Many may argue education is at its finest since things seem to get better with time; but is this the case when speaking of compulsory education? Compulsory education in the United States today has come a long way from original ideas concerning education. There are some satisfied with the way schools are constructed; yet there are others who are not. Much like anything else, compulsory education can be improved. According to Paul Goodman, requiring students to attain two years for maturing between high school and college can improve compulsory education (Goodman 2012). The history of compulsory education dates back to before the medieval era. As one may guess, compulsory education has been changed drastically since it was introduced. By the year 1918 all of the United States and territories had laws governing compulsory school attendance. Executing compulsory schooling allowed a more productive means of solidifying national school attendance. At this time, compulsory education is a form of progress setting the stage for more jurisdictions in state legislation regarding these attendance policies (Richardson 1994).
Compulsory education has significant advantages and disadvantages. Compulsory education has great effects on enforcing children to go to school. Sadly enough, not all families want their children to go to school or be educated beyond a certain point; or for that matter, some children do not desire to continue their education. Fortunately, these attendance policies make children attend school up to a certain point, which depends on the state. The major disadvantage of compulsory education is that not everyone is “classroom material”. Some people prefer a being employed and establishing a steady income at an early age rather than going to school. A prime example of this is about a teenage boy, Charlie, was bored with school so he started skipping class for weeks at a time. Even then, Charlie proved to be successful in the landscaping business despite the substantial amount of time he lost in school (Inson 2006). Whether the effects of compulsory education are essential to one’s success or not, it plays a key role in today’s schools. Like anything else, compulsory education can and should be refined and enriched. Some of these ideas of improvement are shared by many but have not yet been enforced. The government should be more responsible for setting goals within the system and providing the infrastructure to do so. Also, the government should be responsible for analyzing the outcomes from students once these provisions are set (Yasuhiko 2005). Going further as to say, raising the age of compulsory education, which is an idea shared by many. This enforces students to continue their education for longer periods of time, which in turn, would ultimately provide more productive citizens to the American society (NASSP 2010). Certainly, compulsory education is a significant part of the history and present day schools. Education is everything in today’s society. There are immense advantages as well as disadvantages concerning this subject. Compulsory education is essential to schools in the United States and will continue to be. Continuous reform and amendments will be made along with new laws and policies governing compulsory education and attendance. Learning is a ceaseless process.
Works Cited
National Education at the Beginning of 2001. “Innovations and Developments in Education System”. 2002. <http://www.meb.gov.tr/stats/apk2001ing/section_4/compulsoryeducation1.htm>
Richardson, John G. “Compulsory School Attendance”. 1994. <http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Ch-Co/Compulsory-School-Attendance.html>
Inson, Peter. “The Guardian”. November 2006. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/nov/15/society.socialexclusion>
Yasuhiko, Torii. “Redesigning Compulsory Education”. October 2005. < http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo0/toushin/06051511.pdf>
Goodman, Paul. “Two Simple Proposals”.
Cited: National Education at the Beginning of 2001. “Innovations and Developments in Education System”. 2002. <http://www.meb.gov.tr/stats/apk2001ing/section_4/compulsoryeducation1.htm> Richardson, John G. “Compulsory School Attendance”. 1994. <http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Ch-Co/Compulsory-School-Attendance.html> Inson, Peter. “The Guardian”. November 2006. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/nov/15/society.socialexclusion> Yasuhiko, Torii. “Redesigning Compulsory Education”. October 2005. < http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo0/toushin/06051511.pdf> Goodman, Paul. “Two Simple Proposals”.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
A policy area in the middle of these cross-currents is elementary and secondary education – a subject traditionally under local control, with some oversight by the states. However, during the last four decades – especially since 2001 – the national government's role in education has grown significantly as a result of initiatives by Republican and Democratic administrations. Use the assigned resources to inform yourself about this role and the arguments of its supporters and critics.…
- 830 Words
- 3 Pages
Better Essays -
To meet the demands of the ever increasing secularization of society, The United States has mandated an increase in levels of schooling and the development of “increasingly sophisticated and accessible” (Modernization Theory, 2000) forms of transportation and communication systems. These secularized mandates have forced citizens of the United States to obtain secondary…
- 1155 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Marxist may argue that this law benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor and the law of compulsory education means wealthier families can send their children to private school which could arguably provide them with a better education and by the status of the school provide them with a better job.…
- 425 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
All children in England aged 5 to 16 are entitled to free education at a state…
- 1090 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
In 1852, Massachusetts was the first state in the, United States of America to enact a compulsory education law. This law required every city and town in Massachusetts to offer primary school focusing on grammar and basic arithmetic to be mandatory for children to attend. Prior to this law, states only offered private schools run by the catholic churches and since these schools charged tuition, it made it difficult for children with poorer background to receive a full education. This would eventually change during the immigration boom during 19th and 20th centuries and lead to other states to enact the compulsory education law. More subjects since have been added to schools and have been mandatory…
- 946 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Education was seen as more important than making a contribution economically. By the 1830s, compulsory education was first starting to appear.…
- 996 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
The compulsory school attendance protected the children's right to school under the parents' permission; unless the parents decide to exploit their labor. Holt states that the compulsory attendance policy commands children to go to school. If children are forced to go to school than there is a better chance they won't like going. But, if the child had the option to go to school whenever they want, there us a better chance of them going; this being because school is where children meet new friends and communicate with others. And children need communication to get through life, like any other average person.…
