The Least Efficient Job in America

The one profession that seems to be evolving backward.

by S4B0T4G3FIRE | June 18, 2021, 8:00 AM EDT

The Birth of American Jobs

Ever since the nation’s establishment in the 18th century, The United States of America has been characterized by its plethora of job opportunities. Knowing this, tens of millions of people almost immediately started immigrating to the country, creating a massive surge of workers which helped boost America’s industrialization to incredible heights. Eventually, with the development of trains, factory machines, and farming machines, American jobs became quite efficient; and over time, transportation, manufacturing, and farming have only become even more efficient. However, not every job has experienced the same positive impact over the decades. The efficiency of one job, in particular, has actually decreased since its official recognition as a “formal career” in the 1800s. That profession is none other than Teaching.

The Evolution of School Systems

During the early ages of school, the curriculum was much more practical than it is today. After all, life was “simpler.” By 8th grade, students would have learned material in subjects like grammar, arithmetic, history, and orthography, graduating with the ability to do the following: read, write, calculate the prices of transactions (with conversions, interest, and discounts), create financial documents, and identify the ins and outs of the English language. Under this system, students absorbed, practiced, and perfected the material they were learning. Then, the men applied it to jobs like farming, blacksmithing, wood-crafting, transporting, mining, and bookmaking, while the women (the ones who preferred not to stay at home) usually applied it to factory jobs (as garment workers) or teaching jobs (to continue the cycle of education).

Since the 1800s, however, school curriculums have only expanded to accommodate for a much broader, more advanced, and less practical range of material. Due to the creation of thousands of new jobs over the past couple of centuries, there is a lot of additional “waste” being taught to students. For instance, math has evolved to the point where high school students are learning Calculus before they have even perfected Algebra (which is arguably the highest form of mathematics that will be useful to the majority of people). Furthermore, niche subjects like “imaginary numbers,” “stoichiometry,” “writing the perfect essay,” and “microbiology” are being taught to students instead of life skills like “public speaking,” “nutrition,” “paying taxes,” and “insurance.” So much of the curriculum nowadays is theoretical, and the “hands-on” aspect is being put off until college or later!

Teachers’ efforts are being wasted on students.

The Problem

Instead of allowing students to perfect important subjects, school systems ask overworked teachers to simply gift students passing grades so they can move on to more advanced material that they will never use in their daily lives. So, why even teach to all students in the first place? Why not let the students decide which classes they wish to take? The school system needs a major revamp. The learning material is no longer transferring from one generation to the next as efficiently as it once was. Thus, teachers’ efforts are being wasted on students. Consider the rhetorical question below:

If you are going to teach students material they are unwilling to learn (because it is too difficult or uninteresting) and then just curve their grades so they pass the class despite learning next to nothing and deserving a failing grade, why teach them anything at all?

This is just more work and stress for both the teachers and students. Some educators and parents may argue, “It is good to at least expose them to these topics,” but what good is exposing students to a subject if they are never going to absorb any of it? Even when students do “learn” material, they forget a large percentage of it within the week anyway.

How to run a classroom in 2021:

1. Expose students to a topic.
2. Let those students use notes and “cheat sheets” on tests, but they fail anyway.
3. Curve the failed grades so the students can advance to the next level (or school year).
4. The students never perfect a single skill for the entirety of their school career.

What is this procedure even meant to accomplish? Teachers work tirelessly (sometimes 20+ additional unpaid hours every week) for their students, but school systems already know that only a small percentage of those students is going to be willing to retain any of the material. So, why not isolate the students who are willing to master a subject, and have the teachers apply efforts to them instead? Hold that thought. We will be revisiting this question later.

There is a percentage of unwilling individuals who go the entire semester without turning in a single piece of completed work.

Matters Made Worse

During the 2020–2021 school year, the discrepancy between teachers’ commitment and students’ commitment has only become more extreme. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of new responsibilities have fallen into the laps of teachers, while many of the typical responsibilities of students have been lifted from their shoulders.

The Responsibilities of Teachers and Students during COVID-19

According to teachers all over the country, the responsibilities of students have greatly declined. For starters, school administrations requested that teachers “dumb down” the curriculum to the point where far fewer topics are being taught, with many of the important details from each topic being removed altogether. This may seem like enough to cut students some slack, but it is not the only favor that students are being given. Extended due dates were implemented during the pandemic as well. Nationwide, it has become common to give students entire semesters to turn in work and still receive full credit for it.

