Saalik Jackson
School is stupid. There is no better way to put it. It is outright ridiculous. Now you’re probably wondering to yourself “Oh my God how could you make such a claim?”. Well pay attention. I stated that school is stupid, not education. Education is something very important in society. People must learn in order to contribute to society and function in the real world. However, although I education is necessary, some of the ways it is executed are not. It has many flaws. These flaws in the education system cause students to care less about learning and more about passing.
School and education are often two things that go together but are not the same. Education is the process of learning anything. School happens to be society’s attempt at teaching people. At times this works, but other times it proves to be ineffective.Typically students attend school the same time each day for 5 days a week attempting to learn about things they don’t care about. After a while it starts to feel forced . At the end of the day school’s like prison. No seriously take a moment to think about it. A group of people are confined to one building each day.These same people are forced to endure whatever is thrown at them. In my experience that’s what it felt like. When I was in high school some teachers did not seem to reach students. It’s not like they never wanted to connect to us,however, they could have done more.the forced schooling and condescending authority make school and prison alike. That’s what it felt like to endure the monotony that was throughout high school. School is a regime that society has begun to condone. Imagine only being able to use the restroom at the leisure of someone else. On top of that, teachers and staff take on a roll similar to that of correction officers. The students are expected to take whatever negativity or disrespect from those authority figures. That’s pretty messed up right? These qualities are what makes school so ridiculous. The most ludicrous thing about school is that curriculum is forced upon them. High school should be slightly more like college. Students should have more of a choice of what to learn while at the same time learning the basics of certain material. For example,if a student does not wish to have a career that requires the use of mathematics, then they should not have to do a lot of math in school. They should only have to learn the core and most essential part of a subject that is not prominent in their careers. Students should not have to learn prodigiously about things that do not and most likely will not pertain to them. It starts to feel forced and therefore unappealing to the students. It actually is not fair. There should be different programs for different students. These programs should serve as something that guides students in their part to a successful career in what they are interested in.
John Taylor Gatto In his article presents the idea that school isn’t as wondrous as many people may think. There are flaws in the Education system . At times teachers don’t perform to the best of their ability or do what they should. This includes reaching the students . When I say reaching the student, I mean actually trying to get them to learn. This does not mean it is entirely the teachers responsibility. There are times when students do not want to learn. However, it is up to the teacher to make them desire to learn. As teachers, they should be making their best effort to reach students.They should make an attempt to find ways that make learning a good experience for them. A way to make learning a better experience for students is to give them an incentive. The incentive serves as motivation for the students. If the students lack motivation then they will not learn. A perfect example of an incentive for students is extra credit. In addition to giving an incentive, teachers should also show students how relevant the work is outside of a classroom. Teachers should use the work to show them how they can use it in their daily life. For example, I was taught an equation that teaches people to calculate how much exercise they need to do in order to burn a desired amount of calories. Things like that should be taught in school rather than the things that can not be used outside of a class room. This was one of the only things I learned in school that I found was something meaningful. I was able to see the value in what I learned because I could understand it’s relevance in people’s lives. This just goes to show that if teachers make it clear to students how the work can be used in their lives, then the students will start to see the importance in it. Once they see the importance in the work they will most likely be more motivated.
To summarize, education is something very important in society. As people we all make erroneous assumptions and have questionable actions. It is our imperfections as humans that make it vital for us to learn. Students tend to learn most effectively when they know it is something they need. The education system at times fails to reach their students because they do not motivate them effectively. That’s why although school may be stupid, education is not.
