School is such an important place. For 10 months of the year, students spend most of their days in school. Because of this, school should be fun. It should be new and exciting, yet there is barely any improvement in the school system. School, the main focus for most kids, has barely adapted to the changes of our society. Across the country, students are forced to follow many similar curriculum standards that leave little room for student creativity to shine through. The U.S. school system should improve dilemmas and integrate the students’ hobbies and interests in common core classes, follow Finland’s footsteps and challenge students while improving their system and most importantly, teachers deserve and should be given a larger paycheck.   

Today, schools across the country are focused on preparing students for their adult careers. However, most schools do not provide options within common core classes that allow kids to use their talent in the classroom. If schools examine the students’ interests, they will ultimately be more interested in class subjects and work even harder. Even though Math, Science, Social Studies and Language Arts are very critical subjects to learn, they should not be regarded as the most important. In order for a student to succeed in what they dream about doing, they must incorporate that into their daily lives. Overall, this would lead them down the road to success. According to the Common Core Standards, “K–12 standards designed to prepare all students for success in college, career, and life by the time they graduate from high school.” However, in U.S. schools, students are not being prepared for the journeys that lie ahead. Rather, they are being prepared to compete with each other. Right now, in current school systems across the U.S., students are competing to get an A. One single letter is what will determine the student’s reputation, family relationships and most importantly, their future. Common Core literally has the word “common” in it, meaning the same. Are all students the same? Do all students have the same passions and dreams? No, they don’t. Any parent, teacher or guardian would say the same in a heartbeat.     
   

Furthermore, there are education systems such as in Finland, that really use the students’ values to their advantage. Instead of preparing kids to be the smartest, just as in the U.S. school system, Finland school teacher Kari Louhivuori explains, “This is what we do every day, prepare kids for life.” In Finland, the school days are shorter, no homework is given and yet their system still manages to top every other school system around the world. The reason for this is because students are given more freedom. They are given more independence with lenient boundaries that simulate the freedom that is given as an adult. As a matter of fact, the U.S. should follow their tracks and make similar educational decisions that Finland’s schools do. The U.S. should do this to grant students’ the ability to follow their dreams and work hard at the same time. According to LynNell Hancock of Smithsonian Magazine, in Finland, there are 62,000 employers from 3,500 schools that work together to solve dents in the curriculum which improves the school experience. Each teacher is the best of the best with a required Master’s Degree in education and handpicked from the top 10 percent of Finland’s graduates. Students are also stripped of the mandated standardized testing and are only given one exam at the end of high-school. Furthermore, students are not compared between other students, schools or regions which provides much more confidence than being graded on performance. As proven, Finland takes risky steps in education, yet Finland’s schools exceed the U.S.’s high school graduate rate by 17.5%. On top of that, 66 % of Finn students go on to higher education which is the highest rate in the European Union. If U.S schools take notes on Finland schools, students’ will see much more improvement and most importantly, see hope.
   

Moreover, even though teachers have such an important job, their pay check doesn’t say the same. Yes, teachers make a decent amount but decent is not enough given that educators are people who teach kids how to make a difference. If they are teaching students that will eventually make up the future then how come they aren’t being treated that way. Presented by Payscale Research, the average salary of a public school teacher in the U.S. is around $45,000, while physicians make more than double that. A doctor can save someone's life and make a difference, however, a teacher can make the same difference by directing their students to form a better future for our country or even world. As viewed in the article “Here Are the Most and Least Paid Teachers in the World" from The Huffington Post, in Luxembourg, long term teachers are paid around $120,000 which is the reasonable amount that teachers, an enormously important job, should be paid.
   

To summarize, the school system should make a substantial change. U.S. schools should fix dents and add interests in common core classes, act like Finland and sculpt around a student’s mindset and teachers should be granted a higher pay. If a pupil is not interested in class and their brain wanders off to more exciting ideas, then overall they are not paying attention. This can lead to students failing schoolwork which can really harm their reports and grades. Schools should not allow students to compete in some game to get an A. Each and every student should be cared for independently based on their hopes and dreams and should not penalized because they simply aren’t interested. A career is something that students will eventually have to deal with for a majority of their lives and without school, they can’t get there. The U.S. needs to fix rules and errors in the school system that prevent students from success.

Works Cited
"Average Salary for All K-12 Teachers." Teacher Salary - Average Teacher Salaries | PayScale. Pay Scale, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

"English Language Arts Standards." English Language Arts Standards | Common Core State Standards Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

Hancock, LynNell. "Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?" Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.

Ostapchuk, Tom. "Here Are the Most and Least Paid Teachers in the World." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost, 13 Jan. 2016. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.