A nation should require all of its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college.

Essay topics:

A nation should require all of its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college.

A required national curriculum for all students before college would, on the one hand, streamline the education system. It would simplify teacher training and development of teaching materials, and it would make it easier to enact curricular changes across the nation. The benefits of uniformity, however, would be far outweighed by the inefficiencies of homogeneity and its failure to tailor towards specific learning-based needs.

Children, on a very basic level, often require different learning environments that would not be offered by a nationalized curriculum. For example, some are born with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and would thrive in specialized learning environments. A national curriculum would eliminate these specially tailored curricula, leaving such children in extremely unfavorable situations. Furthermore, many students, especially in the United States, come from different national and linguistic backgrounds and also greatly benefit from more specialized teaching. Many schools offer English as a Second Language programs for this reason; nationalizing pre-college curriculum would eliminate these programs.

On a more basic level, students simply just learn better in different environments and thus belong in different curriculum tracks. Some students excel at math while others excel in the creative arts; these students currently benefit from advanced classes in different areas. Learning styles also vary among a student body, as some benefit more from visual aids, while others prefer to learn by doing or acting. Again, only through more tailored curricula can schools hope to maximize the good to students.

On top of different learning styles and requirements, the current decentralized curricula also affords students the freedom of choice. Private, parochial, and magnet high schools often offer different approaches to learning which allows students and their families to choose a path that may be better suited for them. For example, a child with a passion for art may apply or a creative arts school, while an aspiring writer may opt for a more liberal arts-oriented high school. Nationalizing school curricula would eliminate this choice, pigeonholing all children, regardless of interest, into the same set of classes.

Finally, a unified national curriculum would not allow for regional differences in classrooms that help students better understand their local community. Growing up, many students experienced programs tailored to their local region. For example, elementary and middle school students in Pennsylvania learned about their local Native American tribes and their marginalized history with early colonial settlers, while students in California focused in more detail on the immigration following the Gold Rush and the effects on the local populace. Lessons like these allow students to appreciate the history and culture of their hometowns while developing a deeper understanding of the specific community surrounding them; isn't that what school is all about?

All in all, a unified national curriculum would be a detriment to the educational system by blurring out differences in student learning preferences, passions, and local communities. While such a curriculum would make widespread educational reform easier and more efficient, the benefits of tailored, localized teaching much greater.

Votes
Average: 8.3 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 51, Rule ID: AFFORD_VB[1]
Message: This verb is used with the infinitive: 'to better', 'to well'
Suggestion: to better; to well
...basic level, students simply just learn better in different environments and thus belo...
^^^^^^
Line 9, column 720, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: isn't
...he specific community surrounding them; isnt that what school is all about? All i...
^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, finally, furthermore, however, if, may, second, so, thus, while, for example, such as

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 6.0 19.5258426966 31% => More to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 16.0 12.4196629213 129% => OK
Conjunction : 18.0 14.8657303371 121% => OK
Relative clauses : 5.0 11.3162921348 44% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 22.0 33.0505617978 67% => OK
Preposition: 60.0 58.6224719101 102% => OK
Nominalization: 4.0 12.9106741573 31% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2882.0 2235.4752809 129% => OK
No of words: 495.0 442.535393258 112% => OK
Chars per words: 5.82222222222 5.05705443957 115% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.71684168287 4.55969084622 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.99576683279 2.79657885939 107% => OK
Unique words: 262.0 215.323595506 122% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.529292929293 0.4932671777 107% => OK
syllable_count: 892.8 704.065955056 127% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.8 1.59117977528 113% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 6.24550561798 32% => OK
Article: 8.0 4.99550561798 160% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 3.10617977528 161% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.77640449438 169% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 4.38483146067 114% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 22.0 20.2370786517 109% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 23.0359550562 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 44.4866262753 60.3974514979 74% => OK
Chars per sentence: 131.0 118.986275619 110% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.5 23.4991977007 96% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.13636363636 5.21951772744 79% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 4.97078651685 121% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 7.80617977528 26% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 17.0 10.2758426966 165% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 1.0 5.13820224719 19% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.83258426966 83% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.201039358146 0.243740707755 82% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0757675193248 0.0831039109588 91% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0670980549886 0.0758088955206 89% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.123127996531 0.150359130593 82% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0419223567394 0.0667264976115 63% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.2 14.1392134831 122% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 32.22 48.8420337079 66% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.92365168539 141% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 14.2 12.1743820225 117% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 16.77 12.1639044944 138% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.64 8.38706741573 115% => OK
difficult_words: 154.0 100.480337079 153% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.0 11.8971910112 109% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.2143820225 96% => OK
text_standard: 17.0 11.7820224719 144% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Rates: 83.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 5.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.