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>
