// Oh hey it's a stackoverflow code that I don't really understand function msieversion() { var ua = window.navigator.userAgent; var msie = ua.indexOf("MSIE "); if (msie > 0 || !!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv\:11\./)) // If Internet Explorer, return version number { alert("Please stop using Internet Explorer, it's a nightmare to work with and doesn't know how to browser"); } } window.onload = function(){ alert("Please note that I'm not exactly the greatest at responsive web design so it may look a little weird for mobile users"); home(); msieversion(); }; function home(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "Home"; text.innerHTML = "School is the fundament of society; it conceives a foundation of the knowledge youth would need to know regarding the modern world and aids in finding and developing interests. Considering the vast importance of knowledge and getting through life in the best way possible, it has become a norm to attend school or get an education, as anything otherwise would be looked down upon.

However, it is common for the general purpose and function of the modern education system to be overlooked and assumed is the best for the youth, which begs the question of whether the current system really works or not. Criticism is not uncommon for the method students learn through schooling, with a prime example being Albert Einstein’s famous quotation in which he stated,

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned from school,” [1]

which nods to the fact that what is learned in school is often forgotten after a very short period of time.

Considering the controversy surrounding the modern education system, we should take a step back and consider how we are teaching our youth and what changes could be made to develop our understanding of the world while utilizing the best methods to do so, rather than just continuing with what we had been doing since the ancient Sumerians."; citation.innerHTML = "

[1]

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1076383.pdf
p. 34"; } function current_sys(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "Current Educational System"; text.innerHTML = "Within the book Constructivist Teacher Education, Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur goes into how education systems generally revolve around two fundamental views in which she states,

“Throughout the twentieth century, two competing views of child development and the purpose of education have framed the teaching of pedagogy in teacher education. In the first view, the purpose of education is to educate the individual child in a manner which supports the child’s interests and needs…In the second view, the purpose of education is social transformation and the reconstruction of society aligned with democratic ideals.” [2]

These views are generally the basis most education systems rely on in modern schooling and shape the way youth are educated of the world.

Public schools are one of the more common forms of schooling in society, and most will follow the same general structure. Students are expected to be taught material on a specific topic, utilize that information within assignments as a method of practicing the material, and complete tests following several lessons regarding a large amount of material on the topic as to show the student’s participation during class and evaluate how well they were able to pertain and utilize the material.

The topics covered is provided by a curriculum developed by the provincial government and will typically cover material that relates to the modern world and how society is run using various important concepts. The intent of this is to educate the youth on information that will aid in their integration into society and help in understanding the intricacies of mechanisms of the world, allowing for a generation of people capable of utilizing discoveries to progress the human race in areas that would be beneficial to our growth as a species."; citation.innerHTML = "

[2]

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203973684/chapters/10.4324/9780203973684-9
Chapter 2
“Child Development and the Purpose of Education: A Historical Context for Constructivism in Teacher Education”
Written by Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur"; } function flaws(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "Flaws"; text.innerHTML = "As had been stated, the modern educational system has several flaws which may hinder the ability for students to retain and understand topics covered throughout their years in school. Some of these common flaws include any of the following:

Standardized Testing
Standardized testing has become the primary method of evaluating the progress and development of youth proceeding through the educational system, and despite the vast implementation of the system, it has amassed a fair amount of criticism as a result of the many flaws and controversies surrounding how well it is capable of testing the youth. Read More >>>

Marking
Education relies on the concept of making mistakes and learning how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future to grow in a specific area. To be able to achieve this, a certain level of feedback from more experienced persons makes the process incredibly easier and quicker to grasp concepts. In modern education, the primary form of receiving this feedback is through having teachers mark assignments and tests with the occasional note explaining what could have been done better, with the purpose of it being to have the learner understand what they had done wrong and learn from that. Read More >>>

Assumptions
School systems are designed to be universally applicable to all students within the educational system, and understandably so considering the large variety of personalities and characteristics each student will possess and trying to favour each one would be a difficult task to make a reality. However, trying to implement a universal system results in it greatly relying on assumptions of most things regarding the students, and trying to apply assumptions to a variety of personalities, learning styles, interests, etc. leads to a system incapable of taking into account the student. Read More >>>

"; citation.innerHTML = "Full Citations

[3]

https://www.uleth.ca/teachingcentre/standardized-testing-fair-or-not
by Dr. John Poulsen and Kurtis Hewson

[4]

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2017001/article/14697-eng.htm
by Leanne Findlay

[5]

https://vanierinstitute.ca/perspectives-test-anxiety-student-lens/
by Shweta Govilkar

[6]

https://chartered.college/research-effective-marking-feedback-mathematics
by Lucy Rycroft-Smith

[7]

Analogy from:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00405849609543699?journalCode=htip20by Mara Sapon-Shevin

[8]

https://www.beds.ac.uk/jpd/volume-1-issue-2/can-quality-marking-be-used-to-provide-effective-feedback-within-higher-educationby Caroline Elbra-Ramsay"; } function tests(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "Standardized Testing"; text.innerHTML = "Standardized testing has become the primary method of evaluating the progress and development of youth proceeding through the educational system, and despite the vast implementation of the system, it has amassed a fair amount of criticism as a result of the many flaws and controversies surrounding how well it is capable of testing the youth.

