Since education reformer Horace Mann invigorated the public school system by introducing new ideas about how schools should be run in the 1830s, this country has changed drastically.

The U.S. has expanded in geographic size, population, literacy and economic power.

However, the public school system has hardly changed in format.

There is still a three-month break for the summer harvest, even though less than 1 percent of citizens are farmers.

The school week consists of five days, from early morning to midafternoon, even after the inventions of heating, air conditioning and electric lighting, despite scientific research showing that students of school age are biologically inclined to sleep during most of school’s morning hours.

Worse than the changes that have not been made, though, are the changes that have emerged.

The most concerning is the pushing of students into higher education without regard to aptitudes or life goals.

At its inception, the public school system allowed students to attend school for as long as they needed to gain the skills that would be beneficial to their lives and eventual professions.

A student who planned to take over the family farm could attend long enough to gain the literacy and math skills to make sales and communicate effectively.

A student who wanted to be a medical doctor could just as easily attend school for years more to achieve his goal.

These days, though, a student is bombarded with the idea that if she doesn’t go to college, she is less respectable and ultimately less of a person.

This notion is ludicrous, but our country’s school system perpetuates the idea.

A college education should be available to all who want it and wish to pursue it. However, the irrespective forcing of college entrance onto all students is causing degradation of the school system and is a financial strain for both the government and students.

Schools now focus on passing students, not educating them, because every time a student doesn’t pass a grade, it represents an extra year of school the government has to pay for.

The monetary strain of this system falls on the students as well.

When students whose strengths incline them to technical or vocational schools are forced into university settings, they often drop out in a year or two, but only after acquiring thousands of dollars in college debt.

Beyond this, forcing students into higher education also perpetuates discrimination and disdain for working-class citizens.

By telling students and their parents that worthwhile citizens are created only by higher education, proper respect for hard work of any type is lost.

When too much emphasis is put on university education, an elitist ideal for society persists.

Instead, this country needs to revive its respect for anyone who works to earn her or his own way and achieves her or his highest potential.

Fortunately, one state in this country finally has the right idea.

New Hampshire announced in October that it will begin giving rigorous board exams to high school sophomores.

Those who pass would have the choice of graduating after the 10th grade and entering state community and technical colleges.

These new tests will be not be formatted like current mid-high exams given under “No Child Left Behind.” Instead, they will be modeled after Advanced Placement exams, which are a much better judge of competency in scholastic subjects.

They will not be tests that require simply bubble filling, and thus they will require a higher standard of education for students to pass them.

This new system will improve the quality of education for all students, not just those taking the exams.

In New Hampshire, students no longer will be forced to follow the same academic schedule as others their age, but will be allowed to work at their own pace and work toward a career they feel fit for.

Additionally, the new school format will be able to give extra time, money and attention to the students following four-year graduation plans.

Students who require more time to reach this new standard of graduation and students who desire to expand their studies before entering a university setting will have the resources for their needs.

While it sounds new and frightening to Americans, this system is similar to highly effective ones that dozens of other industrialized countries have been using for years.

Because the strengths of an individual are played upon, instead of forcing a (socially-constructed) ideal of education upon everyone, the individuals and country as a whole are better able to prosper.

This system does not take away the opportunities for education. Rather, it is better able to adapt to the requirements, talents and goals of each student as an individual.

Instead of remaining so ensconced in its current mindset, the U.S. should opt for this change in order to revive the school system and respect for all modes of work and education.

Sarah Dorn is an English junior. Her column appears every other Monday.