Broken Education System

Extracted Attributes

• Proposed Solution

  Transition to a paradigm of Lifelong Learning.

• Essential Skills Deficit

  Creativity, Leadership, Resilience, and adaptability.

• UK Educational Attainment

  45.7 percent of people aged 25 to 64 had post-secondary education as of 2017.

• Economic Inefficiency (US)

  37 percent of undergraduate and 40 percent of master's programs have a negative return on investment.

• Primary Criticism (AI Era)

  Ill-equipped for future demands driven by rapid AI transformation and innovation.

• Primary Criticism (Structural)

  Focus on standardization, control, and rote memorization rather than critical thinking.

Timeline

• The United Kingdom spent 6.6 percent of its GDP on all levels of education. (Source: Wikipedia: Education in the United Kingdom)

  2014-01-01

• The OECD PISA assessment ranked British 15-year-olds 13th in the world for reading, literacy, mathematics, and science. (Source: Wikipedia: Education in the United Kingdom)

  2018-01-01

• Andrew Sage published a critique arguing that the education system is broken and designed for state control. (Source: Web Search: Medium)

  2020-07-14

• Education Week reported that 30 countries outperform the United States in high school mathematics. (Source: Web Search: The Fulcrum)

  2021-01-01

• Talha Haroon published an analysis of the crisis in the educational system and the need for 21st-century skills. (Source: Web Search: LinkedIn)

  2025-01-28

• At CES 2026, a panel of experts declared the education system broken due to the unprecedented pace of AI innovation. (Source: Document c08935b9-87d2-439d-a5ee-c1b4d7dc4dcf)

  2026-01-01

Education in the United Kingdom

Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments. The UK Government is responsible for England, whilst the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are responsible for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively. For details of education in each country, see: Education in England Education in Northern Ireland Education in Scotland Education in Wales In 2018, the Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, ranked the overall knowledge and skills of British 15-year-olds as 13th in the world in reading, literacy, mathematics, and science. The average British student scored 503.7, compared with the OECD average of 493. In 2014, the country spent 6.6% of its GDP on all levels of education – 1.4 percentage points above the OECD average of 5.2%. In 2017, 45.7% of British people aged 25 to 64 had attended some form of post-secondary education. Of British people aged 25 to 64, 22.6% had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, whilst 52% of British people aged 25 to 34 had attended some form of tertiary education, compared with the OECD average of 44%.

Web Search Results

• How to Fix America's Broken Education System

  Economic Policy Innovation Center EPIC Logo White EPIC Crest # How to Fix America’s Broken Education System Zetong Li My06S Wg Zc Unsplash America’s education system is struggling to prepare students to think critically, act responsibly, and adapt confidently to the world around them. In K-12 education, we’ve witnessed some troubling trends, including grade inflation, weakened accountability, and stagnant or declining test scores. Moreover, studies have documented a decline in other personal characteristics that contribute to success in school, work, relationships, and overall well-being. The result is a less educated, less disciplined, and less resilient workforce. [...] Higher education has also deteriorated as the federal government’s massive subsidies and near-monopoly on student lending, alongside regulatory strings on alternative education have driven up education costs, narrowed choices, and left students with fewer skills. Between 1994 and 2024, federal student aid nearly tripled in real terms and in-state tuition and fees at public four-year universities more than doubled in real terms. Meanwhile, quality and success deteriorated: an estimated 37 percent of undergraduate programs and more than 40 percent of master’s programs have a negative return on investment, and only 60 percent of students who enter four-year universities graduate within six years. ## Solutions for K-12 Education [...] ## Solutions for Post-Secondary Education Federal subsidies for higher education inflate total costs, reduce the returns to higher education, and enable higher education institutions to fail at providing relevant education. Policymakers should phase down federal subsidies for higher education to shift financing to more effective private financial institutions and to schools that will only finance effective education programs. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will already improve students’ educational returns by preventing federal subsidies from going towards four-year degree programs in which the average graduate does not earn more than the average high school graduate. This will improve the quality of existing degree programs and deter students from pursuing low-return programs.

• The Education System Is Broken - Andrew Sage

  Sitemap Open in app Sign in Sign in # The Education System Is Broken ## Why schooling as we know it must be abolished Andrew Sage 4 min read · Jul 14, 2020 -- Schools are problematic by design. They were created for a very specific purpose. Control. That function has been perpetuated over the centuries, consciously and unconsciously, ever since. I believe we can do better. ## A Short History of Schools Young people have been grouped and educated together in preparation for adult life since the very earliest human civilizations. However, state schooling really began with Plato, who believed that education and schools were the most important function of the state. > Plato believed that school should be designed by the state to perpetuate the state. [...] The education industry undermines student health and contributes to creating an unequal society, dividing students of various backgrounds and identities. Children are sorted and standardized, creating inferiority and superiority complexes. Sexism, racism, bullying, homophobia, transphobia, gender segregation, information suppression, and misinformation run rampant. Students memorize useless facts while their mental and physical health are utterly degraded. The uniqueness of students various learning styles and intelligences are ignored. Schools don’t even teach the skills necessary to assimilate into this crappy society. It is insane how we’ve normalized the chronic stress of children. What is to be done? ## Education & Freedom [...] My ideal education system consists of the wider society helping the youngest to pursue their education unhindered. Grades, testing, and standardization ignore the complexity and diversity of thought and development. They must all be abolished. Life is so much more than the dismal rat race we’re being forced to run. Children don’t need structure. Children need freedom. I’ve created a video that goes a bit more in-depth on this subject, you can check it out here: You can follow Saint Andrew on Twitter @\_saintdrew. You can also buy me a coffee. ← Previous Blog Post: Do You Remember Your Life? Education School History Socialism Anarchism ## Written by Andrew Sage 291 followers ·15 following

