our government and education system is going all wrong. No student should ever feel like they need to hold back or that their personal interests are not important as a whole. I found an article online that shows America’s increasing concern with their statistics in math and science: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/education/us-students-still-lag-globally-in-math-and-science-tests-show.html?_r=0. After listening to our class discussions, it is clear to see that this ongoing obsession with our rankings compared to other countries is just American history repeating itself. Ruining our education system and not equipping our students with confidence in themselves and their strengths is extremely dangerous for our future community. Education should be about the joy of learning and discovering new things and while in this discovery, finding out your interests and who you are as a person. How can we expect our students to do this if we scare them into believing that the only thing that will bring success into their lives is through fulfilling our nation’s fear of falling behind some standard of education we’ve created?