Our top-down educational system is holding us back. It was adopted during the industrial revolution as a means to increase conformity and educational standards. Unfortunately, government has been using these goals as reason for oppression. In many cases, constitutional rights are completely ignored in the name of “education.” For example, public schools around the country have adopted school uniform policies which disallow them to express their individual views (even in protest) through their clothing. Some schools have gone as far as to prohibit demonstrations and button campaigns because they get in the way of education. We don’t prohibit workers strikes just because they get in the way of production, why would we do the equivalent to students?
Then there is the “my way or the high-way” disease of the current educational system. This is purely a power play on the part of the educators. It suppresses the students, and ultimately society, because it teaches them that critical thinking, and challenging informational sources is a social taboo. This is extremely harmful to democracy: a population afraid to stand up for their beliefs, afraid to challenge those who are in power, and believe everything that they are told. Public schools should not be used as a social filter, an oppressive force, or a tool for bureaucracy.
The core problem is: our students are treated as a product of education. It’s time to change this perception. We have been out of the industrial age for a long while; it is time our educational system does the same. Maybe education can become an open-source online system. Maybe it remains in the classroom but the methods change. In either case, the students should learn how to think for themselves, and should be allowed to have whatever social entity that they want. After all, they are the ones who define society in the future that we are preparing them for. Why should we be holding them back with our fears of change?
Did I mention gangs? Sociologists define gangs as a deviance from social norms. Those who join gangs often do so because they reject either the means, or the ends of society. They feel that society is not fair to them, and they seek protection of their own beliefs. If students feel protected in our society, then they will accept it as their own. Thus, gangs become a thing of the past. Loosen the belt on society and it flourishes and everyone wants to be a part.
P.S. Don’t dump this idea just because you disagree with a small detail. If you support the general ideology, bump it up and we can work out the details through democracy.
Comments (4)
Will Durant in his original 1916 thesis cited Plato as saying that the highest minister of all, the most important, was the minister of education. I tried to get Colin Powell interested in being Director of National Intellgence so as to redirect half the secret budget toward education and research, to no avail. Your idea is a very important one, and I hope we eventually get the chance to cluster and visualize in a more current version of this somewhat limited online capability.
There is no substitute for competence. To be sure schools are used for many secondary purposes other than education, but any change, such as more student control or defining of goals, must not hinder the core mission of education, development of competence.
I am not sure that competence ("The ability to perform a specific task", wikipedia) is the goal of primary education. Even if it was, I feel that students can achieve competence through self determination. Without a doubt, they can absorb knowledge and learn how to partake in society.
Thank you. You put it very well. Our educational system is way out of date and purpose. It homogenizes learners with tests, rigid curriculums and too many in a classroom. Kids learn more before they go to school when their curiosity guides them. We all learn and process information differently, at different speeds at different times. Most schools are training industrial, obedient, conforming youths to follow an agreed track. It also ties teacher's hands. The world is changing. So must our education system. There are many examples of out-of-the-box approaches to education. But they are marginalized and privately funded.