The purpose of standardized testing is to evaluate the knowledge of the youth, doing so by having them answer several questions which relate to topics required to be understood by students. However, this system has been shown to be an inaccurate portrayal of student’s current knowledge for many reasons, but a prominent one is that how well a student performs on a test is not only dependent on the student’s knowledge but other external variables as well. Two of the biggest influences in taking tests include personal conflicts, grade-spread requirement and situational/environmental factors.[3]

Personal conflicts are more obvious factors that can affect students and can include anything from anxiety, nerves, mental illness, or any recent conflict that had negatively affected them could greatly skew the results of the test and misinform the teachers of the results.

Situational and environmental factors can be less obvious but can also have an incredible impact on the result of the testing. Anything from poor lighting, extreme temperatures, or distracting smells could greatly reduce focus and make it difficult to retain and remember information needed for the test, which will as well result in skewed and inaccurate results.

The last factor lies in how tests are typically structured. As the purpose of standardized testing is to evaluate the knowledge of a large group of students, the easiest way to structure it would be to have a single test handed out to everyone, having everyone answer the same questions in the same way. However, the issue with this is that every student is different and each one will have their own individual way of learning and relaying information. For most, memorization may not be their strong suit which would lead to difficulties in taking tests and poor test results and despite the fact they may be great at the topic being tested, the only thing looked at by teachers is the test which leads to an inaccurate portrayal of student’s abilities.

In addition to the external variables which impact the performance of students, it is not uncommon for people to express concern or severe stress and worry regarding tests. According to Statistics Canada, approximately 7% of all people aged 15 - 24 years old are at risk of depression disorders [4] and approximately 12% of Canadians had reported having test anxiety. [5] Considering these statistics and the severe worry and stress people may feel in regards to how they would perform in tests, it is very likely the stress of schooling and education could result in the deterioration of student's mental health and possibly heighten the issues regarding mental illness, resulting in a ruthless system that is incapable of taking into account student's mental well being and does what it wants at the expense of the youth.
Back >>> "; citation.innerHTML = "

[3]

https://www.uleth.ca/teachingcentre/standardized-testing-fair-or-not
by Dr. John Poulsen and Kurtis Hewson

[4]

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2017001/article/14697-eng.htm
by Leanne Findlay

[5]

https://vanierinstitute.ca/perspectives-test-anxiety-student-lens/
by Shweta Govilkar"; } function marks(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "Marking"; text.innerHTML = "Education relies on the concept of making mistakes and learning how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future to grow in a specific area. To be able to achieve this, a certain level of feedback from more experienced persons makes the process incredibly easier and quicker to grasp concepts. In modern education, the primary form of receiving this feedback is through having teachers mark assignments and tests with the occasional note explaining what could have been done better, with the purpose of it being to have the learner understand what they had done wrong and learn from that.
However, as had been stated by Sean Harford, the National Director of Education for the Office in Standards in Education (Ofsted),

“There is remarkably little high-quality, relevant research evidence to suggest that detailed or extensive marking has any significant impact on pupils’ learning.” [6]

One of the primary issues with the typical marking system is that the feedback generated from it is relatively incapable of informing the learner of their mistakes and how they could improve. Typically when being given back assignments or tests, any mistakes made by the student is corrected by or brought up by the teacher, with the main purpose of the correction being to inform the student about what they may need to work on. However, upon the assignment being marked and handed back, all mistakes made on it are permanently taken into account to the learner's overall mark, giving the impression their first few attempts at utilizing the information will reflect on their complete capabilities and knowledge.

Additionally, the feedback provided will often consist of little information on how the learner would need to do to improve, but rather leaves them with what they would need to improve on. This type of feedback can be analogous to 'disclosing tablets' used by dentists.[7] Sometimes when children with poor dental hygiene go to the dentist to get their teeth cleaned, the dentist will give them a red tablet which, upon chewing it, will release a red dye which sticks to any problematic areas in their teeth that the child could work on. This concept of providing problematic areas could be seen as what the marking system is doing, with red dye being the red ink on the assignment or test informing the student of what they had gotten wrong.