You may think that a few months would be enough time for students to turn in simplified, shortened assignments, but this still has not been the case. There is a percentage of unwilling individuals who go the entire semester without turning in a single piece of completed work. Certainly, these children should fail the class. Right? Wrong. To give students one last chance to pass their classes, schools have also put in place a new grading scale. “No work” used to equal “no credit,” but now no work automatically equals 50% credit in some school districts. If students have months to do 15%-20% of their work to reach a passing grade, (the question surfaces again…) why even put teachers through the burden of teaching everybody? Laziness is being incentivized, and teaching is becoming less efficient than ever before as lessons continue to fail to reach students.

What happens if students adopt this way of life as the “new norm?” After all, newer generations were “born to go against the grain” by pushing a more liberal ideology. These changes could become irreversible. This is not to say that newer generations will be “less intelligent” but rather “less teachable.”

Potential Solutions

Technically, there are two problems here that require solving. The first is teachers’ efforts being wasted because of how inefficiently schools run; the second is students being conditioned to expect too many favors. Luckily, one well-executed plan could solve both problems at once. Keep in mind that what we are basically trying to do is eliminate waste in schools. If you are unfamiliar with the idea of “waste” in a working environment (or a learning environment, in our case), there are known to be eight (8) wastes, and they are defined by the following acronym:

Defects
Overproduction
Waiting
Non-utilized talent
Transportation
Inventory
Motion
Extra processing

The wastes that apply strongly to a learning environment are “Waiting,” “Non-utilized talent,” “Transportation,” and “Extra processing,” so remember these as we consider some possible ways to make teaching a more efficient profession.

Virtual Learning

Virtual learning is the transfer of material from teachers to students via digital means. Essentially, teachers can record or live-broadcast themselves teaching lessons, and students can then access, complete, and submit assignments for the teachers to grade. It is the inevitable future of schooling, but there are still some pros and cons to consider.

The Pros and Cons of Virtual Learning

On the issue of “efficiency,” there is one thing that many teachers can agree on. Within the first few months of the pandemic, their responsibilities were greatly increased as they were required to digitalize all of their lessons and adjust to a distanced teaching style, but their overall workload has actually decreased over time. Thus, it can be said that while the transition to virtual teaching is tedious, the long-term benefits are most certainly worth the initial efforts. Also, there are no papers for students (or teachers) to misplace, since all of the lessons, notes, and assignments are accessible to them at all times from any device. Not only that, but it is also a much healthier, safer, and more convenient alternative to in-class learning because the hazards that come with traveling and the spread of germs are entirely removed from the equation. Whether or not virtual learning is the solution, it will be used much more in the future.

Tracking Students

Tracking might sound creepy if you have never heard of it in the context of schooling, but it is not what it sounds like. “Tracking” is a term used to describe the process of placing students in classes with students of similar capabilities so they learn at the same rate as their peers. Although it is not as controversial as the “tracking” you were probably thinking of, it is still rather controversial when the pros and cons are analyzed.

The Pros and Cons of “Tracking” Students

Quite frankly, Tracking seems to accomplish the goal of “efficiency” in class. With all students learning material that is well-suited for their intellectual abilities, the time that teachers are required to spend helping 1 or 2 students keep up is eliminated almost entirely. Not to fault students for having questions or anything, but reducing the number of complex questions obviously helps teachers maintain a steady pace in class. Perhaps, it would allow the more-qualified students to progress through grades at a quicker rate as well, which they probably feel is a deserved perk for their hard work. Besides, the earlier you advance these students to more practical, real-world lessons of critical thinking and creativity, the better.

Reducing Class Sizes

You might think that one teacher teaching an abundance of students be quite efficient, but how many of those students is the teacher actually getting through to? Quantity is not the only important aspect of efficiency. Quality also matters. This becomes apparent when the pros and cons of small class sizes are considered.

The Pros and Cons of Reducing Class Sizes

When it comes to efficiency, smaller class sizes probably accomplish this more than any other solution. The purpose of efficiency in the classroom is to transfer learning material from teacher to student as quickly and effectively as possible. This solution does exactly that by removing an abundance of waste from classrooms. “waste” is defined as anything that adds no value to the overall process of manufacturing a product. In fact, there are known to be eight (8) wastes that can occur in a work environment, but this methodology can also be applied to a learning environment to identify where exactly waste occurs the most inside the classroom.

Seeking out Willing Students

Of course, you could also just “give up” on the students who are not willing to put forward their best efforts in school. After all, education is a privilege, not a right. Intentionally disruptive students who abuse this privilege can be disciplined by losing this privilege altogether. Considering the pros and cons, however, this might be the most controversial solution yet.

