A nation should require all of its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take In developing and supporting you

For any nation, education of students through the school should be about uniformity which also includes uniformity in the subjects and content that they are taught. Thus, I strongly believe that every nation should require all of its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college.

Most of the high school students are hardly sure about what subjects they want to pursue for the rest of their lives. High school or any age before that is considered very early to know where a student's real interest lies in. Having the same curriculum for every student until college, irrespective of what their interest lies in, makes sure that every student is at least introduced to the concept of every field that they can pursue in the future. For example, a kid who has always been interested in Science and Engineering and perhaps also excels at it, might, some time later in his or her life want to invest their earned money or might want to start their own business. In such a case, having absolutely no knowledge about the market or handling finances will only make it more difficult for him or her to venture into the field. Hence, the same national curriculum for all students until college also ensures an all round development of the student.

Moreover, with the same national curriculum for all students, we can ensure that every student is given the right education without any discrepancies within the content of their education. Having multiple boards of education which have different curriculums, each of them would have to be assessed first to pass certain guidelines on the content which can be included in the coursework. Different curriculums can also make comparison of marks obtained in different exams very difficult because they would have different benchmarks for performance. This proves to be a hinderance when it comes to competitive applications for colleges. Often times, a nation also uses its curriculum to promote nationalistic values that might be very important for the development of some sense of patriotism within the students, the future generations of that nation.

However, following the same national curriculum can also lead to a host of problems. The nation might use it to promote the leading government's ideologies, which might prove to be in their best interests. For example, government controlled curriculums often tend to exclude important sections of democracy like secularity and inclusion, if the government is trying to influence its people against these values and want to bring a shift in the ideologies of its people. Taking India as an example where over the last few years, the nation has been in turmoil over the exclusion of Muslims and other minorities and the leading party propagates and supports anti-secular ideas. The existing government changed their national curriculum to exclude important topics of democracy and have also included segments in their History text which promote anti-Muslim sentiments. Hence, the most important aspect of maintaining a national curriculum becomes having an independent body develop it without any interference from the ruling party.

With all its downsides, however, if developing the curriculum is fair, having a national curriculum makes it easier to compare performances of students and ensures equal education for all.