Is Our Education System Teaching Us Anything of Real Value?
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I chanced upon the following video ripping into the education system.
Its just six minutes long so it won't take up much of your time.
I must admit that it did open old wounds for me...
...and I feel that I must comment upon the salient points made.
You should perhaps be warned that I may be a little biased in my words.
That which follows is my commentary on this video by Next School.
Industrial Age Values
The parallel drawn between the mass education system and the qualities deemed desirable for factories stings in its truth.
I remember the bells and being lined up with other students in neat lines and collectively made to recite anthems and the like.
Furthermore there was a nationalistic slant to things - an element skirted by the video - but worth mentioning if not delving too deeply into at this stage. The short of it is that it makes logical sense when the author of the video claims that the education system was designed to merely prepare human beings for the toils of mundane factory work ("mass production and mass control").
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Just follow the instructions and you're fine.
You know what can also follow instructions?
Thats right! Robots and computers.
They can follow instructions far more precisely and without complaint.
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Which means that the education system must change track as otherwise it'd simply be perpetuating the obsoletion of the poor kids whose futures are entrusted to their care.
Lack of Autonomy
The notion that students within the school system are given very little autonomy or control hits very close to home.
While there are a few things to be said here, such would overlap things to be said about other aspects. Yes the system was quite unmotivating.
The one thing that I would like to point out here is that the metaphorical trucking of students within a cage of their curriculum by the system looks very familiar to me. I myself like to refer to the education system as being a rollercoaster.
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Students are there for the ride.
Inauthentic Learning
This is a whale... and not of the Steemit kind.
If one were to accept the message delivered within this section alone then it would blow a huge hole wide open within the validity of the education system that we have been coerced to accept (heck - in some nations its considered a crime to provide one's children an education that doesn't involve submission to the potential-curbing, control-enhancing drivel that the state would have them endure).
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What is the point of delivering satisfactory test results when a significant portion of the semi-irrelevant information that had been crammed into our poor minds against our wills (really now - ask any child if they 'want' to study that next chapter of non-important-stuff-made-important-by-archaic-grading-practices - along with all the rest) would be destined to fade over days, weeks, and months?
While we're at it - what is the point of robbing children of the majority of their childhoods so that they may recite the precise day that the Normandy landing occured in WWII?
Think about it for a moment. Once upon a time a child had a pretty simple but authentic childhood skimming knees in the dirt with friends and not doing particularly well at school. Then, when they were well advanced in their teenage years they took on adult responsibilities and either went in for their first jobs or started to treat their education more seriously. With a few sparse qualifications and a school-leaving certificate they found an entry-level job and worked their way up.
These days? Kids find that they are no longer kids by the time they finish their mandatory education - and often find themselves graduating in their early-to-mid-20s... where a huge chunk of their lives is thus already forfeit for a lot of great memories... of... pouring over books... and playing video games because they need a quick fix and haven't many authentic friends to hang out with. And then they find difficulty finding work because they are either outclassed by others with equally useless certifications - or lack experience or... are overqualified.
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No Room For Passion
Zinger after zinger. Here comes another one!
The author pretty much states that the education system does not seem to care about the unique passions of its many students.
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It is standardized... a uniform, standard delivery of 'stuff' (that it labels lessons) for all - in pretty much the same way.
The education system itself is increasingly acknowledging of this - and this is why recent decades have seen the rise of "Teaching Assistants" and, more tellingly, "Learning Support Assistants".
Yes, I know that the latter is intended for persons who suffer from "learning disabilities". Yes, I know that I used quotation marks there. And I failed to find a truly fitting image. Lets just say that the blindfold is a metaphor for the irrelevancy of the challenges posed such that there 'needs' to be assistance so that the student doesn't end up completely lost... because... sure... its him or her who is at fault and not the education system...
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The system would have us believe that a significant portion of the classroom suffers from a "learning disability". This conveniently skirts around the real issues - those of subjecting a broad demographic set of human subjects with a single form and method of teaching the same set of information.
Lets try a social experiment. Lets set up a single set menu with very 'few' choices for an entire town for an entire week and see how many people like it. Yes, ensuring that the menu is very diverse - just as the subjects that students are expected to invariably excel in are.
I've jumped the gun here - so lets move on to the next problem.
How We Learn
Students of very different personalities and ambitions are simply expected to excel with the same standardized set-menu education curriculum, the same standardized set-menu education resources - and the same time-frame.
The author of the video (or it might simply be the narrator - 'shrugs') laments that students could learn far better had they been attributed a different kind of resource - or simply more time.
And, you know what? He is right. I know how it feels to underperform in examinations where I would do very well in a portion of the paper but would simply run out of time before I could finish it all. An examination a fair portion of the relevant information for which I would forget in the coming days - and thus undermining the validity of the result.
