Thursday 10 July 2014

How to Solve a Problem Like Education...

Hi chums

On a more serious level now for this post. It was an article I wrote for a local paper and got a lot of support so I thought I'd share it with you.

Earlier this month I was scrolling down my twitter - which has become somewhat of a daily ritual - there were the usual tweets: ‘sickkkk night last night,’ ‘it’s 11pm so I better start my homework for tomorrow LOL’ and ‘CRÈME EGGS ARE ON SALE.’

After reading through all the usual tweets, I stumbled across one which caught my eye and made me think: ‘people shouldn’t be dreading school after coming back from a holiday or weekend – aren’t we supposed to enjoy learning? But, school isn’t about learning anymore, it’s about getting good grades and passing classes, I can’t tell you a single thing I’ve learned this year. All I care about is getting good grades so I can go to a good college or university. I’m not going to be prepared for anything in life. How is learning how to pass a class going to help me in the real world? Yeah, I can memorise facts and figures to pass a test but I have no real life skills. They don’t teach us how to do anything but sit at a desk and regurgitate information that we will most likely never need to know.’ A bold statement yes, but incorrect no it is not.

Only the students in the current education system know what it’s really like, not the parents, teachers or the infamous OFSTED inspectors - they all have their grades and a job. This tweet is literally said on behalf of tens of thousands of hardworking students in England.

Just because we don’t walk round with a forehead of wrinkles or have grey hairs sprouting from our head doesn’t mean we’re not stressed. The pressures we are put under border on the obscene. Not enough UCAS points? Well you probably won’t be going to the university you want or enrolling on the course you want to. Got 90% in your exam and not 91%? No A* for you then. Don’t do at least 2 hours of independent learning outside of school? You’re apparently not working hard enough. Harsh but true.  

Many students walk around on autopilot in some sort of trance obsessed and fixed on the grades they need to pass onto the next stage of the education system. It’s gotten to the point where students and the majority of society frown and look down on a grade B and question why it’s not an A or an A*.


The sad thing is, once we’ve spent about 20 years in education and get out into the ‘real world’ we’ll find out that we won’t be able to get through it by merely memorising facts and regurgitating them all on a paper with black lines on – and then what will happen to us?

Abi :)

2 comments:

  1. I agree with so many things in the post. No one really enjoys learning anymore because it all boils down to exams at the end of the day. They don't actually allow students to properly engage with their subjects!
    http://confessionsofharriet.blogspot.co.uk

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  2. Thankyou! I agree with YOU haha, I don't think students have a loud enough voice in society for people to hear us! Abi :)

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