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ITA! I homeschooled for different reasons, but many of my friends chose to so that their children could pursue their interests when and where they wanted to. Many of them are very creative; there is not much time or support for creativity in the public schools.
Which is fine and good...
but very few families can afford home schooling.
I also said that school served as a suppressant because that's what kids are expected to be primarily consumed by, the way adults have jobs. You can't deny that.
Sure I can, because I have NO clue what is meant by that!
Which is fine and good...
but very few families can afford home schooling.
Well, it's a lifestyle decision, to be sure... it's not the homeschooling itself that's expensive, it's having someone available to do the homeschooling (i.e. working part time, second shift, or not at all). Some families can't afford that under any circumstances, and some aren't willing to make the changes that might be necessary in their situations.
But regardless, if someone is invested in their child's education and can't afford to stay home/homeschool, then it might be necessary for them to make waves in their local school if their child isn't being served well. Or they may need to provide an outlet for a creative child who is being stifled the other 7 hours of the day, or they may need to put their foot down and say "enough is enough" when their first grader comes home with two hours of homework, or they may need to find a charter school or a scholarship to a private school that would better suit their child. Parents don't have to sit by and just go along with the status quo if they (and their kids) hate it. (Nor do they need to agree with others as to what the problems are in the school. If you're happy with your child's school and, more importantly, they're happy with how their education is going, then that's great!)
I believe that it's finally time for me to unleash the wide array of gripes I have about the educational system. Now that I have finally earned my stripes and am graduating in the next month or so; the time has finally come for me to bury the hatchet for good. I know I am not necessarily a doctor in education, although I do have some valid things to say about this topic.
First of all, school had a paradoxical effect on motivating me from a very young age. Before I entered the structured world of the educational system, I was much more intellectually curious and willing to exercise my interests on my own. The minute I was forced to succumb to the generic, cookie cutter form of education, I became very disengaged and apathetic. For example, when I was very little (4-6), I was very interested in reading anything I could about space. The planets, stars, comets, etc, all fascinated me. When I entered kindergarden and was forced to read the same monotonous material as everyone else, I immediately dissociated myself from it because it took away from my interest in space. This is just one example of many that I've experienced that justify my pessimistic perception of the education system.
Anyway this thought pattern of mine continued throughout elementary school. Rather than using school as a tool to expand my intellectual horizons, I subconsciously began to label it as a suppressant that prevented me from exploring extracurricular interests.
This is an appropriate time to present a valid counter argument. I do believe that a basic ground level of education needs to be reached (i.e basic math/literacy skills, although I was already reading on my own), however, once this ground level is reached I think it's appropriate for children to be able to deviate away from the generic system.
Anyway, the concept of the suppressing force began to increase as I aged. Obviously you are not going to do elementary level work forever and will therefore enter a new realm of strenuous monotony. This concept became particularly apparent as I made my way through eighth grade. "Mom, how are geometric functions at all pertinent to my career?" I remember moaning. The workload I began to experience was not necessarily more intellectually stimulating, just more immersed in monotony, like I said.
I think it's important to point out that once I entered high school, EVERY interest I took up, even my eventual career choice (journalism) was not brought on at all by the high school structure. Everything I took up was an individualistic pursuit of my own. I did not care to play the GPA/SAT, extracirriculars game, which I deemed as superficial. I did the bare minimum throughout high school and only got by on intelligence. I am still attending journalism school in Seattle, which I believe is due to the admissions people being more open minded and less bureautical about the process.
Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that high school is not for everyone. Some people may be able to become engaged in it, which is fine. However we cannot continue to throw everyone in the generic, cookie cutter pool of education. Is time to be more innovative and open minded about this topic. Clearly it has not worked out too well, just look at the success of reality TV! But seriously, lets think outside the box here.
Thanks for reading.
This is what's wrong with the system. ^
While I understand that all children have different ways of learning something and they have to boil everything down to accommodate all children, the teachers have no room to create their own curriculum. Policies put into place cause teachers deviating from the approved curriculum to be punished. Eventually school becomes boring and ineffective. I think the best teachers out there, at least for me, were the ones that engaged the student with fun projects or some other thing like that.
To teach about the food chain my fifth grade teacher invented a sort of game of tag. We were either predators or prey. If you were a prey animal you'd have to stay still otherwise you'd get tagged by the predator. Those that were tagged were out.
My fourth grade teacher had us do little projects for the books we've read. Not just little diorama projects but actual fun and imaginative projects. For one book I remember making a board game. For another I filmed a news report with my mom's camera.
The grades before that were great too. When we did a unit on space we pretended to be astronauts. For learning geography and about a few different places like Washington DC or Mexico, we pretended that we were flying on a plane. One child was assigned captain, another was the navigator and so on.
After Elementary school things went downhill for me. My grades slipped, I think, mostly due to apathy. There were no fun projects to do and very few fun teachers willing to give fun assignments.
