Education is such an odd thing in our society. We glorify and respect people when they get "their education." Jobs are given, experiences are made, and no matter what, there is always disappointment (that comes later). We have a very structured education system. Structured long ago by the works of the industrial revolution, education was designed with the focus to be able to live a better life after one had been "educated." But I want to challenge this system, so here are my thoughts.
In our education system we have a concept that boggles me: failure. With the system, when a student is about to fail or is doing poorly in school, they are taught to focus on that one thing until it gets better. But what does that do for the other subjects someone has to study? In my experience, those subjects get moved to the back burner and the effort in those courses falls. Remember the days when school was fun? When we did arts and crafts and there were no grades to stress us out. When there was nothing but joy in our lives because at school we were encouraged to do our best and that's all that mattered.
But then BAM! You are suddenly thrown into these things called subjects! You soon need to study history and science. The art value of anything you accomplished in kindergarten is a waste, and then all of sudden you are being pressured about where you and your family are going to spend $100,000 over the course of four years. Then if you're like me...you decide to go to grad school because you feel you didn't learn what you needed to.
Wow. Okay, so what...
The word education comes from the word educatus, verb form educare, meaning to bring up, also related to educere meaning from, ducere "to lead." And that's just it! What if our education system was more designed to lead kids to be successful adults. Some might say that is what we are doing, but many times it feels like graduation is the end. Our system fosters intellectuality and not leadership. What is more important in the adult world? Knowing the process of mitosis or being able to communicate yourself to another person? And now for the kicker, you just took a peek into my ultimate goal in life. I want to start a school. A school where we include the intellectual in education, but we focus on fostering leadership and communication.
I challenge you: contemplate the education you received or are receiving. Are you learning what you need to know to become the best person you could be in our world? Contemplation and action: a necessary part of life. I really need your comments or opinions on this concept. Am I crazy? Thanks for reading.
World, I apologize: this was more of an intellectual rant than a insightful blog post.
There are a few reasons why western style education does us a disservice:
ReplyDelete-It's structured on quotas.
Everything has to be categorized or defined. A 3.0 means more than the sum of its parts. While the need for standards is important, the pressures from our current grading system push students to pass a test instead of learning a lesson. This doesn't mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater, but a more nuanced form a evaluation could align our priorities better and help focus our students.
-It's structured to make money.
The more degrees we need, the more money we'll have to spend. A high school diploma meant a lot more in our parents world than it does in ours. Now we need a BA at least. Our kids won't even get looked at without a Masters. It's really simple: Institutions want us in schools longer to pad their pockets more.
-It fails to value creativity.
If everything ultimately revolves around grades or money, how are students able to express themselves? If the laws that govern education are intrinsically based in meeting objectives, how can we expect students to exercise their ingenuity? We can't. To do so would risk their placement and their progress. They idea of play, art, and creativity is essential for human socialization and yet it holds no weight in our education system. It is MORE important to repeat an action, than to think about it abstractly.
Ultimately, I think our system values conformity, not intellectuality. If it did, we'd have a different system in place.