American education has undergone several evolutions since the historic period. According to Urban et al. (2019), the first school in the United States started its operations in the 17th century. Attending school was optional and mainly guided by religious teachings. The most progressive era of learning occurred in the 1940s when schools adopted exploration and experience teaching methods (Mitchell, 2007). The primary objective was to ensure that students understood primary concepts through physical experience outside the classroom setting. Notwithstanding, some of the experimental learning activities took place inside the classroom. The increased awareness of the importance of education led to legislation that made learning mandatory. Since then, the teaching methods have considerably changed to meet the increased number of learners and ever-changing life dynamics. Essentially, the education curriculum has abandoned the exploration and experimenting learning practices, which characterized schools in the 1940s, and embraced rote memorization and drilling as the new teaching techniques.
The modern education system in the United States contradicts the progressive education in the 1940s. The learning process involves more drilling and rote memorization rather than experimenting and exploration. Students spend most of their studies in class learning theories from their books. The examinations start at the elementary level and focus on testing a child’s ability to remember the ideas taught in class (Delamont, 2017). Learners need to pass their assignments and examinations to move to the next level of the education system. This ideology compels students to strive to memorize taught concepts instead of understanding them. Although there is enhanced freedom and flexible courses at higher education levels, little attention is emphasized to exploration and experimenting. Students often fear failing exams because people perceive intelligence as the ability to remember classroom lessons. Indeed, employers are forced to retrain recruits due to a lack of firsthand exposure to actual occupational duties. Therefore, although it is significant to accommodate many learners, the education system should focus more on exploration and experimenting than rote memorizing and drilling to enhance creativity and conceptualization.
References
Delamont, S. (2017). Interaction in the classroom: Contemporary sociology of the school (1st ed.). Routledge.
Mitchell, J. D. (2007). Progressive Education in the 1940s [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Urban, W. J., Wagoner, J. L., & Gaither, M. (2019). American education: A history (6th ed.). Routledge.