Education is the engine that drives people to a successful life. Children- the young generation, the future proprietors of the country- go to school from an early age to gain knowledge to lead their life and also their country. Therefore, they need to be well-educated to have enough knowledge, experiences and power to do their task, that makes education play a significant role in society. However, educational problems appear at all times, there has never been any perfect education up to now. Horace Mann, who resigned his political career to work as an secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, wrote a report to show educational issues  in the 1800s including religious education as an outstanding problem. Nowadays,  I think funding and school uniform along with religious education are three of the most concerned problems in education.

Horace Mann, born in 1796 in Massachusetts, had a strong will for hard work and study,  thus freed himself out of poverty and became a politician. Then he changed his position into a secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education. He soon recognized the weaknesses of common school; therefore in “ Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education, 1848”, Mann described those following as educational issues at that time: physical education, intellectual education as a means of removing poverty, political education, moral education and religious education. Firstly, about physical education, Mann appreciated the important role of common school as an effective agency to diffuse and popularize the knowledge of health so that everyone can build up a healthy diet and healthful habits for themselves in their daily life. Secondly, it was Mann’s concern that every one must have an equal chance for education, which is an effective way to escape from poverty and came to a better life. Thirdly, Mann affirmed the shortage of political education in school. “Thus may all the children of the Commonwealth receive instruction in all the great essentials of political knowledge, - in those elementary ideas without which they will never be able to investigate more recondite and debatable questions; thus will the only practicable method be adopted for discovering new truths, and for discarding, instead of perpetuating, old errors” (Mann 127). Students need to know at least a general idea of political knowledge which they can learn from school, thus it will be a foundation for them to look into and investigate some questions more effectively. Forthly, moral education was also reported as an educational question. Mann declared a simple formula for moral education: “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Mann 128). However, school had never tried this experiment despite of its great potential of success upon children whose minds are easily influenced. Finally, Religious education was one of the related issues in the 1800s that Mann stated in his report. He emphasized the importance of religious education as “ no community will ever be religious without a religious education” (Mann 128), and he also implied the significant role of religion in society, “ devoid of religious principles and religious affections, the race can never fall so low but that it may sink still lower; animated and sanctified by them, it can never rise so high but that it may ascend still higher.” (Mann 128, 129). However, he also admitted that “ our public schools are not theological seminaries” (Mann 129), which means public schools did not have much, or at least enough, religious teaching. Although it has been a long time since Mann’s time, that controversy still remains unsolved today. Religion is not taken seriously in school as much as it needs to be, which comes up as a big question on the teaching effect.

 Most schools, especially public schools, do not pay much attention to the full effect of religion although it played an important role in history and society, and it tends to continue in the world nowadays. According to William Brennan, “ it would be impossible to teach meaningfully many subjects in the social sciences or the humanities without some mention of religion.” ( Kafer 43). In fact, knowledge about religion is very helpful in such a world of diversity like the United States, “The United States is notable for its religions pluralism. Although a majority of Americans describe themselves Christians, there are a remarkable number of individual Christian churches with varying beliefs and doctrines. An increasing number of school children are non-Christian immigrants from Asian countries. These students’ families not only speak diverse languages but are also members of diverse religions.” (Jurinski 2). Knowledge of different religions is necessary for understanding people with different beliefs, and it is a useful tool to live in harmony with such a diverse religion. Students do not need to be taught everything about every religions, but a basic understanding about the role of religion in history, art, current events as well as religious symbols, music, literature, drama is essential for a well-promoted student. Moreover, good teaching in religious education can build a good relationship between parents and schools. Many parents want their children to be educated in public school, but they also want such education include values and ideas drawn from religion beliefs. Besides, students may feel respectful in a school with religious teaching which shows that their beliefs are appreciated in the neighborhood they belong to. Social advancement grows along with religious development, that is the reason why religious education is the educational issue of all times. In addition to religion, I think funding is also one of the matters of all time. Funding, until now, has been a great concern for every students, mostly college and higher students.

