Sometimes, I think I'm a vegetable. It's not an uncommon thing; you've likely felt it too, sitting through one of many worthless classes in high school. Putting it bluntly, teens these days are losing their futures because of standardized education; politicians look for glamorous ways to cover up the fact that children aren't learning anything via new computers, new textbooks, college-level classes. But you start realizing around your junior year that there's no way to be what you want to be in life, because high school will never take you there.
Production rates
“Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.”
—Mark Twain
The American education system is like a factory. It churns out millions of graduates per year, shuts its doors to recover, and starts the process again. But education should not be mechanical; if education is the only thing that teaches us and prepares us for the world we will eventually have to face, why is it a cookie-cutter method that fails with some and taxes others? Why is it possible to beat the system without having learned anything?
I'd like to believe that education is something sacrosanct, but it never has been; at first, it was limited to the wealthy. The wealthy grew up as intellectuals, and those who could not afford a future at all were disregarded. Eventually, it became the duty of every male to have a proper education — by those standards, rhetoric, Latin, Greek, literature, history, etc. — it has always been a status symbol. We're no different now. If someone goes to Harvard or Yale, Princeton, Oxford, or Cambridge, we think that he or she must be representative of the best of mankind.
Then again, George W. Bush went to an Ivy League college too. If that's a standard of quality, shoot me.
School districts have one responsibility — get our children (the dearest, darlingest progeny of America) out and into the world. To do that, most school districts write a list of required classes for students to take: a little physical education here, a little language here. Math, science, English — hammer it in and keep it coming! But by eliminating freedom from the course selection process, the only things deciding how well a student does in a class (assuming they're very poor in it to begin with, and wouldn't have selected it if he or she had a choice) are grades, and then the entire system goes awry.
The perplexity of numbers
At school, I seem to have a number, not a name. It reflects obedience, not skill; craftiness, not talent. People without passion or intelligence can reach the top of the grade ladder with ease. People with it are rapidly pushed behind. This is what we learn in school — dishonesty is the only way to get what everyone else wants with minimal effort. Deception is the only way to win at life. The only way we can measure true progress is through grades, and even that is being overrun by liars. You might just shrug it off, avoid the corrupt system, but to a high schooler, when the number that decides what path your life will take (via college), it's simply not something to be ignored and manipulated. People do it anyway, under the guise of "Survival of the fittest". Those of us who go the honest route, fail or pass, in classes cannot possibly compare to these all-stars who will one day be leading our business, our government, and our hospitals. I don't think you can cheat your way out of a colonoscopy, but I'm sure they would try to. The colon's a suitable organ for this example, don't you think?
Education and lack thereof
There are very few impassioned discussions in schools nowadays. I feel as though I've gotten a better education than most of my peers because I bother to listen, because I'm interested in the subject matter. I don't care about grades more than necessary. I only wish that this enthusiasm for learning — which is why we're in school to begin with — was contagious. Putting it simply, nerds have power because they care about what they're doing. Years down the road, what I learn in high school will help me out. But for most of my school, there will be no subject matter to stimulate and encourage minds. There will only be haphazard attempts to create a life that can be loved. There's a lot of unhappiness in the world right now and I wonder how much of it relates to people not being able to find their calling during their younger years, and having to settle with something terrible as they grew older.
Counselors at schools don't solve this either. They hand out information on what sorts of majors there are in college, how to pick classes you want, but never once do they let you know what sorts of classes are recommended for a certain field. Counselors in public schools are overwhelmed with little things like grades and schedules that they forget that high school is a preparation for college, and should be taken as if it is. But the people in high school are young, and don't know what to look for, and as a result, can't find it on their own. No one really gets rid of the helplessness of most teenagers, which is why high school can be horrifying as well as gratifying.
It's a shame, really, that we let centers of knowledge turn into bureaucracies and broken dreams. I hope the scholars of tomorrow have it far better than the scholars of today, who never understand the importance of hard work or appreciate learning for what it truly is — freedom.
Read 14 comments (Leave a comment?)
Mithraugion said:
I’m gonna have to agree with you on this one.
Back then, in Elementary school, I learned everything by self-teaching. There’s a reason why I was so high in the ranks for A(ccelerated) R(eader) P(rogram). But after that point came Intermediate school, after which I couldn’t find as much time to finish the assigned work AND continue to self-teach. As such, I can’t really say I’ve learned much since, as I’ve digressed into blatant laziness and lack of caring. In short, “higher education” from a “public schooling” standard has **ed me over.
I just don’t find it fair that, in order to make up for the idiots who don’t even try in school (in order to make them “pass”), we who actually try, who actually want to learn are completely tossed over just for the numbers/statistics. I mean, in my Digital Electronics class, there are five people that even try. Everyone else doesn’t pay attention, play games, don’t listen, disrespect the teacher, etc. And yet, the teacher has to slow down the pace of the curriculum just to make up for the idiots’ inability to give a damn. Because of this, the ones that are interested and are actually good at this stuff have been forced to “drop the soap.” We’re practically still in 1st semester curriculum criteria…
Posted on February 12, 2007 1:18 AM; Permalink
Daniel Nicolas said:
“centers of knowledge turn into bureaucracies and broken dreams”
So true.
Very well written, expressed, and quite honestly exactly how I feel about high school, and my time in high school.
Posted on February 12, 2007 1:26 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Mithraugion: And there’s not any room for the hard-working kids to do any learning on their own in most classes. It’s not fair that we have to wait until college to get the education we all deserve.