Lets be a little honest with ourselves. If you were to ask yourself if you could pass those exams that you took more than two years ago - would you pass even half of them? Yes - some of you could - but now try answering that again following five years.
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Nah... I'll just hold on to these dry squishy certificates until the education system gets redesigned from the ground up...
Lecturing
OK. Great.
A lecture spanning 45 minutes has been delivered to a room with 50 students.
Yay...
The mode of delivery is not optimal. Not everybody will be at the same level of understanding. Some will be ahead. Some will be behind. This is stated in the video.
What is not stated is that one reason why lecturing is "fundamentally dehumanizing" is due to the sheer density of the information being presented to students with little regard to their state of mental or physical health or enngagement, let alone their ability to follow.
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While I admit that I was quite "triggered" by the video - I had been looking for an opportunity to demonstrate a correct way to utilize youtube videos upon Steemit.
Always be clear that the video is not your own and always add your own additive commentary or similar to justify your post. Like many others, it annoys me to see people posting others' videos with scantily any indication as to whether its theirs or not - or even some text that dispells any notion of piggybacking off of the work of the author of that video.
If you 'must' share something of the sort without additional commentary - then I think that declining payment on post is a sufficient measure (but always be clear that the video is not yours).
This is also meant to spark a discussion.
Do you feel yourself to be in agreement with the message of the video (or my commentary)? Did you have personal experiences that you wished to share? If so then do comment below.
Does there remain hope... or...?
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Also if you found this post interesting and would like to share this with your friends then a resteem couldn't hurt.
If you 'didn't' like this then feel free to share your views in comments. A civil conversation can go a long way.
Sincerely,
Previous Post: The Power of Purpose
Hi, upvoted and resteemed by the Minnows Accelerator Project.
Any minnow quality content creator can signup.
You may already know, but John Taylor Gatto and Charlotte Iserbyt write a lot about these same issues.
Thank you kindly for the upvote and resteem @accelerator. :c)
Do these persons whom you mention happen to have a Steemit presence? :c)
Even if not so, it sounds like they are worth looking up!
Thanks again! ^_^
This was deep and touched on a lot of issues that I have seen and have had trouble expressing. We are working on sustainable development, focused specifically in a small rural town in Colombia.
We see all the similar educational problems here. Children are forced off of farms, for fear they might be forced to 'work' and actually learn something useful, and often walk for hours to be at the whim of a single 'professor' who may not even have an associates degree.
I see lots of smaller solutions, but we are still looking for a way to put it all together. We do tree planting and other 'meet-ups' with high school students, recycle-art made from salvaged trash, and work on putting up signs with educational and didactic messages, such as 'Don't litter' and labelling of local flora and fauna species.
But we need to work with the family if the next generation is going to have a chance. Education worldwide should be immediately retooled to support entrepreneurism and the essential skills needed to tackle real world problems and apply solutions.
Great post, now following. :)
This is truly outstanding.
Thank you kindly for both the upvote and your very interesting comment @ecoinstant. :c)
This made all the more interesting by placing the issue in the context of your rural Columbia town project.
There exist a variety of important skillsets that students are simply not taught. Entrepreneurship is indeed one of them (and is perhaps why I remain a "non-start") - as is Critical Thinking.
More troubling than either of these omissions however is 'Social Ethics' - or simply 'Ethics'. Fear-based substitutes are what keep many people in line - and it is why a fair number of people cannot be relied upon - they never got the right message during their up-bringing.
I completely agree that involvement of the family shall be paramount for the success of the true education of future generations - and I also feel that your extracurricular activities are very positive. Students should at least have the choice to remain in-touch with their community and environment.
Thank you again. ^_^
Great post. My thoughts almost exactly. I sure don't want to put my kids in any school like I went to. What a waste of time and resources. Following you for more interesting and relevant content. Also resteemed to give you more exposure.
Thank you kindly, @n1kofi, for the upvote, resteem and your encouraging comment. :c)
Yes, I very much agree. It is a waste of time and resources - and most tragically of all is a waste of peoples' childhoods - that they'll never get back in this life.
And all so that their brains might become too burdened in trivia so as to do some real thinking for themselves - to the benefit of the exploitative and elitist few.
Thank you also for the follow. May you find my future content of equal or greater interest. ^_^
Very high quality and in depth analysis of our current school system. The worst part is the laws against homeschooling. They want to take all of our kids and indoctrinate them
Thank you kindly for the comment @jeffjagoe. :c)
Yes, the laws against homeschooling can be quite atrocious. Sweden is one nation that stands out as being particularly antagonistic in this regard in my view.
The fate of our childrens' quality of learning tomorrow shall depend largely upon what is done today to secure the freedom of their minds.
