“Why I hate school but love education” – provoking thought

I am an ordinary teenager. I go to bed too late and struggle to rise in the morning. I mindlessly complain about having to go to school, having to do homework, having to revise; the list is endless.
Like many teenagers, I have wild and unrealistic dreams about how good it would be to stop going to college and travel the world to experience different cultures and meet new people. Making my way across continents in a campervan, reading books and writing poetry. However it is depressingly obvious that these dreams are out of the question and that getting decent grades to get to a good uni to complete a highly regarded degree to get a well paid job is what is expected of us all in today’s society.

So, when I stumbled across this video this afternoon on Facebook, I realized that it’s not learning and education that’s the problem, its school itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-eVF_G_p-Y

Now don’t get me wrong. I love to learn and I thrive on discovering new information that interests me. I try to work hard at college in the hope that it pays off when I come to apply to university. But over my time in secondary school, and indeed the first year of college, I have found myself increasingly questioning the system of education and how it “tests” a students knowledge. In the video I linked, Suli Breaks says “We all have different abilities, thought processes, experiences and genes, so why Is a class full of individuals tested by the same means?”

Albert Einstein once said “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” This is true for today’s education system. If, when a student receives their exams results, they receive all ‘D’ grades, does that make them unintelligent? What if this individual happens to be a musical prodigy, or the next Van Gogh. Does a D in mathematics or english make him stupid or any less worthy in society?

Why is it that an individual who is talented at maths and english but doesn’t play an instrument, is more highly regarded than an individual who can’t find the value of “x” but could improvise a jazz rendition of Fur Elise on the accordion?

It is the way learning is practiced in schools and colleges across the country that cause so many students to fall short of their potential. When an individual begins to believe they are only worth the letter stamped at the top of their assignments – whether it’s an A or an E – they immediately limit their own abilities. If a student believes they are only worth the E that they got in an exam, self-fulfilling prophecy can begin to take effect.

The point i’m trying to make is that exam grades do not determine ones intelligence, but the english school system does nothing to address this issue.

Suli Breaks’ talent in spoken word is astounding, and he is certainly making an impact regarding this issue of education vs. school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZmM7zPLyI

In this video, similar to the one previous, Suli proposes the idea that “If there was a family tree, hard work and education would be related, but school, would probably be a distant cousin”.

People should want to go to college and university to learn. Not just to get a set of A-levels or a degree. But most importantly, the focus that the media put on the supposed close link between education and schooling institutes needs to be addressed. Education does not just occur inside the classroom. Education is a daily occurence. Most of us don’t even realise we’re learning when it’s happening. It is only in the classroom setting that the negative stigma around education arises. This needs to be realised if schools and colleges are to maintain the interest and enthusiasm of their students.