Does school actually matter?
I’m sitting in my desk, zoning out on some information that probably is important. I’m thinking. Does this actually matter? Or does it not? Today I’m going to go over some studies, and share experiences of myself and others.
Each section will be split up: My view, and then the opposing view. (warning its quite one sided lol)
Health effects
When you’re in school, you’re usually sitting. Sitting isn’t good for you. The Mayo Clinic did a study on sitting, and it’s laughable of how bad it is for you. When you are sitting, you have a 50% increased risk of death from any cause, and it doubles your chance of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks. Therefore, we are slowly killing our kids. Not only that, but everyone is in close quarters, and the entire school campus is infested with viruses. During the winter, this leads to most disease transmissions. This makes people sick, and obviously isn’t good for your health.
But, we have health class and schools sports. While health and gym class may not reverse the sitting effects, it does help kids get outside and get physical exercise, preventing mild obesity and refreshing their brains so they can learn more. The only bad thing about health and gym class is that not every school offers it.
Weighing in the benefits and harms of the health effects, I think that it harms the kids more than benefiting them.
Learning
In school, you are taught to memorize. Even though some teachers may push to “critical think,” it is usually in a very controlled environment, like “Make this, but it must include this, that, and this, and it must also demonstrate this while proving that this is true.” You are taught to memorize and become a robot for the workforce. You aren’t actually learning, you’re just wiring your brain to process and act upon orders among your superiors. Plus, people who go to school rarely retain the information. And your superiors in the workforce are the creative people, the people who thought outside of the box and created something.
School teaches you how to fall in line, and it tells you certain things, and gives you stereotypes. It doesn’t teach you or nurture risk taking or creative intelligence. Creative intelligence is so important because it allows you to lead a fulfilling life as well as find shortcuts and better ways to do things. The current world is lead by creative people, not monotonous robots like the rest of the people.
Here’s an amazing video on how school kills creativity:
On the opposite end of the spectrum, kids do learn from school. Their brains grow, and their intelligence also grows as well. They grow to be better thinkers, and they can memorize a lot. (Note: I have no idea what to put here)
Based on my analysis on a school’s learning program, I conclude that it actually hurts kids.
Environment
While most schools try to maintain a stress free environment, it usually fails. Such examples are finals. Why even bother trying to make a final comfortable and not stressed? Also, the stress on grades can really break students down. For instance, in competitive parts of the country, kids are forced to study or study upwards of 6 hours a day. School related suicides are the 3rd leading cause for deaths of teens. If we didn’t pressure them into such harsh conditions, they wouldn’t be killing themselves. If you think that's false, check the link below. Also, more evidence that they are school related is that crime and suicide drops during the summer, and suicide drops during the winter break. In the other parts of the year, suicides remain high. The teen part of your life is arguably one of the most important, and should be enjoyed. Also, peer pressure takes its toll on students. Students may feel dumb if they are in a lower class than others, and take classes that are too hard, leading to unnecessary stress, GPA drops, and dissatisfaction in life.
No opposing argument
School maintains a hostile environment.
Conclusion
I have concluded that school isn’t sufficient for kids, and it needs to be reformed so kids can learn and prosper. I proved that it had negative health benefits, that it had a lackluster learning system, and a hostile environment. In my opinion, I think that the U.S. Department of Education should take action and rethink the way kids are taught in the U.S. Thanks for reading.
If you have an opposing view, write it in the comments and I’ll back as soon as possible.