However, knowing what you need to work on is often not enough and may not aid in the learner's abilities to grow in that area. Studies have shown that a simple marking identifying what the student had done wrong was ineffective in helping them grow, and could confuse them in the condition the marking was unclear. [8] What had been shown to be effective was providing markings that went into what the learner could do to avoid making that mistake in the future, as it would allow them to have a clear plan to their learning and their improvement in that subject area.
Back >>>"; citation.innerHTML = "

[6]

https://chartered.college/research-effective-marking-feedback-mathematics
by Lucy Rycroft-Smith

[7]

Analogy from:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00405849609543699?journalCode=htip20by Mara Sapon-Shevin

[8]

https://www.beds.ac.uk/jpd/volume-1-issue-2/can-quality-marking-be-used-to-provide-effective-feedback-within-higher-educationby Caroline Elbra-Ramsay"; } function assumptions(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "Assumptions"; text.innerHTML = "School systems are designed to be universally applicable to all students within the educational system, and understandably so considering the large variety of personalities and characteristics each student will possess and trying to favour each one would be a difficult task to make a reality. However, trying to implement a universal system results in it greatly relying on assumptions of most things regarding the students, and trying to apply assumptions to a variety of personalities, learning styles, interests, etc. leads to a system incapable of taking into account the student.

One of the primary issues regarding assuming the capabilities and personalities of students lies in the structure of the curriculum. Most often, a large portion of what is learned in school is mandatory and covers a variety of topics - including science, math, history, and others. However, this requires students to be able to comprehend complex topics within a very short amount of time and runs under the assumption they are capable of grasping those concepts by having the drive, interest, and motivation to be able to fully understand it. As a result of this, students may often experience a large amount of stress and worry from being unable to keep up with the vision of the government and are typically faced with repercussions if incapable of performing well enough.

An additional negative effect of relying on assumptions lies in an unreasonable expectation of performance (aside from what has already been mentioned). Schools often run five days a week for 7 hours each, taking up a large portion of student's days. Throughout the length of the school days, students are expected to complete work and pay attention to the best of their abilities, which although can be a reasonable expectation will often assume students are always in their peak state and are at all times capable of completing ample work, which is where it gets unreasonable. Many factors can affect the performance of students, including mental illness, conflicts, disinterest, or just not being in the right mindset and readiness to learn everyday, so to expect students to be able to actively participate and be fully engaged in discussions is, quite frankly, ridiculous.
Back >>>"; citation.innerHTML = ""; } function solutions(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "Solutions"; text.innerHTML = "Every problem we face has a solution, and education is no exception. If taken into effect, there are many solutions to modern education that can greatly improve how students learn through schooling and be able to provide a brighter and better future for them.

Less Emphasis on Marks
Within schooling and education, marks have been the primary indicator as to the progress of a student throughout their studies. However, as had been stated here, marks can often be ineffective in the improvement of a student's understanding of concepts and could, if done wrong, confuse them further and setting them back even more. Read More >>>

More Personalized Learning
When it comes to education and schooling, it is not uncommon to see students struggling when trying to grasp difficult concepts. In these cases, the blame is often put upon either the student for being lazy and unwilling to learn the material or the teacher for being incapable of teaching well enough for the students to be able to learn the concepts, with both outputs resulting in one of the parties being thought of as incapable of doing what they were supposed to do. Read More >>>"; citation.innerHTML = "Full Citations

[9]

https://www.beds.ac.uk/jpd/volume-1-issue-2/can-quality-marking-be-used-to-provide-effective-feedback-within-higher-education
by Caroline Elbra-Ramsay

[10]

https://www.ted.com/talks/sal_khan_let_s_teach_for_mastery_not_test_scores?language=en
by Sal Khan

[11]

http://commons.marymount.edu/instructingonline/wp-content/uploads/sites/135/2013/07/Flipping-The-Chronicle.pdf
by Dan Berrett"; } function marksbutagain(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "Less Emphasis on Marks"; text.innerHTML = "Within schooling and education, marks have been the primary indicator as to the progress of a student throughout their studies. However, as had been stated here, marks can often be ineffective in the improvement of a student's understanding of concepts and could, if done wrong, confuse them further and setting them back even more.

