THE KEY TO THE SUCCESS OF A SYSTEM

Discussion
The data I have accumulated from my research strongly supports my claim that many
students at Hilliard Darby from various grades agree that the Common Core Standards, regulated
on a national scale, is ineffective. Similar to as I hypothesized, students, teachers and members of
community of Hilliard agree that the Hilliard School system can be improved to match a system
similar to Finland's, elite to education systems worldwide.
The data I collected shows that a majority of the students surveyed are significantly
stressed due to the pressures from meeting graduation requirements, standardized testing, and
other school related stressors. The issue with students at Hilliard Darby High School is that they
are typically stressed out, with little guidance on how to pursue future careers and unnecessary
work overwhelming them that does not largely contribute to success in the future. Many of the
students surveyed also admitted to not having specific plans for what they would like to
accomplish and complete after graduations, which is in many ways problematic. A majority of
the seniors reported that they reflect on their high school experience with neither happiness nor
hate. Although most students scaled moderately, the goal of education should be to ensure that
students are ingrained in a healthy and enjoyable environment so that school becomes a safe
place full of active learning. Students will not be able to learn to their best potential if they do not
like the environment they are learning in. Although there can be confounding variables that can
contribute to why students do not reflect happily on their high school experience, the written
responses I received gave insight as to why they felt the way they did; stress being the common
reason. Also, results showed that over 90% of all students surveyed agree that an improved
system with less focus on Common Core standards will be the most successful path for Hilliard

THE KEY TO THE SUCCESS OF A SYSTEM

Darby. According to the responses from the Finnish students studying abroad, the Finnish school
system is very flexible and effective in helping students become successful in the future. Every
response gave positive remarks on the school system and the students appear very prepared to
live happy, successful lives. Each person interviewed from the particular program genuinely
loves the career path they plan to choose and seem excited to pursue their dreams. This is enough
evidence to conclude that Hilliard Darby has much to learn from the Finnish school system in
terms of long term success rates among students.
It seems many staff and teachers at Hilliard Darby agree that our school system is flawed
and in need of a change. In fact, many teachers admitted to preferring teaching their courses
more laid back and fluid but are often restricted to teach the way prefer because of the need for
testing. According to the responses I received from teachers, most students in the art department
or non-CORE classes typically are more focused and connected to the subject than in CORE
subjects. Although CORE classes are necessary, a significant amount of students do not seem to
enjoy the subject taught and feel as if they are required to take it rather than taking it for
enjoyment. Of all the teachers surveyed, 70% believe that a more flexible school system, with
less pressure on abiding to CORE standards is the most effective school system. This means that
a majority of teachers in this sample believe that the structured system, courtesy of the
restrictions placed by Common Core, is ineffective. Not even the staff of Hilliard Darby, the
people responsible for teaching students think that our school system is at its best potential.
Members of the Hilliard community believe that our current school system is too difficult
for students and does not teach equally among different types of students. The responses in this
interview were very honest and showed that parents themselves do not feel that the kids in our
community are doing the best that they can. Every person interviewed agreed that an improved

THE KEY TO THE SUCCESS OF A SYSTEM

system with qualities similar to Finland should be implemented. Clearly, many members of the
Hilliard community agree that the Finnish system is tons more effective than our current one, and
that Hilliard Darby is not allowing students to reach their best potential or setting them up for
success.
Unfortunately, some of the data was not useful to this research. Although I had asked a
variety of questions to ensure accurate responses and to understand that backgrounds of those I
surveyed, not all were helpful in supporting my thesis. Another flaw in this research is that
although I surveyed a large sample of students, the experiment was not completely randomized.
By distributing surveys to friends and students in my class, I was not offering a good
representation of all students attending Hilliard Darby High School. Similarly, the results may
have been strengthened if I took a larger and more random sample of responses from students
studying abroad in Finland. Future research can also focus on actually interviewing students
abroad so that the data can be more accurate on representing the feelings of these students.
Steps that Hilliard Darby can take to improve their system is distribute less standardized
tests and put less stress on mastering a variety of subjects and focus on getting students to work
harder and take classes geared towards the subject they find the most interesting. Our system will
also be more effective if students had a more creative curriculum as well, and so I believe that
offering more time for students to pursue the arts will be a good way for students to be less
stressed and more creative, which is vital to success. However, this issue is not just a flaw of our
school specifically; thousands of schools nationwide face similar problems. Larger scale
improvements to prevent other schools from falling victim to this crippling system is to abolish
Common Core standards completely.

THE KEY TO THE SUCCESS OF A SYSTEM

Overall, it appears Hilliard Darby is in desperate need if changes if it ever wants to see
truly successful students. The Common Core Standards is not effective enough to ensure that
students in the United States live happy, bright and successful futures. With changes that help
this system, the school will see higher success rates, from a higher percent of graduates to a
higher number of happier and focused students.