I have never ever enjoyed school. I have always struggled both academically and socially. I struggle with taking standardized tests, I struggle to understand anything beyond basic math concepts and I am never placed in classes for subjects that peak my interest. I either excel high above grade level or perform very poorly below grade level. I have always felt extremely dissatisfied with my experience being a student in the public school system.
I recently stumbled upon a Youtube video titled “I JUST SUED THE SCHOOL SYSTEM.” This video affirmed my feelings about the current state of education. In the video, Richard Williams, better known by his stage name Prince Ea, expresses his distaste for the current state of education by comparing the progression of technology and the classroom setting in the past century by saying, “here’s a car from today, and here’s a car from 150 years ago. Big difference, right? Well, get this… Here’s a classroom of today and here’s a class we used 150 years ago. Now ain’t that a shame? In literally more than a century, nothing has changed. Yet you claim to prepare students for the future? But with evidence like that I must ask, Do you prepare students for the future or the past? I did a background check on you and let the records show that you were made to train people to work in factories.”
Williams goes on to say, “which explains why you put students in straight rows, nice and neat. Tell em’ sit still. Raise your hand if you wanna speak. Give em’ a short break to eat and for 8 hours a day tell em’ what to think. Oh, and make them compete to get an A. A letter which determines product quality. Hence grade A of meat. The world has progressed, and now we need people who think creatively, innovatively, critically, independently with an ability to connect.”
This is a topic has constantly weighed heavy on my mind. Society has changed; school systems and education have not. Society cannot progress if education has not.
We need to reform our society with an education that is suited for the twenty-first-century millennial. This will provide a brighter future for students and will accurately prepare them for life after grade school and college. This how we can better progress society.
We need to create a curriculum that children does not fill children with feelings of fear or resentment and only requires them to memorize information from pages of textbooks. In this day in age of technology, we have access to resources and information that could positively affect education. Our world has changed and the education children are receiving must properly prepare them. We still need the basic core subjects such as English, math, social studies, and science – however, tech core subjects in fun and exciting ways and incorporate funded programs for the performing arts or alternative learning in all schools. We need to create a new method of education that helps children look forward to school each day. We need environments where children are taught to be outspoken about their own learning style and feel encouraged to be artistic and creative.
I believe the Common Core National Educational Standards are what damage children in the long run. Every child learns in different ways. A curriculum that does away with exams and grades and a curriculum focused on individualism self-expression is desperately needed. A curriculum that allows for children to learn at their own pace and does not single them out the way that special ed classes do. I feel that problem-solving skills and home economic classes should all be offered for K-12 grade students so that they are prepared for that lays ahead to that and become productive citizens. Start preparing children for the real world, if you’re going to continuously talk about it.
Instead of creating standardized skills, we should be helping create and develop the skills of individuals. The goal should be to help individuals think for themselves and acquire real-world skills at the same time. We must help everyone flourish, hone their own skills and embrace their differences. If these practices are implemented, I believe that we will be on our way to better society. The future of society depends on how we learn.
