Our school curriculum: maybe it’s time to scrap it.
School. A place we go to learn. During elementary school and kinder-garden, I loved school. I would be excited to go and “learn”. Honestly all I did was eat, play, nap, listen to my teacher read a book and recite a couple nursery rhymes.
Either way, I loved it. Every single part of it. I got to meet my friends and school really was like my second home. But as I grew up, school lost its magic.
It was no longer about learning and being able to understand topics, it was about being a “good” student. As of now, all that is needed to be a “good” student is to be able to memorize whatever is taught in class and be obedient.
Although most students turn out alright and we’ve gotten this far with our current system, the times are changing and we it must too.
We get to school early to copy homework we didn’t understand. We stand still during assembly so bored that we’d probably prefer to watch a worm inching towards its destination.
We daydream while staring at our teachers faces, their words not even registering in our brains. Then we find excuses to leave class even for just a couple minutes.
“May I go to the bathroom?”
“I want to go wash my face please.” We’d say, trying to look as innocent as possible. “No.” Would always be the answer.
We count down the minutes left till a lesson ends, only to have another one waiting.
“How many minutes left?”
“Still fifteen.”
“You said fifteen five minutes ago!”
“You didn’t ask me!” We’d whisper-yell unaware that our teacher could hear everything but chose to let it slide.
Then we’d go home and we’d pretend to revise and study in front of your parents. The next day, the whole process would repeat.
You see, I dislike school just as much as any other young individual (as people age they seem to develop an affinity for learning). However, I know that education is an essential tool that must be available to all.
It has the power to make something good, great. It has the power to change lives, it really does.
Having said so, I believe that the execution is horrid. The system has become so twisted and warped and forces each of us to squeeze into a mould disregarding our likes and dislikes, our passions.
We must score well in exams to be accepted into good high schools and universities so that we can score well and get a good job.
Our lives and goals are pre-formatted. Study well, get good grades, get a job (preferably white collar), get married, have kids and then teach them to do the same.
As students, we are not taught how to analyze, or how to survive in the real world. There’s nothing about real life issues and problems in our textbooks or curriculums. “Everything you learn at school is applicable in real life” they say. But how?
We’ve never been taught how to hone our skills for the profession we choose or how to calculate risk and reward or loss and gain. We haven’t been taught how to speak mindfully and diplomatically or how to avoid getting scammed. We haven’t been taught how to know who to trust or how to deal with stress and take care of our mental health.
All we learn at school is how to add and subtract. How to identify the conflict and list the characters in a story. How to find force applied. How to differentiate slopes and cliffs using a topographical map. How to memorize the notes given to us.
Furthermore, in the process, we learn how to cram before tests and pull all-nighters. We learn how to hide test results from our parents. We learn how to look down when we’re being scolded. We learn how to bottle up emotions and blow up when life comes to be too much.
As for everything else? We figure it out as we grow (sometimes we don’t figure it out at all and are left to watch as our old classmates succeed in life not knowing just how they manage to do it) and I think that’s something that needs to be changed.
Hope you’ve enjoyed and see you next week.