Bored? Just think…

It’s not the first time that someone’s criticized America’s education system, and I doubt it’ll be the last. Having recently graduated from high school, I’ve come to realize how serious and how simply these problems can be avoided. So I’ve decided to start off my blog with my first post about this topic.
From my observations, the root of the problem is the fact that there is a lack of motivation, or should I say proper motivation, to learn.People just aren’t feeling the urge to expand their minds just for the sake of expanding it and becoming better people. Their only purpose is to pass their next test and move on through school so they can ultimately get their degree and half-ass their job in the future.Now what would happen if a large chunk of society is unqualified to do their job? Everything from economic hardship to unemployment. What can we do to fix this problem? Is there anything we can do? Well first of all, we have to understand the problem a little better.

Imagine a student, sitting at his desk, finishing up his class assignment when the teacher announces that there will be a huge test next week concerning this and that which they have been going over for so long. The student, being a “good” student, immediately concerns himself with the test and goes home and studies long and hard in an attempt to memorize everything he can for that test. The following weekend he goes to the bookstore with his concerned and supportative parents, buying study guides and such in preparation. The night before the test, he sacrafices his sleep, memorizes all his material, and takes the test the next day. Despite the anxiety before the test, he is glad to know the following week, post-grading, that he did just fine.

So what’s wrong with the picture? Well, at first it may not be obvious but the problem is deeply fundamental. This scenario may play out many times, for many tests, for many students and that’s where something called conditioning occurs. Conditioning is basically when a person’s or animal’s behavior is shaped so that they behave a certain way, in hopes of receiving certain rewards. The student is conditioned to take the tests with the objective of passing it. Obviously, passing a test demonstrates his comprehension of its content, but passing it becomes the one and only goal, due to conditioning.

The real goal should be grasping and applying the ideas, the material the test covers. The problem with being conditioned to pass tests, is that, the following week, the student in our example has completely forgotten what he learned because he has no use for it anymore, its only purpose having been satisfied. Students can go through all of grade school, graduate highschool with high honors and still know nothing about life, defying the whole purpose of all their schooling, which is to prepare them for college, and so that they may ultimately do their job, whatever it may be, correctly and efficiently.

Now here are some possible solutions to this epidemic, that I have contrived :

1. Remove the whole idea of grades and progress indicators or at least simplify them so that they merely indicate progress and not force students to live their youth around it.
2. Make schooling optional. Students should want to learn and not be forced by some extrinsic factor, e.g. their parents.
3. Encourage students to learn for the sake of learning and expanding their minds. The minds of kids are very spongy and often engage in divergent thinking, which when combined with pure knowledge can lead to great things.

I’m not saying that we’re gonna have five year olds that are inventing hydrogen-powered cars, but most definetely allow for that to occur in the future.

Please feel free to comment and/or re-criticize anything you saw here and share your opinion.