Sunday, March 28, 2010

Public Education

The manner in which public education, which in my mind defines school grades K through 12, is administered in the United States is a highly controversial issue. There are people who wish to reform it like President Obama, others who only wish to keep it exactly how it is.
The truth is, either way; I don’t really care what they decide to do with it. In my opinion, public education is entirely obsolete and bears no importance or significance later on in life. What I mean by this is, the stuff I’m learning today in high school (perhaps about 80% of it), I will never have to know as an adult. This is ultimately the downfall of all types of public education. It’s structured, boring, repetitive, and annoying and let’s be honest, no one likes it at all. In fact if you do like it, then there is probably something wrong with you.
Well now you may be asking if public education is so completely meaningless then why do we have it in the first place? The main reason is that society resists change. This is a fact that has been demonstrated throughout human history. This is the reason why for example, religion ( A.K.A myths from the Bronze Age) is still upheld in our society even though much of its doctrine flies contrary to common sense and has been disproved time and time again by renowned scientists across the world. Likewise, public education has existed in the United States since its very inception. And because it has existed for so long, no one in society questions why it’s even there, or whether its even beneficial to society anymore (much like religion). There are of course, some people out there who wish to “reform” it but let’s be serious –all they really want to do is eliminate our half-days and add more full days to the school year. That’s not change...that’s just some overpaid dim-wit out their wondering what to do with their free time. To be perfectly honest with you though, the only reason I’m even in school is because its mandatory and because I need a diploma to get into college. And im not crazy because this is not just my view but the view of many other people like me. Personally, I view public education as a time barrier between me and a college a degree and perhaps an overall successful career.
Seriously though, this may seem really radical (and it is) but in my opinion public education should be done away with entirely or at least shortened. This is the way I think it should be structured.
For one, why on Earth do we have to start school when we are four.. We don’t even really learn anything (besides our colors) and instead of being allowed to roam free and enjoy our childhood, we have to be trapped in a building for seven hours straight. Instead, kids should just be allowed to do whatever they want and enjoy their childhood until about the age of 7. Then they can be placed in a primary school of sorts which would last approximately 5 years or so. Here kids would learn what they really NEED to learn in order to become functional or semi-functional members of society. From there, students could choose to receive a real education by pursuing some sort of career field in college (or just flip burgers at BK). This would shorten up the whole system and allow people to become fully functional adults much sooner.

2 comments:

  1. I find it somewhat comical that every journal you have ever written criticizes some aspect of society, and generally I tend to agree with most of your rants. However, I think you are fumbling the ball on the goal line with this journal. Despite the fact that the majority of information taught in public schools is forgettable information, I do believe that school does serve another purpose besides education. That purpose is to aid those who lack discipline and good work ethic.
    Now, let's take a moment to pause for the cause. What if! schools decided to jump the moon by only teaching meaningful and important information. Teachers would soon be shouting "Don't panic!" to calm down the frantic students as they try and process large amounts of relevant information.
    But seriously, public education allows us to get our feet wet before we go diving into the deep in known as college.

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  2. Don't panic! I made a typo, so I'm going to give it a little fixy fix: *deep end

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