Where I find the importance in school is astounding to me. I haven't decided what I will do in life, but I absolutely guarantee that after a month and a half of trig, I will never do anything that has a sparkle of trigonometry in it. What's the importance in describing the syntax, tone and diction of a writer when you know the difference between a good literary work and a bad one. School in America is built so that even the most novice of students can flourish and the greatest thinkers will vanished or be smothered in useless knowledge and work relative to their field of genius. Stress amounts for those who understand that the labeling of a fish's pectoral fin six or seven times gets a little annoying. Especially when your certain that it doesn't matter in the big picture of its use by the fish.
 |
| http://www.aquariumfishwonders.com/images/fishfin.jpg |
Schooling should not be a liberal dosing of medicine to cure all curiosities because this cure is a poison to those who have the ambition to know only the things of a specific field. When a student has interest in a subject, he should focus his time on that subject until there is no curiosity. When one finds a subject or work that doesn't diminish his curiosity, one knows that he has found what he wishes to do with life.
This is an age where people are not looked upon as individuals but as a helpless horde in need of teaching in every subject from what a rock is to what is right. As is, only the rich can afford to make education an art dedicated to individualism. A tutor, a master or a mentor is what is needed as a way of finding your purpose, but those professions are either reserved for those who have money or those in the past. On top of this schooling is made out to be a means of making money and not enjoying life.
 |
| http://www.blogcdn.com/green.autoblog.com/media/2008/01/cellulosic-briefing-office.jpg |
With all the wrongs of schooling in the modern era, the one sole right is the social development of the youth. A person who is locked away for 13 to 23 years can not be expected to not come out unscathed if completely isolated from people their age. That's why the friends and aquatints you meet in school are important. If you don't learn the social skills of people in the world and the community, you're kind stuck in a position where you can't function as well. You can clearly see this in home-schooled children who might be on faster track of education because they don't have to wait for their peers to understand a topic they already clearly understand, but they are socially backwards because their time alone just learning has made them awkward to people who wouldn't normally care about the difference between a polar bear and grisly bear.
What education needs is a compromise. At young ages students should be divided into groups of other students who have similar interests and than put into teams of five to ten. Every half year, they should be re-evaluated and put into new circles to form new bonds and interests but still be able to keep friends from previous groups by their own decisions. There would need to be a change in the style of school to. The agrarian type of schools in America waste precious time in the summer months and give no breaks in long days. A two hour break should split up the day and the students should experience what jobs might interest them, either by request or by the group's interests.
All in all education is important and as people everywhere search for a perfect model, we must make due with the time and materials we've got.
-The Observer