Thank you again for stopping by.
this is a really good post. i think there are a lot of problems with education, and this just skims the surface. test scores, lack if diverse curriculum, lack of money. at this point kids would do better homeschooling, or going to a free thought/independent school where kids control what they learn.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/10/what-happens-when-students-control-their-own-education/381828/
the one thing that should be in schools from an early age and is not is critical thinking, reading and writing. instead we were drilled with history (but only US, and only the good parts, not the parts Howard Zinn writes of in
'A People's History of the US'
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html
We are turning out a country of illiterate, misinformed, flag waving conformists that have been sold the American Dream they can no longer afford. The average worker and his wife can barely afford to buy a house without going into deep debt, making them virtual slaves to our economic system. and beyond all that, school is more about fitting in and peer pressure than learning. Its a vast and endless subject, and well worth exploring more.
Thank you @torico not only for the upvote and resteem but also for the very thoughtful comment. :c) This is precisely the level of commentary that I hoped to inspire - the kind that serves to further mull and further inform.
From your comment (and your profile location) I surmise that all parts of your perspective are US-centric in talking about this topic.
Yes, the US situation in general does seem to be pretty appaling from what I've heard. There are good educational institutions but theyare far more costly - and within that context the main alternative that delivers a half-decent education is indeed homeschooling.
The US situation adds insult to injury. Never mind the average worker and her husband barely being able to afford to buy some kind of residence without being saddled with crippling debt - the same is true for students wishing to finish with anything more than mandatory education within the public school system.
Further insult comes in the form of a clear disparity in priorities.
As per federal-budget.insidegov.com the national spending within the US for 2017 compares as follows:
Without saying anything more about it I am sure that somebody will be able to spot at least one problem with these figures.
And yes - history is a weapon... which is why governments insist upon feeding it to impressionable kids with limited capacity to question their elders.
Thank you again for the great comment @torico. :c)
my pleasure. i saw two posts on education tonight and yours was by far the better of the two, but will probably wind up with the lesser amount of attention. i try to vote for what matters.
Thank you @torico.
I consider that to be very heartening overall. ^_^
As for having the lesser attention - eh well I probably have a much smaller following than the author of the other article. :c) Hopefully with time and effort my follower numbers shall improve. ^_^
Thanks again!
@pathforger,
So far, we're still learning and trying to find a better way to educate the next generation. We learnt from the previous generation that the system used doesn't accommodate different kind of learners. Overtime, Education these days are far more encouraging the students to learn based on their interest and capability. However, there are still some aspect from the previous educations that remain, which is grading system.
Grading system still plays a really crucial role in student's life. once we fail to meet the minimum standard given, we'll be seen as a failure not only by our teacher but also our friends and family.
In my country, grade still determines our job application.They set certain standard and if we doesn't meet the requirements, we couldn't apply for the job we wanted just because we fail one class.
I'd like to tell a bit of my experience, I've learnt even in my college, one doesn't have to be smart to finish the college with good grades. Just simply obey the rules ( including attending class regularly) and memorize the lecture given. My major requires critical thinking but most of my lecturer doesn't encourage the student to do so. for example : Poetry is all black and white to them, there's no gray part and only definite interpretation. If we ever try to interpret it in our thoughts,, expect to fail instantly.Also, for art majors, question in exam shouldn't have a definite answer. I think as long as we interpret with common sense backed with strong evidence and reasoning, it's acceptable.
Those things mentioned above are simply the surface of problem from education system. Each of them bring a lesson and impact to someone's life. We either realize that school taught us nothing or school taught us important lesson on how to educate the future generation better.
Great post! I wanted to write more but I don't want to create some sort of an article within an article
Cheers!
Thank you @macchiata, not only for the upvote and resteem but also for the very valid comment ripe with food for thought. :c)
Yes, the education system has been makine some adjustments - but the core of the system has mostly remained the same. The innovations also greater effect later stages of the education process (although technology may have been introduced earlier as a teaching assist).
Exam grading also plays a significant part here. A lot of employers like to look over them as of they are an accurate measure of how qualified a student is. Other employers take them with a big pinch of salt however, having learnt enough that a certification on paper does not necessarily equate to competence, let alone proficiency (again due to the obvious limitations of the testing system).
Your experience with poetry does send me back - although upon the fundamental level it was usually more about reproducing the texts from memory and rattling off related trivia than getting into interpretation. It was merely another silly mandatory aspect of "fundamental" learning in a language.
Whether an exam paper is going to be penalized for thinking for oneself largely depends upon the inclinations and mood of the examiner in question - an opaque process upon which the futures of countless students have been made and broken.
Yes it would be premature to suggest that these problems constitute the lion's share of whats wrong with education (the administrative aspect treated largely with kid gloves) - but it is a start.
There is nothing wrong with writing articles within articles - but I do feel that such is a great opportunity to post actual article posts for yourself as spin-off from this or other articles. :cP Its an excellent opportunity to introduce a new angle.
Thank you again for taking the time to comment! ^_^