Schooling versus Education: an education philosophy satement
Junior year of high school is often rumored to be the most back-breaking, heart-wrenching, and mind-destroying year of them all. Teachers pile on the assignments. Stress adds up. Counselors pester their students about choosing colleges. Parents yell when their children’s grades are not up to their expectations. Yes, junior year is hell. Until this past year, my educational experience had been relatively effortless. I could exceed on my assignments and in my classes and still have time to myself. My schooling was almost enjoyable and I and I was eager to learn more outside of the classroom.
Regrettably, the pressure of this past year has nearly extinguished this intrinsic desire of mine to learn. In order to simply finish everything, I had to abandon my drive to exceed at everything and limit myself to ‘getting the job done’ in a satisfactory manner. As expected, my limited success dissappointed me and I constantly tried to re-awaken my ambitious and curious nature within myself.
Simply because of the immense workload this year has brought, I have not been able to return to my former mindset although I desperately wanted to. This change also contradicted the purpose of schooling, preventing me from having a meaningful and engaging education.
Two definitions are offered when Google is asked to define ‘education’. One is “the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university,” which, in reality, is what most students my age experience every day. The second is “an enlightening experience”. This definition surprised me, as it did not specify where this experience could take place. An ‘enlightening’ experience could happen anywhere. Furthermore, this epiphany can refer to any topic, regardless of its relevance to standard curriculms taught in public schools. At the same time, I realized that a public school student could and should be enlightened in his classroom.
In my eyes, public education should be a combination of these two ideas; students should still be taught core subjects such as Biology and English, but they should be taught in a way that ‘enlightens’ pupils rather than having meaningless facts drilled into their minds. Students should be both schooled and educated: schooling is meant to capture a student’s attention on a subject and motivate them to investigate and learn on their own; education provides wisdom on top of that basic knowledge that enables students to understand the world around them and function in their respective societies.
Unfortunately, the United States public schooling system does not come close to completing this task. The stressed importance of grades in schools has long dimmed the student’s interest on the topics discussed in class. The amount of ‘learning’ a student accomplishes is now defined by the number of terms and dates they memorize, thus making attending classes an arduous task.
Alfie Kohn summarizes this problem in his article “The Case Against Grades.” He describes how “grades tend to diminish students interest in what they’re learning… [the students] will likely avoid taking any unnecessary intellectual risks… [and] they may skim books for what they’ll ‘need to know.” Since students are so focused on grades and the work is so hard, they resort to doing the bare minimum amount of work. They do not absorb ideas and evaluate something’s purpose; they just memorize facts and tend to forget them later. This does not motivate students to learn more, but rather it makes them disinterested in what they are being taught.
Before this year, I was sure I wanted to pursue a career in the STEM field — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. In fact, I really wanted to take a Biotech class my junior year as well because it was a subject that interested me and I was willing to do the work that entailed the class. During the year, my AP biology class became nothing more than a nuisance and at times the sole cause of my mental breakdowns.
The craze for AP classes has swept schools everywhere. Advance Placement classes are the most rigorous courses that are offered at my school and usually any other school in the US. They are supposed to emulate college-level classes and a student’s success is defined by not only their final grade, but also the AP test in May. One of the five APs I took this year was AP Biology, and it was known for being one of the most difficult courses offered at my school. Students have to cover 46 chapters worth of material in less than 9 months and be prepared to answer a question on any topic they throw at you during the 4 hour AP test on top of maintaining a decent grade in the class. Not only is it too much for a 16 year old to handle, but in this era students are expected to juggle these classes with their regular honors classes, clubs, sports, and still make time for family and friends.
Since modern schooling revolves around grades and standardized test results, there is an enormous strain on a student’s well being and there are frequently exponential surges in their stress levels. This is especially true of high school, where there is enormous pressure to perform in order to get into a well-known, respected college and get a well-paying job, and the only way to do that is for the student to push themselves to their extremes. The nation’s standards for class difficulty and performance have increased, and thus competition in schools has also gotten blown out of proportion.
Because grades are so heavily stressed and put so much strain on a student’s health and life, public schools are lowering their grading standards in order to ensure that every student passes. This is called the ‘Floating Standard.’ When this happens, students who have previously done well in a class find that they have to work less in order to maintain their same grade, and will not push themselves any more than they have to. As said by Jerry Jesness in his article ‘Why Johnny Can’t Fail,’ “The floating standard shields the status quo and guarantees the reign of mediocrity.” In other words, students no longer see the need to push themselves to learn more and lack intrinsic motivation. School is supposed to spark a child’s curiosity, but it ends up doing the exact opposite.
I cannot speak for other countries, but the US needs to rise up and re-evaluate its public schooling system and change it into a public education system. The stark difference between schooling and education is like the difference between a failing nation with no allies and a nation that looks to further itself using knowledge and help from allies. If this happens I, and countless others like me, can finally revert back to my former idealism and find my overwhelming desire to learn and function as an important member of my society.
