Our school system sucks. We’ve got kids that are far ahead of all the other kids in class, and kids that are far behind.
In our society, we aim for standardization. Yet, in our standardized school system, the smart kids often begin to fall behind. They are forced to sit in class learning something they already know. When they could be learning something more advanced.
The kids who fall behind get left behind. They don’t understand the class, they can’t keep up and they feel that school is useless because they don’t learn anything, wasting their time in a class they struggle in.
Students progress at their own pace. Concepts click with some, but others need more time. A one-size-fits-all education system holds back both groups, smart and slow. While a few students might thrive, many others fall behind and struggle to keep up.
Schools should use a level system, not a grade system. This way, every student can learn at their level. Where nobody is bored because they know the material, or struggling because they’re behind.
A level system that could be used is simply by making “levels” of courses and the teacher could make an advancement decision.
I’m not a fan of tests, rather the teacher should use participation in class as a metric for advancement.
Also, even if everyone learned at the same rate, without the smart or behind kids. People learn differently. Most people don’t enjoy listening to lectures all day or taking notes without any excitement.
Lecturing all day falls short as a learning method. The Feynman technique and interactive exercises prove to be more effective. Many students learn best when they visually interact with the material. Yet, this rarely happens in the classroom.
Students deserve a hands-on learning experience. They need to take part and use multiple learning types. They should learn by doing, explaining, listening and watching. They shouldn’t just listen and take notes.
A hands-on learning system helps students learn faster. By using lectures, hands-on, visuals and explanations (Feynman Technique), students will accelerate their learning, potentially without the burden of tests.
Also, many topics would be helpful in school. Typically, before high school or university. But they are just units in other subjects.
In middle school, financial literacy and programming are just math. Yet, financial literacy is one of the most important skills to have. Engineering is just science. Media literacy is just English.
Heck, they don't even teach many topics at all. Business, communications, life skills, investment, politics, economics.
Sure, many of these become optional courses in high school or university, the problem is that many choose not to take them.
Those in high school would rather take courses that’d be helpful for their university application.
Don’t get me wrong, math and science are both very useful subjects (I’m a math nerd). The problem is that these topics also need to be taught and school boards need to find a way to fit them in somehow.
My opinion? Get rid of visual arts, music, dance, drama and Phys Ed.
Here me out. In visual arts, we often just receive instructions for a project and are expected to do it. We don’t learn anything.
Music, I play the piano outside of school and while music is fun, it’s not particularly useful. Dance and drama I just don’t see how it’s helpful at all.
Phys Ed is only useful if you have it every day because doing “exercise” twice a week is not helpful or for everyone isn’t the best.
The importance of incorporating these subjects is that school is supposed to teach you something applicable. They’re supposed to prepare you for the future.
You may not need to know how to find the area under a curve, but knowing the fundamentals of business, how to decide who to vote for, or how to have good arguments (debate)?
If we look at the best education system in the world, Finland, they don’t have tests or homework. Stress can often worsen education.
Nobody wants to fix our broken school system because there's no personal gain for them. Parents often see no problem with the school system.
If we don’t fix our school system, students will be left with something that
- Don’t prepare them for the future
- May not help them learn
- Stresses them out
- Drags them behind
It’s possible to fix it, and we should.
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