My grades went back up for the most part when I got to college. Since I had choices in classes and I was doing something fun or interesting I felt like I had a better experience.
I think people have to play no matter what age they are. If they can involve play and other fun tactics in the curriculum then people will be more engaged and they might become better learners. Teachers that are a little unconventional and fun that actively engage the students should be rewarded. We should expect our education system to turn out much more than glorified bubble-fillers.
Kids are consumed by school and therefore must spend minimal time on outside interests, rather than making it the primary focus.
Well what did you expect? Things to be handed to you just because? You have to go to school, so that you can find a job and pay for your life. It's simple.
I believe that it's finally time for me to unleash the wide array of gripes I have about the educational system. Now that I have finally earned my stripes and am graduating in the next month or so; the time has finally come for me to bury the hatchet for good. I know I am not necessarily a doctor in education, although I do have some valid things to say about this topic.
First of all, school had a paradoxical effect on motivating me from a very young age. Before I entered the structured world of the educational system, I was much more intellectually curious and willing to exercise my interests on my own. The minute I was forced to succumb to the generic, cookie cutter form of education, I became very disengaged and apathetic. For example, when I was very little (4-6), I was very interested in reading anything I could about space. The planets, stars, comets, etc, all fascinated me. When I entered kindergarden and was forced to read the same monotonous material as everyone else, I immediately dissociated myself from it because it took away from my interest in space. This is just one example of many that I've experienced that justify my pessimistic perception of the education system.
Anyway this thought pattern of mine continued throughout elementary school. Rather than using school as a tool to expand my intellectual horizons, I subconsciously began to label it as a suppressant that prevented me from exploring extracurricular interests.
This is an appropriate time to present a valid counter argument. I do believe that a basic ground level of education needs to be reached (i.e basic math/literacy skills, although I was already reading on my own), however, once this ground level is reached I think it's appropriate for children to be able to deviate away from the generic system.
Anyway, the concept of the suppressing force began to increase as I aged. Obviously you are not going to do elementary level work forever and will therefore enter a new realm of strenuous monotony. This concept became particularly apparent as I made my way through eighth grade. "Mom, how are geometric functions at all pertinent to my career?" I remember moaning. The workload I began to experience was not necessarily more intellectually stimulating, just more immersed in monotony, like I said.
I think it's important to point out that once I entered high school, EVERY interest I took up, even my eventual career choice (journalism) was not brought on at all by the high school structure. Everything I took up was an individualistic pursuit of my own. I did not care to play the GPA/SAT, extracirriculars game, which I deemed as superficial. I did the bare minimum throughout high school and only got by on intelligence. I am still attending journalism school in Seattle, which I believe is due to the admissions people being more open minded and less bureautical about the process.
Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that high school is not for everyone. Some people may be able to become engaged in it, which is fine. However we cannot continue to throw everyone in the generic, cookie cutter pool of education. Is time to be more innovative and open minded about this topic. Clearly it has not worked out too well, just look at the success of reality TV! But seriously, lets think outside the box here.
Thanks for reading.
And your point? This is what serious educators have been saying for years.
Well what did you expect? Things to be handed to you just because? You have to go to school, so that you can find a job and pay for your life. It's simple.
It's this mentality that really keeps the machine going. The machine of benign, pointless, conformist drones who slob thru life thinking they've accomplished something and are productive cuz they got a degree, pay taxes, and buy stuff.
I do/did all that stuff except I don't consider it anything special. Jonas Salk could have racked up some bank by becoming a practitioner but instead took the pay cut and cured polio. Einstein was labeled as a "slow learner" and wildly anti-authoritative but managed to come up with a solid theory or two. Eddie Vedder dropped out of high school and worked at a gas station. Didn't stop him from becoming a great lyricist/poet of my generation.
That's the problem with society. We are ass backwards in recognizing, appreciating, and valuing true contributors to what is important.
I don't know your "credentials" but I got a news flash for you: it's HIGHLY likely that if either you or me (me for sure) were working with one of my examples we'd be their errand boy/girl. Getting Salk a sandwich as he tested vaccines. Sweeping Einstein's lab after one of his experiments. Carrying Vedder's guitar.
Contrary to popular belief I'm not special cuz of my two college degrees or cuz I pay taxes. I can't think of having a more meaningful life than getting Salk a sandwich. But alas, society says I need to be "special".
There are 7,000,000,000 people on this planet. I'm only 1. I sure as H%ll know I'm not special. But I went to public schools, I got my diploma, I went to college and received 3 degrees (and the debt to go with them), and I now teach public high school.
For every 1 person that didn't succeed in high school but did later on, I can point out literally thousands that did. And I'm not talking about the generic success that most most people are concerned with. I'm talking about that the success determined by the individual... the one that is content with what they've made of themselves.
Being educated, in and of itself, does not guarantee success. Rather it is a means to success for the individual. And as that success is rather unique, so is the educational experience. Where you go to school is nowhere near as important as what you do while you're there. You get out that which you put in.
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