The American education system is not outdated.

Sure, it could be improved, but nothing is perfect, not even Rachel on “Friends” is perfect, and it is easy to say anything can be improved.

My point is that when I hear people blaming the public schools for a supposed decline on the world stage in education, I can’t agree.

What is the criteria for determining what education is?

These studies base their findings on which country’s 12th graders get higher test scores. Education is more than calculus scores. It is also being able to hold onto a job. Education is how well people are employed and enjoy the life they look to lead.

If a person wants to be a custom arc-welder, and he learns the abilities he needs through vocational education, then he has received the necessary education from high school to get him into the area community college courses, then hasn’t he received a good education whether or not he can perform calculus well?

I say that if people know how to take advantage of the education offered by the public schools, they can learn the necessary skills to get them on the right track.

Whether or not people know how to take advantage of a free education usually stems from what their family encourages.

What it comes down to is education has to be valued by the family and by society as well.

Our country has become a nation of busy parents who have less and less time for their children. Television has become the babysitter.

Despite this, parents should remember one of the reasons they are working so hard is to provide for their children, and spending time with the children is just as important as their careers.

One of the best things parents can do for their kids is to read to them. They should take interest in a child’s schoolwork and related activities.

The logic that we should trash the school calendar that gives kids a full summer off is bogus.

There is more to education than formal education. Summers and weekends give children time to be with their parents and do those necessary growing activities.

Sometimes I wonder if the public schools are nothing but inexpensive babysitters for some parents.

Christmas break and summer give kids time to just be kids. It gives them time to use their active imaginations how they like, without the confines of assignments.

It gives them time to visit grandpa and grandma, who are almost always an excellent source for learning.

Summers give high schoolers the chance to work a job and budget money. So it might be a mundane job, but it teaches work ethics and interaction skills not taught in formal education.

Where is the logic that says we learn everything in school alone?

American schools are in danger of teaching too many things too soon.

Many foreign countries try to track kids onto programs for a field, but American schools try to teach a broad education and let the child find where his or her skills are strongest.

We shouldn’t be teaching keyboarding to kids in kindergarten.

Being a well-rounded person distinguishes the typical student of American schools from those in many other countries.

Of course, schools do need college preparation classes, but if it is brought to the children too soon it can turn them off to it. Let’s keep the basics that help get them through a more broad segment of life than just one chosen professional field.

It isn’t good to force a student to choose a certain professional field too soon anyway. Most students aren’t sure what they want to be for sure until college—after they’ve switched their major a few times.

We are also in danger of losing vocational programs. Not everybody needs or wants a four-year degree.

Society needs people who want to work in vocational occupations, and it needs high schools and community colleges to teach those skills.

Often, the associations that determine the future for public schools, such as Iowa’s First in the Nation in Education Foundation (FINE), are made up of people from universities who focus curricula for those going to the universities.

These associations need a broader representation, including people in the public schools who see the need for vocational education.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t keep up with the changing times in ways to educate.

It doesn’t hurt to separate boys and girls in some classes, like math, but not all the time and not for several years. Moderation is the key.

Computers are something that should be taught starting in elementary school, but, again, not too much too early.

Students don’t need to be computer technicians right out of high school, but a good general knowledge is important.

Yes, education is the key to keeping our society healthy, but it’s not so much the education system that needs fixing—it’s the society.

Iowa’s families are good at emphasizing education. This is why our high school students do so well on tests, even though Iowa is in the bottom half of states for teacher salaries. Our success is due to our Midwestern values.

These same educational values at home are what many of the students in other countries, like Japan, which has a very low crime rate, are receiving.

Not every place in the nation has good public schools, but they do have them, and if parents want their kids to learn, they should encourage them to do so.

I’d like to see these places get better schools with more funding, of course, but education starts at home.

Tim Frerking is a junior in journalism mass communication from Pomeroy.