Students dread the idea of learning because learning is associated with education and education is associated with school. But since when did school stop being a privilege. Women and men would both fight for their right to be educated. Dictators would not allow their people to become educated so they would be seen as inferior. Education used to be a prerogative not a trepidation. Our system is failing us, not our children. It is not a teacher or administration problem either, but the idea of school in general.
The system our children are placed in was designed in a different era. We are trying to do what we did in the past to miraculously change the future when it's realistically impossible. Times have changed. Kid’s who don't see purpose in school are being alienated. The problem is, they have reason to believe there is no purpose in school. A job used to be guaranteed if you went to school, went to college, and worked hard, but now it’s not. We see kids who dread school as ungrateful because there are some kids who don’t ever have the opportunity to attend school and get an education. But children are being forced to learn subjects that aren't compatible with who they are. They are being forced to sit in a classroom that is slowly killing their individuality and not giving a guarantee of well, anything except pythagorean theorem.
This system is built on the idea that there are either smart kids or not smart kids, which is no longer the case. We survive in a structure that has crushed originality and actually frowns upon divergent thinking. There is a study that shows kindergarten children score a 98% in divergent thinking; in other words genius level. For those who don't know what divergent thinking is it is the way a person thinks of solutions to a question or problem. To a divergent thinker there are many answers to problems not just one or two. But by the time these same children were retested five years later they scored a 50 percent. It also is kind of a weird coincidence that the ADHD rates seem to have dramatically risen at the same there was a rise in standardized testing.
All children learn differently and should be taught in an individualized institution. Albert Einstein once said, “If you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” We need to stop hammering kids to “do better and be better” when they were never meant to succeed in the subject they are attempting to learn. It is not fair to belittle a child by pushing to learn a subject they were never intended to succeed in, not because they are stupid, but because it is not what they are meant to do.
Teachers have one of the most impactful jobs in the world but are very underpaid and under appreciated. It is not fair that these people who are partially raising our children are getting paid less than a plumber. In my experiences teachers have had some of the largest impacts on who I am today. My art teacher inspired my difference and my history teacher encouraged my knowledge. Without these people to push me forward I wouldn't be where or who I am. They have dealt with countless disrespectful students and still keep positive for those in need. They are everyday heroes that are lacking their proper esteem. I left high school not knowing how to do taxes, balance a checkbook, or take out a loan not because of my teachers but because these were not standards that were suppose to be taught.
To the students that have pushed through a system that has made them feel idiotic or hopeless my regards are with you. The real world is not a representation of the life you lead inside those walls. And to the teachers thank you for all you do. Education is an extremely important and crucial understanding, but school isn't necessarily the only way to educate. Picasso was educated in art, and Michael Jackson educated in music. Keep an open mind those who seem belligerent to learning because they may just not be meant to know the periodic table or write a 10-page theosis. God Bless.
