What’s Wrong with School?
A High School Student’s opinion
The Sunday before my first day of 11th grade, I woke up with a lot of anger inside me. Combined with confusion, tiredness, and a bunch of other feelings. The reason? I’m going back to school tomorrow, virtually.
Even though the problem isn’t the lack of a physical experience, this situation has been an eye-opener to rethink what school is really for, what other options we have as students, and why education should be totally different soon.
Are those only words?
Adults always talk about changing the way we learn. Introducing new activities that are less academic-related, having more free time, and preparing us for “real-life” challenges.
The question for me is: do these people really know what the future looks like? Have they talked to or read the books of people studying this? How are they encouraging that young students not only memorize but apply knowledge?
I understand that perhaps the system cannot be completely changed from day to night. And what I see is that there are being small changes each year in the way teachers do their work, the content we learn, and the kind of tools we use.
However, what if this is going too slow? I worry about people between 13 and 23 years old. By the time we have finished university, the world will be a whole different place and the education we received will have — most likely — stayed the same as 10+ years ago.
What is school for?
In simple terms, a class is nothing but an explanation of something that is already known. And if it’s already known, you can likely find it on the internet. Then, what is school for?
Among others, school can be really helpful to learn more “easily”, follow a learning plan, to concentrate, meet new people, and find a better place if you have problems at home.
So of course that school is more than just a place to learn math or history. It’s a place where people can collaborate, discuss, learn from others, and have fun.
Now, the question that I have is: what do schools have as a purpose? Meaning, what would be your goal as the founder of a school? What can you offer that students cannot do on their own?
Can the internet do it all?
First of all, we also need to think about people who don’t have access to this resource. As of 2019, approximately 43% of the world’s population still weren’t using the internet.
In any case, talking about the remaining 57% of people, today we are able to consume any type of content at a one-click distance. What’s best of all? Most of it is free!
Physics, arts, business… you name it! So, without taking into account the social aspect and people without access to the internet — just for now — why aren’t more students replacing school education with online learning?
I see 4 major issues: “being used to”, solving doubts, having a plan, and accreditation/recognition.
Having been educated in a certain way for years and then changing to a whole new system can get difficult. Millions of students, including myself, have experienced this change in 2020.
When I asked my classmates which were the main disadvantages of having online classes, the 3 most voted answers were the lack of interaction with your friends (in the same way as before), not being able to concentrate that well and suffering backache or eye tiring.
On the other hand, the 3 main advantages of online school that my high school classmates chose were: *saving time (in case school was far from home), *deciding how to dress, and having a better administration of their time.
It’s important to consider that these results come from students between 8th and 12th grades, who study in private schools in Mexico. Students from public schools and other parts of the world may offer a different perspective.
Answering the question, I consider that the internet cannot do it all. We are the ones who need to adapt to change and see this tool as an advantage and not as an unfortunate situation.
In this sense, the real question may be: could we replace schools with the internet?
*Most schools in Mexico require students to wear uniforms
Why haven’t schools disappeared yet?
I really like one of my teacher’s perspective on this question:
Information is free. School is not a product. It is a service.
Since the service that school offers is one of explaining concepts, solving doubts, and joining people who are the same age, shouldn’t it be “optional“ to acquire that service?
Well, that’s when a factor called accreditation should be taken into account. Even when this has recently been changing, it is still common in a lot of working places to ask for a high school, middle school, or university accreditation diploma.
Fortunately, many prestigious universities across the world have made this easier for internet learners by offering free and online courses on platforms like edX or Coursera. So again, information is free and in this case, so is the service. What you can choose here is whether or not to pay for a certificate of completion.
Having said this, is the “accreditation barrier“ really the reason why people haven’t fully replaced school with online education? My perspective in this sense is a bit different from my teacher’s.
From what I’ve seen in “the real world“ not even teachers ask their teachers doubts when they have them. They ask ResearchGate, Google, Siri, and even Facebook. And as a teenager interested in biotech, if I wanted to do some experiments, I would rather go to an open access-lab than to my school’s lab.
In the end, I would like to see school as an experience. An experience that gives you the chance to learn about how other people your age behave, learn how older people like to get stuff done, discover some of the tools you need to develop something, among many other things.
School can be one of the most fulfilling and valuable experiences in a person’s life, but if society’s real purpose with school is to have people learn academic content, I think we’re going the wrong way and things should be changing soon.
I don’t consider education will ever disappear. In fact, the act of learning should continue even when you’ve already “graduated“. What could actually be improved by far is education itself. But that could still take a while.
Gen Z — better known as zoomers nowadays — is the first one to study in a completely online way. Us who have the privilege to have access to the internet and an electronic device can be learning online from as soon as we’re in kindergarten.
I know what you may be thinking, “this will only last for as long as the pandemic does“. Well, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Although 2020 isn’t over yet, I believe that schools will take online education more seriously from now on, and even when there are students who would rather go to school, some others have really liked the idea of studying fully online.
Thus, a big shape in education is happening right now and whether or not schools will disappear is just a matter of what students prefer and how many more people can have access to the necessary tools. The answer will soon be revealed by time.
Social interaction in 2020
Personally, I’d already thought about this topic many times before the pandemic (even when I didn’t share it with anyone like I’m doing now). But I’m totally sure that to many other students, it has become a more important question during this period.
From my experience, online classes are a bit like: teacher reads something on the internet, writes that down on a PowerPoint presentation, reads presentation, and clarifies some doubts, which by the way, rarely happens. The funny thing is, this teaching system is pretty much the same as the one in “normal” classes.
In terms of hanging out with friends, or talking to them during class, I can say video calls continue to be the rule for most. For example, breakout rooms are an option to work in small teams within the classroom, but there’s no such thing as seeing your friends in the corridor or the cafeteria.
Again, this is just my experience. I know of people who really love having online classes despite the lack of social interaction. That doesn’t mean they’re introverts. Perhaps they’ve just adapted faster than others to this new reality.
A letter to schools
Millions of students (including me) can complain about what older people are doing wrong, but how would they know if they’ve not only forgotten what it is to be young but also that the world is changing at an unimaginable speed?
Here is a list of only a few aspects that schools could do better to fight obsolesce. Hopefully, a smart teacher can take this into consideration someday. Why not…
- Only assign tons of homework but also teach about time management?
- Start celebrating intriguing questions as much as right answers?
- Encourage students to pursue their passion by showing them activities that are more engaging and fulfilling than Netflix?
- Demonstrate that there is more to YouTube than videos of cute kitten?
- Let students read about topics of their interests instead of choosing books for them?
- Prepare students for the future by reading more Steven Pinker as opposed to Shakespeare?
- Value creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication more than memorization, obedience, competition, and silence?
In the end, I can see more online and in-person options coming that could even replace school. Don’t ask yourself which career you would like to study, but rather what you want to dedicate your time to after that. Thus, education is not an end goal, it is a tool.
Hey! I’m Sofi, a 16-year-old girl who’s extremely passionate about biotech, human longevity, and innovation itself 🦄. I’m learning a lot about exponential technologies to start a company that impacts the world positively 🚀. I love writing articles about scientific innovations to show you the amazing future that awaits us!
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