- 618 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The United States of America is one of, if not the most powerful country on this planet. Built over two-hundred years ago, with a foundation of liberty and justice, an influential democratic government, and a forceful military with the world's largest Air Force, the United States truly is a force to be reckoned with. However, The US is deprived of the greatest we have in this world; education. In the world we live in, education is everything, success is rarely found without it. With the US’s existing education policy approximately 1 in 4 American students will not graduate high school and only 40% will earn a college degree (Porter, 2015).…
- 1693 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The main subject in John Taylor Gatto’s essay is the schooling system and all it’s weaknesses. He argues that, the real objective of mandatory schooling is not according received wisdom to make good people and citizens, but to reduce individuality, put down dissent and originality just in order to make populace manageable. Taylor Gatto provides number of arguments in favour of his thesis.…
- 567 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
There are many forms of research for compulsory education. When I started to dig for…
- 1210 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
First, in order to enroll in college, mandatory attendance in a previous educational institution is required. For most, this record consists of 13 years of mandatory classroom attendance prior to college. It is a valid argument that the continuation of this policy is effective for job preparation in that it teaches accountability and self-discipline. But if a student is required by a higher authority to do something, is it really self-discipline? No, it is merely a high school power struggle between student and teacher that has some how found its way in to the classrooms of colleges everywhere. This policy teaches students that in his or her future, if attendance at a particular event is important, someone will be there to mandate it. The mandatory attendance policy does not promote self-discipline, it promotes the control of one individual by another. The only way that a student will learn self-discipline and accountability is through trial and error using his or her own judgement, not based on policy.…
- 719 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
It's hard enough to get kids to take their education seriously when it's compulsory, I can't imagine the number of kids who would totally give up on the idea if they actually had a choice in the matter. “Mandatory attendance laws force many to attend school who have no wish to be there… The solution to this problem is simple: Abolish compulsory- attendance laws and allow only those who are committed to getting an education attend”. This is what Roger Sipher wrote in his article “So that nobody has to go to school if they don’t want to” that was published in the “New York Times” on December 22, 1997. The author states that mandatory attendance laws should be abolished because they force the people who have no wish of learning to attend school, that they get the teacher, and the dedicated kids of topic. I disagree with sipher’s argument that getting rid of mandatory attendance laws would improve the education system because every kid is entitled to an education and by abolishing these laws it would give kids the option of going to school. It would hurt the countries’ economy and the countries’ education system and it would look bad at an international level. By abolishing these laws parents would not get notified of when their kids are not in school, and this could eventually lead to a tragedy one day.…
- 855 Words
- 4 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
I believe that, after year 6, school should NOT be compulsory. By the time you have completed your primary education, you have learned the basic skills needed to get through life. High school is simply an extension of the basic skills learned in the primary school system, and is unneeded unless you pursue your education to a very high degree.<br><br>It is not the government's decision whether or not you should have to attend high school. It should be the individual's choice, and forced on no-one, because by the time you have completed your primary education, you are old enough to make this decision.<br><br>In high school there are more trouble makers who only disrupt the classes because they do not want to be there. These people disrupt the class and make it more difficult for those who are interested in the subject and want to learn. If school were optional, these students would not be in classes disrupting the class and ruining the chances of other students. Instead, they could be out in the workforce making money and beginning their careers earlier, giving them more experience in the workforce and making it easier for them to rise up to a postition of responsibility. If school were optional, it would benefit both the students that want to learn and those that do not, and would rather be in the workforce<br><br>The sort of education that is offered in the high school system is not needed by all people. After primary school, students have learned the basic skills required to work in an untrained proffession, and do not need the more advanced education that high school offers. Sons or daughters often carry on the family business, and after completing their primary education, any further, more advanced education is unnecassary, because they can learn all they need to know about their future proffession from their father/mother.<br><br>I believe that secondary education should be the individual's choice. It is unfair to force all young people (sometimes…
- 387 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Compulsory education is available from ages 8 to 16, with almost 90% of the primary school age children attending in 1996. The attendance rate for secondary school was much lower at a little over 50% of the population attending. Institutions of higher learning had almost 40,000 attendees.…
- 1387 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Homeschooling is a time-honored and widespread practice. It often presents, however, a conflict between the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children and the State's right to impose regulations in the interest of ensuring an educated citizenry. The Supreme Court has made it clear that any regulation impacting this constitutional right must be "reasonable." The courts have therefore generally resolved homeschooling cases by examining whether state regulation of homeschooling places an unreasonable burden on the rights of parents. The courts, however, have altogether failed to address another, more fundamental question: whether the state regulation in fact advances the State interest. A regulation that fails this criterion cannot be "reasonable." Using the vehicle of a recent California appellate court case, in which the court initially upheld a regulation prohibiting parents from homeschooling their children unless they first obtained a state teaching credential, we show how recent social science research should impact the analysis. Instead of assuming away the issue of whether the regulation in fact advances the State interest, we show that this type of empirical research will allow courts to be able to answer this threshold question.…
- 1218 Words
- 4 Pages
Satisfactory Essays