There is a lot of talk about how American schools fall behind other countries.
Many people are outraged with how America ranks compared to the rest of the
world. An education reform is needed to turn around the downward slope of the test
scores from the last few decades. Meditation could be the key to reforming America’s
education system. Meditation holds the possibility of the powerful incentive to
social, intellectual, and emotional growth.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an
organization that includes 34 democratic countries with market economies from all
around the world. America is one of these 34 countries. Every three years, 15-year-
olds from countries in the OECD takes a standardized test focused on math and
reading. The tests scores from each country are compared in order to see how each
country’s schools rank internationally. Since 2000 America has been scoring in the
average range in all subjects, until the year 2012 when they dropped into the below
average category, as explained by Julia Ryan in her article “American Schools:
Expensive, Unequal, and Bad at Math.” It is time to ask what is wrong with the
education system and what can be done to repair it and start climbing in the
international rankings. Experts in the educational field have some helpful input on
the problems that need to be dealt with in order to start improving.
When education experts were asked about the leading challenges facing
public schools some of the top answers included bullying/self-esteem and student
attitudes/behaviors, according to Grace Chen with Public School Review. Teachers
and administrators feel that if children were better behaved and had better attitudes
at school it would be a much more stimulating environment for learning. They also
say that if the effects of bullying weren’t plaguing kids and they were able to have
better self-esteem, it would be easier to teach. However, what the teachers and
experts see aren’t the only problems in schools. Students have their own ideas about
what the biggest problems in schools are. Patti Neighmond interviewed teenagers
for her article “High School Students’ Health Suffers From Too Much Stress” and
found that 45%, nearly half, of students say the stress from schoolwork is having
negative effects on them. Based on this research, it can be concluded that if behavior,
self-esteem, and stress management were improved, American schools would be
able to strive and climb in the international rankings. Luckily, there is a technique