One of the potential fixes to how the modern system of marking works is to focus on different types of 'marking'. As had been stated by Caroline Elbra-Ramsay,

“Effective feedback needs to work as dialogue between learner and teacher, and students need to engage with the feedback. In Higher Education, the reality of the nature and timing of written feedback means that it can often act as an obstacle to this engagement rather than facilitate it.” [9]

Following that idea, marking should be less heavily influenced by a number given to the student to show their progress, but rather be more interactive and feedback-oriented. This concept would follow a structure where the teacher would provide direct suggestions and information that would help the student know both where they need to work on and how they should work on it, giving them a clear understanding of what would need to be done to improve their knowledge and do well. In doing so, the overarching emphasis of education would greatly shift from avoiding the very idea of 'failing' but rather to improve yourself as a learner and grow in fields where your interests and creativity could thrive, as the anxiety and stress from attempting to get a high grade would be lifted from the view of education and the only main objective when it comes to school would therefore be nothing more than learning.

To further improve the outcome of education and shift the focus away from marks, the concept of providing a final mark or percentage at the end of the school year could be given a major modification, as currently it comes with many flaws. These flaws include the competitive aspects that arise when it comes to achieving a number to prove your knowledge, the severe discouragement in the situation where you are given a poor mark, and the extreme consequences and stress which overshadow the fact that education should be the primary focus of schooling. Rather than having a single cumulative number independently acting as a representation of a student's progress in learning, the 'final mark' should rather be something that showcases how the student is capable of utilizing their newly established knowledge in a real-world scenario, acting as a way to allow for students, parents, and teachers to be able to see the growth of student's education without the stress and worry of achieving a final mark. This, accompanied with a different form of marking, would allow for a system where the emphasis falls less on marks and percentages, but rather on learning and education, allowing school to be an excellent resource for learning.
Back >>>"; citation.innerHTML = "

[9]

https://www.beds.ac.uk/jpd/volume-1-issue-2/can-quality-marking-be-used-to-provide-effective-feedback-within-higher-education
by Caroline Elbra-Ramsay"; } function personalized_learning(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "More Personalized Learning"; text.innerHTML = "

Please note that this section is heavily based on Sal Khan's 2015 Ted Talk regarding education. Please see the talk if you have not already.

When it comes to education and schooling, it is not uncommon to see students struggling when trying to grasp difficult concepts. In these cases, the blame is often put upon either the student for being lazy and unwilling to learn the material or the teacher for being incapable of teaching well enough for the students to be able to learn the concepts, with both outputs resulting in one of the parties being thought of as incapable of doing what they were supposed to do.

However, it has gotten to the point in society where it is a rarity to question whether we know the true cause to certain situations and will jump to the most reasonable conclusions in our minds. In the case of situations such as those stated previously, the likely cause of it could very well just be how students are taught through the educational system and how that may actually hinder their understanding of specific topics.

When going through classes, students are usually given a very short period of time to grasp difficult concepts, with the majority of the information being taught being topics that are new to the students. They are expected to be able to fully understand and master those concepts, well enough that their understanding gained within that time frame would allow for them to apply their knowledge in a test to evaluate how well they were able to comprehend it. However, it is very rare to find people who are capable of fully understanding complex concepts such as those learned in school within such a short time, leaving a large portion of students with gaps in their learning as a result of this structure. Putting this in terms of mathematics, each unit is designed to be able to build on what had been learned through the previous ones, so being able to understand derivates, for example, would require for exponents, graphing, variables, and other concepts to be common knowledge for students. When expecting students with gaps in their education learn how to calculate derivatives, however, results in a barrier in their learning as too many previous concepts had been essentially passed over as a result of school moving too fast for the learner. This leads to the common situation where a student would essentially feel incapable of solving derivatives, and at that point give up on going into any field where calculus would be a necessity.

The reason that these gaps occur is believed to be the result of the one-size-fits-all model that schools are based around.[10] This model requires that every student goes at the same pace as everyone else and punish those incapable of keeping up by failing them. However, as everyone will almost always have their own learning styles and pace at which they move at, this model is incapable of accounting for individuality and assumes each student is the same learner.

As a way of avoiding the gaps appearing in students' knowledge, changing the one-size-fits-all model most schools are based around to a more individualized and learner-based system would be incredibly beneficial to the learner's education. In allowing students to go at their own pace in their learning and give them time to grasp complex concepts, it is very likely that the general interest and abilities of the younger generations would substantially increase as the stress, worry, and anxiety regarding learning through the traditional model would be replaced with curiousity and passion for it, considering that students going at their own pace would allow for them to be able to grasp concepts much easier.