• The Failing Education System | North Hennepin Community College

  After interviewing eight people, all except one agreed to the education system being broken, failing, or messed up. Four of them were teachers and four were college students. The college students mostly complained about the homework, the repetitiveness of the curriculum, and the agreement of not learning anything at all. However, when I interviewed the teachers, it was such a shocking experience to hear the perspective of educators. Students cannot even begin to fathom how much teachers fought or choose to be in a classroom for students to be a recipient of education. Hearing all their stories made me come to a revelation of how much society takes teachers for granted. If it is not obvious yet, they do not decide what to teach, or the main curricula. To ensure anonymity to be on the safe [...] Moreover, the education system will never be without flaws. Even now, the activities and courses that are in the schools today are still relatively new, but it is still not perfected yet. The system’s failure to help students learn without stressing memorization, it leaves scholars feeling as if they are incompetent if they cannot remember the facts effectively. The material being taught is also repetitive, which makes the information no longer stick, and gradually allows students to believe it is not essential for their future. Even at an early age, the system fails to produce independent individuals, or ones capable of utilizing their knowledge. But most of all, the education system is failing because it does not help students value it. Knowledge is a valuable thing, but nobody really [...] Moreover, since education is stuck where it is at, who knows when it will change. But nothing is set in stone, anything can change. The education system is failing, but it has failed. If students leave college or high school with the impression that it was a waste of time, and they cannot recall the information they have learned, then the schools are failing their students. Knowledge is powerful and can change so many things. If it is desensitized and devalued by scholars, then the system is defective. But something like that can easily be fixed if there are people willing to do something about it. A successful educational system is not farfetched, it is nearby, if society detaches itself from the current one before it has failed. ### Works Cited

• America's public school system is broken

  Recognizing the importance of public education was hardly the founders’ greatest insight. It’s obvious. Yet while America’s public education system (which educates over 90 percent of our students) has historically been a success, it has been deteriorating in recent decades. This is a monumental unforced error. The problems are manifold. Low and declining rates of government funding are leading to less talent and commitment among teachers, who are severely underpaid. Teachers’ unions complicate all this by protecting under-performers. Budget deficits cause overcrowded classrooms and limit essential resources like new books and in-classroom technology. And zero-sum rivalries with charter schools and voucher programs divert funds away from public schools. [...] It’s hard to think of a more destructive way to burden an entire generation and stymie their prospects than to weigh them down with crushing debt. This system doesn’t just materially degrade the quality of their daily lives. It limits their ability to take risks, to innovate and to give back to society. America’s public education system does have some positive aspects, however. Many public schools do exemplary work. Many teachers perform admirably despite being underpaid. And most elite public universities are still leading educational institutions globally. The upper echelon of American public education is, indeed, unrivaled. [...] America’s schools (public and private combined) compare very poorly with the rest of the world. “Thirty countries now outperform the United States in mathematics at the high school level,” Education Week explained in 2021. “Many are ahead in science, too. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the millennials in our workforce tied for last on tests of mathematics and problem solving among the millennials in the workforces of all the industrial countries tested. We now have the worst-educated workforce in the industrialized world. Because our workers are among the most highly paid in the world, that makes a lot of Americans uncompetitive in the global economy. And uncompetitive against increasingly smart machines. It is a formula for a grim future.”

• Educational System Crisis: Major Issues & Solutions

  ## Sign in to view more content Create your free account or sign in to continue your search ## Welcome back By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. New to LinkedIn? Join now or New to LinkedIn? Join now By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. LinkedIn LinkedIn is better on the app Don’t have the app? Get it in the Microsoft Store. Open the app 8 min read # The Crisis of the Educational System: Challenges and Solutions for a Broken System Report this article Talha H. ### Talha H. Published Jan 28, 2025 + Follow The Crisis of the Educational System: Challenges and Solutions for a Broken System [...] #EducationalReform #EducationForAll #BrokenEducationSystem #EqualityInEducation #EducationCrisis #TeacherSupport #MentalHealthInSchools #TechInEducation #EducationInequality #ModernEducation #FutureOfLearning #TeachTheFuture #ReformEducation #AccessToEducation#EqualEducation #21stCenturySkills About Author: Talha Haroon | Founder & Digital Director | me@talhaharoon.com Who am I? A seasoned expert with over 17 years of hands-on experience in guiding businesses through the intricate terrain of digital transformation. With a proven track record of driving innovation and delivering results, I'm dedicated to helping organizations harness the power of technology to thrive in today's digital landscape. You can Talk to me! #DigitalTransformation #Digital Enabler [...] ### 8. Conclusion: The current educational system is failing to meet the needs of students, teachers, and society as a whole. From outdated curricula to overcrowded classrooms and systemic inequality, the challenges are numerous. However, with concerted efforts from governments, educators, and communities, it is possible to reform the system and create an education framework that prepares students for the challenges of the future. Education is the foundation of a better world, and it is our responsibility to ensure that it provides every child with the tools they need to succeed, regardless of their background or circumstances.