Final Speech Outline

-Ultimate goal of education: ensure that all students graduate as educated, informed persons prepared to pursue whatever path they choose in life.

Dictionary.com:The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoningand judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.

-Current problem: we have quantity of education taken care of, but the quality is lacking

-Three main issues preventing quality education:

                -Stress regarding grades and standardized tests (definition of success)

-Tests attempt to hold teachers and schools accountable, but instead create anxiety and pressure due to the stakes (whether it be college acceptance for students or job security for teachers).

-Society’s definition of success = monetary gain, meaning there’s a pressure for perfection in all things. Failure is not an option from students POV, so the ability to experiment, fail, and try again is a skill students are not graduating with

-This has led to increased anxiety levels in students of all ages, in both grade school and higher education. Both anxiety and depression have increased for young people compared to studies in the late 30s.

                -Society’s assumption that college is the best solution for all

-Just like perfection is expected, college is expected of students as well. It is advertised as a miracle cure leading to success and happiness. Looking at some famous college drop outs who instead pursued their passions, college is clearly not the best answer for everyone.

                -System’s focus on didactic instruction (facts and figures) rather than critical thinking skills

-15-20% Seminar, 70% Intellectual Coaching, and ONLY 10-15% didactic instruction. Rather than stressing students out with trying to learn everything, Paideia instead gives students a general base knowledge and the ability to learn and think in order to pursue whatever specifics they wish. Nurturing curiosity is key to quality education, and it is hard to enjoy learning and being curious with the competitive backdrop of comparing test grades with other students.

-Studies showed only positive impacts from implementing Paideia in schools around the country for a single year!

-Solution: Paideia, because it’s focus is much for general and practical. We’ve done a great job so far, but the education system is still far from ideal. We need to keep moving in the right direction, and that is going to include a lot of changes.