The American Education System has lost sight of what is truly important. The emphasis in school is on getting straight A's and making the honor roll, or in the case of college, making the Dean's list. 10 years after school is over, what does an A in Chemistry have to do with real life?
One of the questions that I heard most often in high school was in math class. The big and overarching question asked again and again and again was, "How am I going to use this in real life?" If you asked me at any point in time right now to repeat the quadratic equation, I could do it in an instant and without even blinking. If you asked me about biology, all I would be able to regurgitate is that the "mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell." Nothing else stuck.
What I do know is the basics of most of these subjects, I know the most fundamental principles and values. But the higher meaning, the connection of it all is just lost on me. There is no higher synthesis. There is no meaning to anything that I learned.
The system is focused on us knowing enough in order to be able to regurgitate information onto a test that they will then judge me on. My entire future will lie in the hands of tests, quizzes, and group projects. No one is encouraging a higher understanding of the information being presented. High school loves to gear teenagers straight to universities. They help you with the application process, they help you write the essay that makes you into the most qualified candidate, and they tell you over and over again that extracurricular activities make an academic resume look good.
Just now in the news, there is an ongoing lawsuit against Harvard University by Asian American students, who chose to remain unnamed. They feel as if they were unfairly discriminated against, and because of their race, were denied admission to this university even though they were more qualified than other students. Harvard is being accused of having set a "restrictive quota" on how many Asian Americans can attend in each admitted class. It is said that they hold Asian American students to a higher standard than to those of other races. But why is that?
I just want to ask you one question: When did education become about letter grades and less about building an actual love of learning in our students?
The passion for learning has died in so many because they were taught to make the grade, rather than take pride in what they were learning. School has now become a competition. The need to be class valedictorian or in the top 5 or 10 percent of your graduating class adds another pressure to an already tense courseload. No one loves to learn anymore. Ask any student in high school, college or beyond what the most important thing about school is, and I would be willing to bet that not one of them would say, "understanding the material."
No one loves to learn anymore. That has died down through the years, and bright and hopeful teachers can try and try to reignite the passion in their students, but by the time they get them in high school, it is usually already too late. As a society, we need to do better in order to be better.
