Education System in the U.S

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Argumentative Essay
Introduction
         Randy Moore and Alfie Kohn, in their articles Grades and Self and Confusing Harder With Better, respectively conform to one conclusion that there is a problem in United States’ education system. However, the two authors differ on what the source of the weak education system is. Moore, in his article, argues that the U.S education system is more focused on instilling students with self-esteem rather than raising their academic standards. On the other hand, Khon contends that the reason behind the degradation of education standards in the U.S. is that policymakers are confusing better education to rigorous training. From these two arguments, it is evident that Moore is a proponent of grade oriented education system while Kohn advocates for an education system that produces better graduates and not focusing on the difficulty of examinations. This paper shall, therefore, highlight why Kohn’s idea is compelling compared to Moore’s.
Arguments
         First, Kohn argues that the system of education is running based on a false dichotomy. To him, policymakers in the education industry confuse raising standards of graduates to raising grades of graduates. This means that the education systems hugely depends on the academic tests to determine the rules of graduates and that students with good grades are viewed as better equipped academically compared to those with poor grades. According to Kohn, this criteria of examining graduates’ qualification is not practical because it only depends on tests, which he claim are designed to be confusing and irrelevant for students. He compares this with a story that is made of more phonemes rather than a story that made of a more exciting word that can make an individual to be glued in and read to understand (Kohn, p. 68).
         Moore, on the other hand, claims that difficult tests make students think critically, and this is what teachers have failed to adhere to for fear of seeing a good percentage of their students failing and eventually dropping out of education (Moore, 388). This idea does not seem to be true. As Khon puts it, the exams should not be too difficult or too easy. This is because easy tests leave students insufficiently challenged while difficult one makes them appear stupid and so low-self esteem. But as Kohn puts extremely difficult does not mean better. He even argues further that students would instead feel incorrigible rather than feeling inadequate. This way, Kohn is implying that the degree of examinations and tests should be optimally severe. Above all, examinations should trigger thoughtfulness rather than straining among students.