I feel so trapped in this messed up system that we call school and “quality education”. It’s not quality if half of the people in it don’t understand or cannot comprehend why they are in a class. A curriculum is built to educate the student’s mind in a better way, but it is built with the idea student in mind.
The ideal student can learn either through reading material or by listening to lectures. They will always do their homework and understand 90% of what they are to be doing.
Soooo… that’s great. But what about the rest of the students who can’t learn like that? What if they are visual learners, or need to be in an environment other than a classroom to learn? What if there are kids who just can’t do their homework because they have obstacles in their life that they are currently dealing with.
Well, these students are just tossed into the pile and told “Just bear with it.”
How fair is that? Just because they are the minority, they are essentially told “You can go fail a class and we will not give a shit because this is the system and you will follow it.”
To the system, it is seen as “survival of the fittest.”
I completely agree. That’s why I like to incorporate different learning styles when I teach my grades 5 and 8. People learn best by doing, not by being passive. It’s unfortunately that the higher we go up the education ladder, the tougher the subject is, but the less teachers do to help their students learn. The onus of learning should be shared among the community, educators and the students. If the student doesn’t get it, all 3 parties should collaborate to help the student through.
Chin up, though! Schools and the education system are different. Yes, schools are part of the education system, but it is really the teachers who decide who a lesson goes, NOT the system. The curriculum only provides the end goal: what students should achieve by the end of a certain learning session. It provides the destination. It is up to the teacher to map out the route to get to that destination.
I’m sorry that you have come across teachers who don’t engage their students. Most of us have been there, myself included. Sometimes I wish professors were divided into research faculty and teaching faculty.
Well, at my high school, it is the department of the teachers along with a member of the board who sit and plan how they are going to teach certain things. So, that is why I called it a system. Sorry for the mix up!
Oh, no prob! Hope you get to enjoy some good learning experiences soon.
School sucks for all kinds of reasons, including teachers, curriculum planners, systems and administration. It also does an amazing job of persuading people that school is a good map for life itself. If that were really the case life would suck as well. It doesn’t! Get over that learning style hang up as quick as you can- the scientific evidence is not at all conclusive about it- and think about what you want from life, not school!
I agree that for many people, school helps to act as a guide for their life.. I’m just stating that for those people who do not understand the whole process, and feel incompetent (which they aren’t, they just need to learn through a different technique), this is how they feel towards school and the things they are learning.
You’re right!