Eduation Has Failed

It is arguable that a young human being is incapable of learning without being forced to do so, but this theory goes against the very essence of human nature itself. The drive to learn, to excel, to lead; these are all engraved into our hearts. Simply put a goal in front of a person, and that person will strive for it. The current system of education does not recognize this at all; it puts no faith in willpower, desire, or strength. In essence it does nothing. The apathetic institutions of our day serve no purpose but to go through the motions of basic knowledge, demeaning the student, insulting the teacher, and acting as an enormous waste of human life.

It is often believed that a person cannot learn unless threatened with some ridiculous punishment for not doing so: “Do this assignment, or you will fail and die in a pile of mud on the street.” But why should that be necessary? Too often, the student is not taught a subject, but taught within a subject. It is tossed like a rotten piece of meat, to be cut into thin slices and thrown back. Meanwhile, those who think beyond it are forced back into the meaner train of thought, making the classroom into a cookie cutter experience.

While the school system does offer up knowledge, how it is taught is completely wrong. The error is in that it does not cater to the individual. Hundreds of students are taught the same thing, in the same way, and at the same timesurely this can’t be right. No two people have the same mind, so why should an entire age group of these individuals be going through the exact same processes? Not only going through them, but being forced to go through them under threat of punishment. It must soon be realized that education is not an assembly line – you cannot input standard knowledge like a Model T.

Unfortunately, the system remains, and it is a preoccupation with fitting the mold that holds a school together. The high school experience is one more of discipline than of learning; a strict obsession with following rules that makes education an offhand sideshow. The teacher will cater to the middle 10%, or 5%, leaving those individuals that are behind to catch up, and those ahead to drearily absorb the color of the walls. This is the cause of most disciplinary punishments: dismay at being behind, or boredom at being ahead. Administrators and teachers will go to great lengths to allay the problems these individuals may cause - they don’t fit the dimensions of a precise demographic, and so they must be punished.

In the future, learning will be done on a much more individual basis. One-on-one tutors, or even situations with computers that can adapt to infinite combinations of personalities and mindsets, will be much more common. Students will learn at their own pace, be it faster or slower, and the idea of one size fits all will be abolished. Learning should be encouraged – educators and pupils should be preoccupied with individual achievement, advancement in knowledge and thought, rather than how one student compares to the next. A goal is only a limit; there should only be progression for every human being.