Zevanya
Carrie Hall
English 1101
21 February 2019
Laboratories of Experimentation on Young Minds
In today’s time, due to our advanced technology and forever growing economy, society has managed to convince some students into thinking that school might not be as necessary as we all thought. We have people making money just by eating in front of a screen and posting it on YouTube as well as people sacrificing themselves just for the sake of “views” and “good content.” Seeing people like this will bring about the question of “why then do we need education when we can do the same?”
According to Gatto, “we have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of “success” as synonymous with, or at least dependent upon, “schooling.”(2) I strongly agree that being schooled does not guarantee any form of success towards students. On the other hand, this does not serve as an excuse to throw away your chance of getting the education you deserve. Like any typical schools, I too experienced the deadly routine, “six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years.”(Gatto 2) I agree that at first I never understood why I had to go through this system, it seemed like I had to go to school just to fit in with the other Indonesian students.
As my school adopted Singapore’s education system, we also followed the Cambridge examinations curriculum. In this system, we were taught solely based on textbooks and worksheets, although, I do not entirely agree with this method of teaching as it creates a closed discussion on other possible answers and theories. Nevertheless, the school was still known to excel students in academics and human skills. We were taught advanced mathematics, chemistry, biology, and physics during the eighth grade. Later, during the ninth grade, we were split into two majors: business and science.
The reason why our school had to split the students into two majors was to give them the opportunity to focus on which majors they felt could be beneficial for their future major in college. Regardless, both majors had exams almost every three weeks and would usually be six to seven pages thick. None of our teachers made it easy. They made sure we experienced “deep learning, the kind that demands both understanding and remembering of relationships, causes, effects and implications for new or different situations.”(Leamnson 4) Thus, our exams contained only essays and short answers, by short I mean five to six lines.
As stressful as this sounds, and I have even shed some tears due to the stress, I cannot deny that my school was what helped me survive my current challenge which is college. Not only did they help students excel in academics, but they also promoted fund-raising events to help the less fortunate. We would visit orphanages and hold talent shows where the students themselves would put on small shows like singing or acting. We would also come to school earlier to make packaged meals for the kids and staff. It was also the school’s idea to chip in a few extra changes from our pocket money to donate for families living in the villages that needed assistance for giving their children a chance of receiving a proper education.
In Indonesia, numerous children around the age of five to thirteen are unable to receive an education. They had no choice but to help their parents earn money by selling water, tissues, and cigarettes. Also, you would find numerous kids on the streets in Jakarta playing the role as an unofficial parking ranger. Keep in mind that the government does not pay these kids, they receive their income from small tips from people riding cars, motorcycles or trucks. Around four years ago my mother’s company held a volunteer work trip. My mother asked around ten kids what their future goals were and every one of them replied the same, they all wanted to go to school, wear uniforms and learn something.
It broke my heart to hear that these kids only wanted something so simple but was something most of us took for granted. Gatto states that “your children should have a more meaningful life, and they can.”(5) Although I did not receive this from a public school and indeed private schools are not on the affordable side, I am living proof that going through the “deadly routine” benefited me, in a way, in the long run. I matured sooner than most people my age, learned to appreciate more for what I have than what I do not and apply what I learned in high school into college and the real world.
In conclusion, students should start thinking about education as an investment for their future. Although Gatto describes public schools as “laboratories of experimentation on young minds, drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corporate society demands.” my school was more similar to a laboratory that ran tests on students to upgrade them into a better version of themselves by putting us through infinite challenges and diverse settings related to the real world. There is a famous idiom in Indonesia that says “Bersakit-sakit dahulu bersenang-senang kemudian” which directly translates to “No pain, no gain.” As the prominent philosopher Robert Leamnson puts it, “learning is not something that just happens to you, it is something that you do to yourself.” We cannot expect the best and most fortunate outcomes if we do not put effort into achieving them.
Works Cited:
Gatto, John Taylor “Against School”
Leamnson, Robert “Learning(Your First Job)”
