With every passing school year, I’ve noticed that the number of complaints my peers and I have about the educational system grow and amalgamate to a size tripling that of the year before. Each successive school year brings a brand-new slew of issues and consequently, an even less manageable monster of stress and frustration. Is it that our education system is becoming progressively worse? Personally, I would argue that our education system, in spite of its many flaws, is not on the steady decline it may appear to be. Rather, it seems to be stagnating. No discernible changes are being made. Nothing that strikes a renewed sense of educational purpose into a discontented population of students. But, we haven’t undergone any abhorrent regressions in the quality of education either. So, what is the reason behind this burgeoning dissatisfaction towards the system? As students become older and their capacity for advanced cognition matures, so too does their paradigm for academia. Of course. This, naturally, seems like a barefaced reflection of the current system. As students move forward in age, they ideally move forward in regards to their intellect and work ethic. The school system consistently responds to this prototypical means of progression by making classes more difficult, increasing the workload, and demanding more in regards to critical thinking and problem solving with each subsequent grade level. It seems utterly obvious on the exterior. However, it does not correspond with the aforementioned paradigm I had in mi nd. We’re missing the mark.
At surface level, this seems to make perfect sense. So, why then, is it that the classic school environment still fails to nourish the needs of these evolving minds? It’s not to say that students don’t feel challenged and are becoming bored, because there are certainly opportunities for students to take advanced classes and rigorous course loads, surpassing that which represents the average of their grade. It’s not that the years of monotonous schooling causes most students to become indifferent, because, despite some students growing disinterested over time, a large population of students nationwide still care deeply about their education, and understand its gravity. With the escalating competitiveness among students these days, this statement reigns true and is indisputably evident, now more than ever. The real issue lies within human nature. Our fixedness. Educators and students alike are so immovably locked on what would be regarded as the “normal” and “ideal” way of learning, that contemplating a slightly divergent style can be inconceivable for some. Let alone a vastly different foundation. We are becoming complacent with stale methods of educating and we are blinded by a short sighted mindset that orients itself solely around the present.
We need to start focusing on the future. I know that the prime function of attending school is to get one ready for the future, but are our schools really, truly providing that? I don’t mean that we should start replacing core classes with excessively practical classes that teach students how to effectively scrub a kitchen floor or pay taxes. In fact, I mean the very opposite. As humans, we are heading into what many call an era of post-knowledge. Essentially, this means there are only a finite number of discoveries that can be made and a finite number of things that can be invented. From an algorithmic standpoint, there is literally only so much more we as humans can do to change the world. Since the Industrial Revolution, we have been on an exponential incline in regards to new technology, and there is a point in time where our margin for growth will taper out. However, we are not there yet, which means that the children of this generation and the next few generations to come are going to be responsible for the most highly advanced and extraordinary innovations in human history. I acknowledge that there are some crucial classes in school that are imperative for students to take, but when our existence starts to revolutionize, so too should our system of education. The leaders and visionaries of tomorrow are going to be building off of the largest and most outstanding accumulation of revelations that have and will ever occur. Unlike ever before, students have boundless resources and the world contains an unprecedented breadth of knowledge. There are no hindrances to students uncovering it.
As students get older, their paradigm for learning shifts enormously in regards to one key aspect. Instead of a concrete desire to learn what’s already out there, students have a desire to question the world around them, and the possibilities it may hold. I believe the majority of people have almost always been inclined to develop like this. Now, in an almost overdeveloped society, we can give our kids this opportunity. There is more to grapple with than ever thought possible. Students are already longing for a different means of learning. Combine that and the exciting modernity of the world clearly being ignored and/or filtered in the lenses of schools. Students are fated to feel like something is missing for them. If we want to avoid tapering out and falling into a pit of inactivity as a post-industrial society, we need to inspire our children to feed their questioning brains instead of simply repressing their thoughts to match the mental placidity so many of us feel obligated to maintain. If school systems adhere to old ways on the mere premise that “it works”, how will we ever cultivate and inspire young minds? For our world to continue thriving, we need to foster creativity and new ways of thinking like never before. Our students have a thirst for knowledge, but it’s concealed in the archaism of banal thought being forced upon them. Introducing new technologies into school is not enough. It’s time to start looking at theories instead of facts. It’s time to start debating the truth instead of accepting it. It’s time to stop reading textbooks and start finding ways to contribute to them. It’s time to stop looking at those refined conclusions and start analyzing those novel, unheard-of ideas that are still in progress. It’s time to look not at what happened, and not even what will happen, but what could happen. A final revolution is at the tip of world’s tongue, and the young minds of today need to be the ones to spit it out.
