About Ways of Improving our Education System in its Entirety

“Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It’s about widening your knowledge and absorbing the truth about life.” by Shakuntala Devi. Our education system places a lot of emphasis on the simple tests in class to test our knowledge, on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT. We are being programmed to simply learn for testing, not to gain actual knowledge or prepare us for “real world” situations. When we were children – imaginary friends, play dates, arts, and playing outside was our daily routine. Somewhere between being a child and a teenager, our imagination dies down; the arts and the imaginary friends go away.

We all get trampled into the same eight to two routine. As a student myself, I picture my life as a machine which works at school and then does the same thing after coming home; a never-ending process. The education system in place right now does not make us future ready, it is only preparing us for a race against other students for higher grades. Creativity is no longer only seen in artists and musicians, it is seen to fuel innovative and original ideas to help make the world a better place. Creativity’s by products are the innovations of technology, electricity, health care, etc. which have increased the standard of living and provided people with multiple opportunities to…….

While grades should play a role in public schooling, the critical issues associated with grades are not just educational matters. The whole foundation of grades put a lot of stress on success and achievement. As stated by Seattle Times (source 5) “54,000 jobs projected to require some form of post-secondary education by 2024.” The article goes onto talk about the vast majority of credentials needed in the future to get jobs at companies like Microsoft, Google, etc. Interest has been diverted more towards grades in the transcripts rather than the self-development of the student itself. At STEM schools, the competitive atmosphere of continuously performing well puts unjustified pressure on the students to do well. Those who can’t perform well are likely to get develop habits such as academic dishonesty.

In this way, students often lose sight of the purpose of school and learning, just solely focusing on the reward of grades. School is seen as a simple process of memorizing content the night before the test, not actually mastering the concept. The argument to promote changes in our educational system is depicted by Source 4 in an exaggerated manner, but the goal is to show that schools are often to blame for the students turning out to be undisciplined and not being able to survive in the real world. Therefore, this leads to the conclusion that no student should be pressurized into performing at the top level rather at their own level.

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun” by Mary Lou Cook. As kids, if a teacher asks a question, without thinking whether they are right or wrong, they would give an answer. However, as students join the education system, particularly as they start advancing in their classes, the confidence in answering or asking questions starts diminishing. Instead of seeing mistakes as opportunities to learn new things and improve, mistakes tend to be viewed as a flaw in the student as not being smart. Robinson (Source 2) mentions, “We stigmatize mistakes. And we’re now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst things you can make.” As a student I can confirm to this idea because I also think twice before answering a question or asking one in front of the class. If no one is prepared to take risks and fail, we will never come up with anything original and creative. As the world is changing rapidly in transformational ways, creativity is as important as education for new innovations and entrepreneurial developments.

Creativity does not usually flourish in schools, but even when students who think outside of the box are penalized for it because it is not followed according to set instructions given in class. Schools tell us to write, talk, act and respond in only one particular way. In an event where the student fails to follow the protocol of the rubric or curriculum they are punished by scoring less for thinking out of the box or creatively. Instead they resort to working hard in class to receiving good grades in class. When one gets to college, self – learning increases and instructions are not there to guide them, they often have no idea how to develop a solution when the professor assigns them with a task. Inside your brain, you start developing thoughts that are swirling around confused, and finding an idea is extremely difficult. After a while, you are sick at starting onto a blank screen and start to panic. Often, you resolve into turning in a project which is not your complete capabilities. Creativity refers to ability of students to come up ideas that provide a simpler solution and a deeper understanding of the concept instead of always thinking of it in an analytic way. Our education system makes students like robots, only to follow certain instructions with no abilities of its own.

Almost 12 years of being a student in the school system. However, as I grew up, I’ve noticed that the light bulb in my head is slowly going dim. The current education system fails to build characteristics in students such as passion, confidence, emotion and verbal expressiveness needed to conquer real-life situations. This is troubling for many reasons, one of the most significant reasons being the economic consequences for the future of our world. Creative people tend to be the most successful in life because their passion for knowledge is what drives them, not grades. Steve jobs was a wonderful example of this idea, he is an innovator who has achieved much in life by taking risks, making mistakes and learning from them. His products today have changed entire industries, like music and mobile communications. Although, schools do allow you to make connections with people, teaching to an important skill of team work they often do so in a very restrictive manner. Schools need to start developing and understanding the impact of academic excellence and authority on students. The goal in the future should be to implement new strategies for the good of students and the community as a whole.

Learning is not born out of grades and tests, but out of the understanding and determination to actually understand the information. Learning is to apply what you learned into real life situations, to help the a better place. 

Did you like this example?

4822

308