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What is the difference between

  1. The problems with the current education systems

Vs.

  1. The problems with current education systems

Is the second one grammatical?

The reason why I think a “the” is necessary in front of “current” is that when I use “current” in front of “education systems”, I am making it specific. Do you think this logic is correct? Or is it ok to omit the “the” in front of “current”?

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  • It's entirely a stylistic choice whether to include the in your example noun phrase, and the choice makes no difference whatsoever to the meaning. Note that you must include the article with singular system, regardless of whether it's qualified by (syntactically optional) current and/or educational.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Feb 4, 2023 at 14:07
  • I'd almost always use the definite article if the current education systems had already been listed. Otherwise. I'd use it pragmatically as a discourse 'lubricant' to hint at familiarity ('with which we're all familiar, of course').
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 4, 2023 at 16:51
  • To make a general statement, there is no need for s: Current educational systems are [whatever].
    – Lambie
    Commented Apr 7 at 23:43

2 Answers 2

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Both your examples are grammatical. The first (using the definite article) is focused on specific current education systems, and readers are expected to understand from context which ones.

Without the article the example refers to current education systems in general.

Using the definite article without any context is awkward because it makes it difficult for a reader to work out which current education systems are being specifically referred to. A reader may think that the writer will be contrasting the current education systems to other systems, possibly including education systems that are not current.

In general, it is often correct to omit the definite article in front of plural nouns. However the presence or absence of the article will usually alter the meaning.

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    I disagree that the second form relates to education systems that are not current, it specifically mentions current systems. However it is more general than the first. The first will be referring to education systems in a certain context (perhaps a specific country like the UK, a wider area such as Europe or a conceptual classification like "advanced economies" or "developing countries"). The second, in contrast, would relate to education systems in general covering all countries, continents or conceptual classifications.
    – BoldBen
    Commented Feb 4, 2023 at 8:03
  • @BoldBen, that was not what I meant to say, so I have modified (and hopefully improved) my answer. I meant to say that adding "the" may suggest that the sentence has the silent continuation ... "that were not present with the older systems".
    – Peter
    Commented Feb 4, 2023 at 10:08
  • I don't think including the makes any difference at all in OP's context. The only way a determiner would affect things is if you'd already established a context identifying some educational systems (from different times, places, social groups, whatever), in which case you could use those or these to identify them. But not the, which would always mean all.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Feb 4, 2023 at 14:08
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    @FumbleFingers, with no context I would expect "The problems with current education systems". If "the" was in there I would look for reasons why. I might conclude there is no reason why, or I might jump to the wrong conclusion, but I would look.
    – Peter
    Commented Feb 5, 2023 at 11:05
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    @FumbleFingers, in Australia each state has its own education system, and there is a Catholic education system and a number of independent schools. In this context I didn't give the plural a second thought.
    – Peter
    Commented Feb 5, 2023 at 12:07
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  1. The problems with the current education systems [in my country, in China, in the EU]. the refers to something specific that has been discussed earlier in the text. Vs.

  2. The problems with current education systems [everywhere in the world, for example]. One could imagine saying that if one thought they all had some feature in common.

The bees in the orchards in my county are not doing well. Bees in the world are not doing well.

A "the" is always specific. A plural noun is always general.

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  • The problem with downvoters is that often the don't get it.
    – Lambie
    Commented Sep 8, 2023 at 18:04

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