Systemic Education Is Broken
When you have the President of the United States urging our population to get serious about subjects like Science and Math and start creating more than consuming, then you know we have a problem. However, while I do think that each individual has power concerning their path, when the system that they are working within is broken, then what do you expect? And yes, I believe that our educational system is very broken. Even though we have introduced computers into the classroom, other than that, there are very few changes that have taken place in the classroom since the ice ages. And in a world where your average intelligent adult can’t keep up with all of the changes in technology etc., I couldn’t imagine so few changes concerning our educational system making any sense.
Every once in awhile when I’m in the car on a Friday, I’ll tune into “Science Friday” on NPR. This past Friday they were talking of girl’s involvement in Science and how more women need to enter the field of Science and Engineering. And beyond gender, how behind other countries we are when it comes to Science and for even those that enter college for the field, only about 40% will graduate. And while I wouldn’t have considered Science one of my favorite subject’s in school, I find many of their conversations and expert’s interesting. Why? Because they bring Science to life by helping the average non-nerd individual see how Science correlates to everyday life and does have an impact on a personal level. I have probably learned more on NPR’s Science Friday’s than I did my whole high school education. Once again, why? Because there are so many ways in which our education fails.
First and foremost by “making” kids be there. Kids really have no feeling of control or power when it comes to their education. And while I do get that everyone needs to know how to read (which if you look at the sobering statistics, even that isn’t always being accomplished by our system), add/subtract and the months of the year, there isn’t all that much that our system teaches us that rules an individual’s every day life. But yet, we “make” kids show up for 13 years day after day, bored to death and then tested on their boredom.
Let’s not even go into the passionless teaching. Teacher’s are paid hardly enough to survive, who have to worry about test scores and teaching students who have no desire to learn the information that they are providing. Pretty much sounds like a waste the whole way around, don’t ya think?
Then you have the “one size fits all” learning method. If your child doesn’t “like” or have no interest in a particular area, it doesn’t matter. Recently I met with my 13 year old’s art teacher due to him pretty much rebelling against Art. She said “after three years in my class, he should be coming to me asking what kinds of projects he can do on a certain artist etc.”. But he’s not, so what does that tell you? Either he’s not interested in art or you aren’t making it interesting for him. I believe the later, but whatever. He’s an active 13 year old boy who loves basketball. There is art in basketball, but will his teacher be able to find it? He gets in trouble for getting up in class. Is it really normal for an active child to not have some physical “activity” in the day? No physical education this semester (not even 20 minutes per day) because he has Art? Anyone possibly figure out where this resentment for Art is coming from?
My youngest, well…we were told that his new teacher didn’t know for the first week of school if he was deaf. Because when she would say his name, she wouldn’t get a response. He is a little disrespectful in this way, he’s a little difficult, not that social. And because of this, we get a questionnaire to fill out that would lead me to believe they are thinking he’s a sociopath or something. He’s definitely not ADD, but are they wanting to put him on medication?! Ummm, hell nah. So if your kid doesn’t follow some prototype, be f*ckin ware!
I get it, there don’t seem to be enough resources, we don’t want to admit that the way we have been doing things isn’t working and our kids and our country are suffering. My aunt concludes that only the rich get a decent education because they access to decent education or don’t have to work and can home school. But things are going to have to change. Our people and children have no less potential than the children and people of other countries, but they are not being listened to and rather are just being “told what to do”. We are sucking the life, potential and possibility out of them. By the time a child is five years old, if they have been introduced to enough things, they know innately what adds fuel to their fire. That fire is what is needed for them to grow and therefore our country. Even though we can’t predict the outcome, grade it or give it a pay scale.