Danny!: Thank ya! It actually wasn’t a hard post to write (I just had to think about it); but I was being lazy >__>
Posted on February 12, 2007 4:21 PM; Permalink
Mithraugion said:
Not only that, but when we get to college, we are caught unprepared because of the sad state of education we were brought up under prior to “higher education.”
Posted on February 12, 2007 7:29 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
No wonder so many colleges have “catch-up” classes :O
Posted on February 12, 2007 9:39 PM; Permalink
Mithraugion said:
Yeah, according to a statistic I read, about 60%+ of entry level undergraduate students require remedial classes.
Sad eh?
Posted on February 12, 2007 11:13 PM; Permalink
stabani said:
a very well written post. Though, to be honest, you are lucky to be in the American system where there is a lot more open-ness in the course selection process at high-school level. The truth is, education depends entirely on the school you go to. I went to Austin HS in FBISD and taking honours level courses gave me an opportunity to “actually” learn something. Though I can agree to the fact that most schools and colleges are simply trying to get people out and into the working life. They aren’t trying to teach you anything, just teach you enough to pass and get out of their way. I’ll also be damned if a teacher actually let me get out of class if I knew something already—heck, my next degree’s first two years is going to be be sheer review of my previous life experience, but as I have no way of PROVING that I know it all already, I’m stuck with having to retake in hopes of actually learning something at the end. To be honest, I actually liked high school for what it was worth. I think my teachers really did try to make projects and assignments that weren’t complete and utter brain drains and completely useless. Then again, I do remember those teachers who didn’t do just that and how I slept throw those classes (and how whole assignments were copied by my classmates).
Posted on February 16, 2007 6:58 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
I love high school, but I want it to feel more like I’m getting an education…not a piece of paper that says “YOU LISTENED TO US FOR 4 YEARS, MAYBE YOU DIDN’T REALLY LEARN ANYTHING, I DON’T KNOW”.
Posted on February 16, 2007 6:06 PM; Permalink
Elyse said:
With NCLB, you will feel this way until your junior/senior years. Because the first two years of high school are so incredibly packed with test prep, that’s going to be your existence.
Our entire school scheduled changed beginning last year (my junior year) in order to accommodate sophomores alone. So that they could pass the WASL, leaving the rest of the school at a disadvantage.
It’s the nature of the beast that is No Child Left Behind…people who care or have the potential to care cease to try.
But once you get into upper level classes and if you take honors classes with teachers who care— you will have an extremely positive second half of high school. Sophomore year I had two classes that impacted me positively — Honors English and Physics. Last year, all but one of my classes were effective and filled with valuable learning. Why? You aren’t held to state standards. You are beholden to yourself and what you want to learn.
Honors classes are good because you get a group of people who can get close to learning by the Socratic method. Real, valuable class discussions occur.
Don’t get discouraged now, is what I’m saying.
It will get better next year— from what I gathered on your about you page, you’re still a sophomore.
The best is yet to come.
And be sure to keep the attitude that if YOU go into school (or any environment) with the attitude that you will get something out of it— you will.
Posted on February 16, 2007 9:39 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Nope, I’m a junior :)
The problem is that some people, although they’re genuinely intelligent, simply want an easy way through honors classes, or basically, any of the classes I’m in. Why would they cheat on a test they would have gotten an A on anyway? Why is their entire existence fixated on the nuances of their GPA? Those are the questions I have asked myself time and time again, and the only thing I can think of is that people will do anything to get into college and get out of high school because they don’t believe it’s worth anything. But it’s in high school that you learn how to act in college, and if they give that up, I’m dying to know what their college life will be like.
Posted on February 18, 2007 12:17 PM; Permalink
Rohit said:
You’ve taken words out of my mouth! Well the general idea atleast. Even I find it sickening that learning in it’s true sense has no real meaning anymore :(.
Posted on February 19, 2007 12:41 PM; Permalink
Elyse said:
Well, I suppose I’ve been lucky, then. And sorry about the mistake of your grade— I did the best with what I could find!
Take heart in knowing, though, that there are plenty of individuals out there like you and I who genuinely care about learning. You’ll find them in college, because you’ll look for and apply to colleges that look for and cater to that attitude.
Don’t lose hope, yet!
Posted on March 20, 2007 12:06 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Thanks a lot, Elyse! /hug :D
Posted on March 25, 2007 9:00 PM; Permalink
fran said:
i stumbled upon this on accident and wanted to commend you on your tremendous writing skills. have you ever considered writing for your local newspaper? being published at a young age can certainly be an asset when it comes time to apply for universities - assuming that you haven’t done so already. as for the semi-colons, i would refrain from over using them and only when grammatically correct.
as for the lack of education that you are receiving, or feel that you are receiving, there are definitely courses that are available that will challenge and educate you. advanced placement or international baccalaureate (IB) courses are challenging and will prepare you for college. i have taken only IB courses since the sixth grade and as a result, i will enter college as a sophomore. in addition, i have taken courses at my local college during the summer months and find them to be baby simple compared to the courses that i take during high school. in reference to one of the responses that questions the value of the gpa, i must admit that gpa is the most important aspect of your college application. this is unfortunate indeed, but a truth nonetheless. a gpa less than 4.5 will leave you applying to less prestigious universities and colleges. it is a pathetic fact that the upper-echelon of private higher education reserves it’s student population for legacy applicants and disadvantaged minorities. it is a grand understatement to say competition is stiff. i wish you all the best of luck in your future. what a wonderful group of intelligent young adults.
Posted on January 26, 2008 1:35 AM; Permalink