Anyways, so I've been doing research for my senior paper this quarter and I just noticed something.  I'm looking at the problems with the American education system and most of the sources I've found don't list many factors that I as a student have noticed.  For example somethings I would say are common difficulties are mental health (stress related especially), school hours/scheduling (spending seven hours a day in a seat, having to wake up before the sun, etc.), and curriculum (doesn't really teach life skills, no real life application, lack of hands on learning, etc.) while some common things mentioned by my research are things like (lack of) parent involvement, student attitude, and technology.  While I don't completely disagree with points being made, it feels to me that many issues aren't being addressed like they should, or issues being addressed aren't being treated correctly/are treated as a problem without looking for the root cause.  It seems at times that people aren't looking at the right numbers or talking to people that may offer another perspective.  My research makes me feel like the people looking at the education system aren't talking to the people who experience it first hand, the students.