I realize now that my perceived problems with our educational system cannot be adequately addressed in one blog entry, so this will have to be an ongoing topic. While I lack power to influence and change the situation directly, I hope that my ideas will influence and stimulate others, and in time the faults and shortcomings of our schools will be corrected. Well.. here we go.
In a time when healthcare, foreign wars, collapsing economy, and global warming dominate discussion and politics, America is ignoring what I believe to be the most important issue affecting our future. The education of the future generations, from elementary schools all the way up to the Universities, are substandard and ineffective, and need to be fixed just as much as our healthcare or our economy. Majority of Americans spend between 12 to 20 years in schools, while some go even beyond that. Is all that time in school really that helpful? Child education is mandatory, but is it beneficial?
Our public schools, in their current underfunded state, prepare the students through a battery of core subjects made up of mathematics, English classes, sciences, and various other electives sprinkled in. The children are tested mainly through tests, with good grades ensuring more opportunities for the students, and more funding for the schools. If the kid does well.. well everyone wins. We have a system that rewards good grades. However, we have to ask ourselves whether good grades actually represent learning and self-improvement.
Perhaps the main objective of our schools should not be to teach specific content and require memorization of material, but rather stimulate and encourage learning, even if it is off topic and not beneficial to the specific class at the time. Alongside fostering the desire to learn throughout their entire lives, schools should also encourage the students to develop free thought and new ideas, even if they may seem different, weird, or radical. Remember, during his life Galileo was viewed as a heretic and blasphemer.
Instead, under our current educational system all students are required to take a set of standardized classes. They are tested on the understanding (if they are lucky) or memorization (if they are unlucky) of the material, and the grades they receive play a very important role in the paths that open up for them later in life. While I can see the benefit of taking a variety of science and math classes in middle school and high school, I really do not believe it is appropriate. Nor do I believe it is necessary for everyone to take the same general group of classes. There will always be kids who do not benefit from these classes.
I believe that children who lack the interest and motivation in a particular subject will not dedicate all of their efforts and resources towards studying. They will not get grades, even though they might be very bright. Instead of labeling them as lazy and unmotivated, perhaps we should look at them through a different frame. Rather then classifying them as so-so students and relegating them to the ‘underachievers’ group, our schools and teachers should offer them alternative classes where they can succeed. Most people have either been in that situation themselves, or known others, who no matter how much they study and keep trying, they just cannot succeed with certain material. This ‘failure’ to do well in certain classes brings with it a great amount of negative stigma, something that no child should ever be exposed to.
Instead of feeling excited and motivated to continue learning for the rest of their lives, many children today view schools as a necessary evil.
I do not have an easy and well-planned out solution for how we can fix these problems. I have ideas, but it will take the entire country to improve our schools and turn them into what they are supposed to be. Here I just want to promote discussion and get people talking about the subject. I’ll post some of my ideas on how we can improve in the next post on the subject.