Higher education is seen as a valuable opportunity for everyone to change their life. However, those chances are sometimes out of reach for students due to the cost of education. Especially in recent years, the cost of college has been rising remarkably, which makes it difficult for many students to attain their goal. “ In 1989, college tuition at four-year privates institutions reaches $12,925 up from $7,870 in 1979. Various factors, including competition for students and declining revenue sources, are blamed for the rise in both private and public college tuition in the 1980s, a trend that continues through the 1990s and 2000s.” (“Key Events in the History of College Tuition Costs”).That is exactly the way that the cost of college grew and it continues to follow that trend nowadays. The average tuition at a public four-year college today is approximate $5,500 while that at a private one is about $20,000, which is twice of what it was two decades ago. Although government has made an effort to make college more affordable, the financial aid from government is just about half of what a student has to pay. As a result of that, students still have to work hard to support themselves, that also shares half of their focus on studying into working. Especially, tuition fee is really a nightmare to international students like me. I have to pay $199 a unit which is much more than double or even triple of what a United States citizen does. Besides, text book prices are also great problems for they cost as much as one-fourth of the tuition fee a semester if I buy them all brand new, which is too much to handle. There are also used books sold outside but it is not easy to find a good- conditioned one with a reasonable price. I myself paid totally almost $350 for four classes this Fall. Education, mostly higher education, plays a significant role in making such a change which Mann stated in his point, “ The greatest of all the arts in political economy is to change a consumer into a producer; and the next greatest is to increase the producer’s producing power, an end to be directly attained by increasing his intelligence.” (Mann 125). Such a change still remains a dream due to the fact that the cost of education is rising day by day, more and more students give up their goals, and then the result is that the rich get richer while the poor remain poorer. In addition to the government’s policy to reduce the fee, it is also the school’s duty to improve the school quality that can encourage students to pay for school. Students pay money for schooling to get the best  learning environment they desire. There are many ways for school officials to build a perfect learning environment, and applying school uniform policy is one of the most effective methods.

Until now, most of the schools in the US, from elementary schools to high schools, from public schools to private schools have not adopted school uniform as part of school regulations. It is a great issue in education since it is a fact that applying uniform in school resulted in an improvement in school environment, which is effectively proven by the U.S Department of Education in “Manual on School Uniforms” (February 1996). In 1996, President Clinton stated in his speech at the Long Beach Unified School District in California, where he chose as the first destination to announce the publication of the “Manual on School Uniform”  by the U.S Department of Education, “ I want to say the entire United States of America is in your debt because you took the first step to show elementary and middle school students that wearing uniform in class reduces violence, reduces truancy, reduces disorder, increases learning and… gives a bed of unity and purpose and teamwork of students and the schools that are in this school district.” (U.S. Department of Education 248). After that ringing bell of school uniform by the president, it came as no surprise that a number of school districts began to accomplish their own school uniform regulations such as Long Beach, California; Seattle, Washington; Richmond, Virginia; Memphis, Tennessee; and so on… As a result, the school environment had changed incredibly in a positive way. Just taking one example from the results of Long Beach Unified School District, California, “ District officials found that in the year of the following implementation of the school uniform policy, overall school crime decreased 36 percent, fights decreased 51 percent, sex offences decreased 74 percent, weapons offenses decreased 50 percent, assault and battery offenses 34 percent, and vandalism decreased 18 percent. Fewer than one percent of the students have elected to opt out of the school uniform policy.” (U.S. Department of Education 253). Therefore, now it is a fact that school uniform policies can promote a safety and disciplined environment which is the basic foundation of a good school. In my opinion, it is greater if each school has their own uniform designed which means an easier school recognition. Also, it is an invisible connection of students from different gender, classes, ages, races,… because it builds a collective spirit between students in one school who dress the same way from top to toe. I think that is the main reason why school uniforms had a good impact on improving learning environment, for each student then had a general idea of their responsibility for what they did in such a well-organized community, which came to no more rule-breaking, fighting, school crimes, vandalism,… I myself came from other country which applies school uniform as a mandatory part of school regulations. What I experienced from it was that I had no need to pay attention to what others were wearing, so I can focus mostly on studying, which led to a good transcript for everyone. In my point of view, now it is time for every school to implement their own policies in uniforms to build a safe and disciplined environment to meet the first requirement of a good school. “For the foreseeable future, many educational analysts say that more schools will likely implement dress codes, since uniform policies tend to be widely supported by parents. Some educators, such as the Decatur Middle School's Saunders, even suggest that eventually dress codes will become the norm in American classrooms. "I wouldn't be surprised if every school in the country moves to uniforms," he says.” (“Update: School Uniforms”).

Religious education, funding and school uniform are three of the most noticeable  educational puzzles which I want to be figured out. They all make such remarkable impact on students’ behaviors, beliefs, values, manners and performances. It is the responsibility of the entire community to solve these problems to build up a perfect education, which needs good cooperation of students, parents, schools and also government as well. As long as all the educational questions are answered, students can gain more and therefore achieve more. That is a near bright future we all look forward to coming up.