One example of how this system could be implemented is the flipped classroom. As the name suggests, the flipped classroom model essentially reverses the traditional roles of how students and teachers go about their schooling, having students do their learning outside of school through online lectures, books, websites, etc., and complete assignments and work within school. This model has been seen to significantly improve how well students have been able to comprehend concepts and increase the engagement and interest within the classroom. Using this model, it allows for the students to be able to move at their own pace when it comes to understanding concepts within the comfort of their own homes, work with other students to try and make sense of concepts they may not understand, and have the teacher available when they need help.

An example of this flipped classroom in action would be the math department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Since the mid-1990s, the department had been teaching calculus under the flipped classroom model. As stated by Dan Berrett, a senior editor for The Chronical of Higher Education,

“Consistent with the flipping model, students at Michigan do their reading before class. The instructor gives a brief lecture, asks them about the reading, and goes through an example from the textbook. Students take turns going to the board to present their answers or working in groups, which might be followed by another short lecture.” [11]

To test the effectiveness of this model, students attending the University of Michigan had taken concept inventories before and after going through calculus in which their final score was calculuated based on the maximum gain from the course. Comparing the scores to that from other departments under the traditional model of teaching, there was a gain of nearly twice as much, clearly showing the effectiveness of straying away from the traditional model.

There is no doubt that developing a successful school system capable of taking into account each individual's needs and interests is no easy task and should not be looked at as so. However, the traditional model of teaching has been shown to be ineffective when it comes to educating every individual student and providing an equal opportunity in life. Considering this, we shouldn't have to rely on a broken system to educate our youth, but try to find the best possible ways of providing the most reasonable and useful model that impacts every student positively, which means that looking at models such as the flipped classroom model and listening to the feedback of the students, parents, and teachers would be greatly beneficial to developing a system that satisfies every personality. It will without a doubt be no easy task to implement a system into an already-established education model, but no positive change in the world has ever been easy, and this change lies as one of the primary problems that could provide a much brighter future for the human species if fixed.
Back >>>"; citation.innerHTML = "

[10]

https://www.ted.com/talks/sal_khan_let_s_teach_for_mastery_not_test_scores?language=en
by Sal Khan

[11]

http://commons.marymount.edu/instructingonline/wp-content/uploads/sites/135/2013/07/Flipping-The-Chronicle.pdf
by Dan Berrett"; } function citations(){ var title = document.getElementById("title"); var text = document.getElementById("text"); var citation = document.getElementById("citation-text"); title.innerHTML = "Works Cited"; text.innerHTML = "

Blank, Martin, and Lisa Villarreal. “Where It All Comes Together: How Partnerships Connect Communities and Schools.” American Educator, vol. 39, no. 3, 2015, pp. 34.

Elbra-Ramsay Caroline. 'Can 'Quality Marking' be used to provide effective feedback within Higher Education?' Journal of Pedagogic Development. Nov. 2011 <https://www.beds.ac.uk/jpd/volume-1-issue-2/can-quality-marking-be-used-to-provide-effective-feedback-within-higher-education>

Findlay, Leanne. “Health Reports Depression and Suicidal Ideation among Canadians Aged 15 to 24Health Reports Depression and Suicidal Ideation among Canadians Aged 15 to 24.” Depression and Suicidal Ideation among Canadians Aged 15 to 24, Statistics Canada, 12 July 2017, www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2017001/article/14697-eng.htm.

Govilkar, Shweta. “Perspectives: Test Anxiety Through a Student Lens.” The Vanier Institute of the Family / L'Institut Vanier De La Famille, 2 May 2017, vanierinstitute.ca/perspectives-test-anxiety-student-lens/.

Jackson, C. Kirabo. “What Do Test Scores Miss? The Importance of Teacher Effects on Non-Test Score Outcomes.” 2016, doi:10.3386/w22226.

Khan, Sal. Let's Teach for Mastery - Not Test Scores. TED, 2015, www.ted.com/talks/sal_khan_let_s_teach_for_mastery_not_test_scores?language=en#t-637912.

Poulsen, John, and Kurtis Hewson. 'Standardized Testing: Fair or Not?' A Light on Teaching 2013 - 2014 <https://www.uleth.ca/teachingcentre/standardized-testing-fair-or-not>

Richardson, Virginia. Constructivist Teacher Education: Building a World of New Understandings. Falmer, 1997.

Rycroft-Smith, Lucy. “What Does Research Tell Us about Effective Marking and Feedback in Mathematics?” The Chartered College of Teaching, 30 Oct. 2018, chartered.college/research-effective-marking-feedback-mathematics.

Sapon‐Shevin, Mara. “Full Inclusion as Disclosing Tablet: Revealing the Flaws in Our Present System.” Theory Into Practice, vol. 35, no. 1, 1996, pp. 35–41., doi:10.1080/00405849609543699.

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