It's Time for Education ReformMy sentence is still running and as such I am still gathering many overwhelming evidence on the subject. I hope I can write a meaningful – perhaps even compelling – critique of the system. There is a lot of bureaucracy and conformity to overcome. The education system is deeply skewed and this is the second time I've encountered its biggest problem: placement and grading. Most educators place too much value on rigid systems for identifying appropriate seating for students and assessing their understanding of material; many factors can help or hinder a student's performance on these tests. Yet even excusing poor test scores is not my primary intention. For most of my studies, I felt extremely bored and "excelled" at everything "college" (no matter how poorly defined), which made me quite excited. about the prospect of going to college early. I thought that MASMC, by focusing on (personal) and academic challenges, should provide me with additional stimulation and the opportunity to allow myself to “fly away”. I came to understand the stricter compliance of lower level courses. In high school, I had pre-calculus (which actually ended in cutoffs!) and chemistry classes, and I considered my entrance into calculus and chemistry (advanced/secondary) at university almost guaranteed. I learned about the placement tests the night before (the best I can remember), but I still felt confident after completing them. I found out shortly before going to the academy that I would be sent back to precalculus and chemistry. After talking with a few “authorities,” I found out there was another test I could take. Without even looking at the CI I received on the first precalculus test (mostly algebra and a little trigonometrics), I took another one. Again, I received a C and felt pretty bad. I spoke with Dr. Malm to figure out what I did wrong. After reading the test, I felt a little worse: the mistakes I made were not due to a real lack of understanding, but rather "stupid mistakes" due to lack of attention, to drowsiness and misinterpretation. I was assured that the college pre-calculus course would “fill in the holes” in my pre-calculus training. I doubted it and I was right: I actually learned nothing in pre-calculus by spending hours (and taxpayer money) listening to the same material and doing my (useless - I don't know) homework. didn't do it last year and by not doing my homework, I did it). It didn't hurt my placement test results).