The Pros and Cons of Teaching Only the Willing Students

As for the efficiency gained from this solution, it is immeasurable. A passionate teacher teaching passionate students is the ideal within schools, and there are plenty of uneducated children all over the world who would love the opportunity to learn arithmetic, reading, writing, geography, and much more. Combined with virtual learning, this could be a recipe for the most efficient schooling of bright individuals who are willing to learn and succeed.

Unintended Consequences: The Intellectual Divide

You may have noticed that many of the “cons” in the solutions mentioned suggest an inequality among students. For all intents and purposes, we will refer to this inequality as the “Intellectual Divide.” In other words, as the more-qualified students receive the perks that they work hard for, the less-qualified students fall behind and are unable to catch up.

Virtual Learning

Virtual Learning, for instance, encourages laziness in uninspired students. By removing from students all responsibilities except “being respectful and following rules,” things like attendance, participation, and turning in work on time almost start to have an “optional” feel among unmotivated students. Of course, this leniency is the direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the question still remains as to how schools are going to begin to hold students accountable again. If the students (and their parents) are not holding themselves accountable for being studious and proactive in school, who will?

Then, there is the whole “cheating” problem. Cheating and plagiarism are so easy for students to pull off in a virtual setting. Whether they are plagiarizing the work of students in other classes (of the same subject), copying the almost infinite supply of resources on the internet, or hiring people to do their work for them (Yes, this is a thing), controlling cheating in virtual learning might just be impossible.

Tracking

Tracking, on the other hand, contributes to the Intellectual Divide in a different way. Placing students in tracks according to their capabilities makes them vulnerable to the “Labeling Theory.” This is the theory that people will act according to how they are classified by society. Therefore, students who are placed in faster tracks are more likely to have the self-confidence, motivation, and resources required to succeed, while students who are placed in slower tracks are more likely to develop low self-esteem and perform poorly due to lack of motivation and essential resources.

Reducing Class Sizes

Reducing Class Sizes almost seems to place a handicap on students if they are ever required (in the future) to be part of large classes that require independence and self-reliance. In smaller classes, students would get a lot of attention from teachers, which would make it easier for them to ask questions, understand learning material, and earn a decent grade. So, what happens when this crutch is removed in a classroom of many students? Do students have it within them to adjust on the spot and excel in this new setting, or will they fall victim to their own lack of self-reliance?

Teaching Willing Students

Teaching Willing Students, like Tracking, makes students susceptible to the Labeling Theory; but it also has this “opt in/out” feel to it that complicates where the line is drawn. Not all uninspired students are “deviants” whose only mission is to hurt the experiences of others. There are also students who are unwilling to learn as the result of boredom, a short attention span, or, more specifically, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Just because these students may distract others in school, that does not mean they should be left behind. Therefore, “Only Teaching Willing Students” starts to raise the question, “Who exactly gets left behind in this Intellectual Divide?”

Call to Action

A plan to redesign education should have been made decades ago, but now is the next best time to devise and implement a proper plan. In this article, we discussed many problems and many solutions, so what is the best way to implement these ideas in a way that would ask less of teachers and get more out of students?

1. Begin the transition to vocational classes earlier in students’ lives. This certainly beats requiring students to sit through and fail advanced courses that they never had any interest in taking.
2. Reduce class sizes to approximately 10 students per class. This will feel much more like a team setting, and students will feel more obligated to participate.
3. Provide students with virtual-only options for courses that fall outside their interests, like general education courses. If they do not care to learn while in school, then allow them to not care to learn while at home instead. Being in an “educational setting” does nothing to benefit their attention span; all it does is create distractions in the classroom.
4. If privileged American students continue to take their education for granted, then create programs that will allow American teachers to virtually educate willing American (or overseas) children who cannot attend school for whatever reason. Even basic education like reading, writing, and arithmetic will suffice so long as teachers’ efforts are no longer being wasted.

In addition to these revisions, let us not forget how inefficient teaching is when it comes to making money. Even if all else fails, teaching wages need to be raised drastically. Currently, per week, teachers work anywhere from 40+ hours at school and 20+ hours outside of school (but still devoted to school). A third of the work teachers do is basically volunteer work. How insane is that? Talk about inefficient… but that is a whole other subject.

Thank you for reading this article! Education is one of the world’s biggest social issues at the moment and needs to be addressed. What else do you think should be added to a revised educational plan to make the teaching/learning process more efficient? If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for future studies, please feel free to comment below or on my social media at Twitch, Twitter, and Reddit.

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