The Fundamental Problem with Education
Throughout a person’s life, one crucial component that continues to define them is their education. Many of our relationships such as those with family and other authority figures stress the immense necessity of education. Fundamentally in society, education is symbolic of something greater: one’s intelligence and overall capability. However, is such stress correctly placed? Is it necessarily true that education even encourages success or individual development?
One common theme continuously echoed among articles and blogs is the concept of the successful adult, who was yet an academically underperforming student. Attention-grabbing headlines such as Why Many ‘C’ Students End Up Successful or Famous People Who Prove You Don’t Need Goods Grades to be Successful mainly serve to comfort those who often seek reassurance for their inability to succeed with the societal confines of education. However, such a theme does find relevance, although usually its reasons for validity are rarely explored by these click bait articles.
There are many reasons why education, or at least first and secondary education, ultimately does little to indicate the actual success of the student. However, I see one overarching reason: it seeks to develop of generation of “followers.”
Ultimately, education is a tool of society, finding its use in molding young and impressionable minds and changing them to fit the current needs of society. Society will always require more followers than leaders as every leader requires followers.
Also, molding followers is much easier than creating leaders; it is the difference between teaching dependence and conformity versus independence and nonconformity. From the beginning of our educational career, one fundamental principle that is forcefully drilled within our heads is that of dependency. We must always raise our hands to ask to go to the bathroom. We must rely on the methods that we have been taught instead of those that we might deductively create. We must always ask permission, no matter the triviality of the task in question.
The incessant barrage of tests, papers, and quizzes also harms the individualism of the student, forcing them into a state of reactivity and passivity. Within this state, we are trapped, only doing what is necessary to pass each hurdle, each grade, and then quickly losing the “knowledge” we briefly had. We only act for the grade itself as opposed to the knowledge it supposedly grades. To become a truly “successful” individual, one must learn the importance of proactivity. Proactivity is the natural state of human individuality, but the pressures of education and society as a whole seek to confine this, instead choosing to breed reactionary and unquestioning individuals. It is crucial that the proactivity of an individual be fostered as it cuts the chains of dependence. Success is never based on following the instructions of others. We must forge our own path to achieve our full potential to “self-actualize.” If we never realize the confining state that we forced into, we will live our lives in reactionary suffering, only following the orders of others while never following ourselves.
However, instilling this idea of reliance and dependency on “higher authorities” such as teachers and principles is quite easier than the teaching a student to think for themselves. In many ways, the formats of testing also constrain what can be taught to students. Every student is familiar with multiple choice and true-false formats of testing. Innately, such formats constrain free thought. They force answers into specific statements that are either true or false, rejecting the idea of any personal interpretation. Obviously, teaching such facts is crucial to developing the knowledge of the individual, but it also strays away from discussion and personal interpretation. Such skills are crucial to develop, but ungradable in the standard forms of testing. One example is the lack of an AP Philosophy course. The College Board, which has a monopoly on education and produces the SAT, PSAT, and AP tests, is a known institution for all students. Their AP courses are crucial for college admission for the highest performing students, providing the “opportunity to gain the skills and experience colleges recognize.” For an institution claiming to provide the highest form of learning and education for high school students, why is there no AP Philosophy course? Philosophy has numerous advantages and applications in many different positions, providing meta-skills such as critical thinking and skillful communication of ideas. Often, the reason for this lack is because of the innate subjectivism in philosophy. As opposed to set boundaries of American history or English grammar, philosophy is subjective — there are numerous contrasting schools of thought and ideas, making conventional testing virtually impossible.
Conventional testing prevents any form of reasoning. We only learn set facts and themes, never receiving any encouragement to pursue farther and expand upon what we know. In our current educational system, inductive and deductive thinking are rarely encouraged; instead, education forces us only to follow and memorize what is already known. How can the student contribute anything to society if he has merely been taught what is already known? He has not learned how to expand or generate new ideas to improve society, yet ironically, society has been his teacher.
Education seeks to create generations of followers, constricting much of us to a reactionary and unquestioning existence. How can we free ourselves from this ironic development? Legally, we are forced to go to school and endure this conforming process. Few solutions to this problem exist. However, as students, we should strive to maintain our individuality and foster our critical thinking and reasoning. We should focus less on As and GPAs, and more on the knowledge that it represents. The pursuit of academic perfection is one of conformity. Instead, we should expand and proactively pursue the courses and classes in which we take an actual interest, learning more than what is taught and expanding upon this information.
