The Top 10 Reasons Why Schools Aren't Doing Their Job

We’ve all heard it, school is a place to learn and grow so students can be a more active part of  the community.  But how can one really learn if he or she is only worried about numbers?  It is during these vital adolescent years when students get lost and humanity takes yet another turn for the worse.

Pessimistic I know, but I do have hope.  Before I get there, let’s examine the way things stand.  Students will do anything to cut straight to the numbers they want.  Even if it means cramming thousands of items into their head that they won’t remember half a year later.  Sounds like school has become a place where students go to memorize not to learn.  During my own high school years I would often come across students who would lose sleep just to make sure they remembered every detail without stopping to ask why or how something worked.  This method truly proves how uninformed students are.  They feel the best way in life is to conform to the number system and join the rat race of competition judged by numbers.  Most of these students will get accepted based on their numbers and ranking and get shipped off to a decently ranked school where they will continue to plug in numbers just to succeed.

We need students who will pause to examine what they are learning and ask how and why the material they are being taught will contribute to their world.  The students who do this are going to be the people who change the legal system and banish laws that are outdated and no longer fit our changing society.  They are going to be the ones who free us from an inequality rooted in tradition.  The real thinkers are going to adjust tradition to the changing times not the other way around.

The feeling of accomplishment one experiences when he or she has truly achieved something great is an ever elusive idea in the chaos of memorizing to pass the test.  I’m talking about self-growth in the mind, in the spirit, etc.  I would often ask my fellow students why an answer was right because I needed to understand why we were spending so much time on a question.  No one had an answer for me but the teacher and even the teacher was sometimes at a loss for words.  Students should concern themselves with the method behind the madness, after all it’s their parents’ tax dollars that allow them to be in those seats in the first place.

After talking to a retired teacher and researching various websites for information I found out some schools have done away with the “top ten” and certain colleges don’t require SATs.  For the most part however schools will usually have a group of ten students who are singled out during graduation, number one being valedictorian.  Some high schools give weight to students’ averages, others don’t.  So for the ones that “don’t” and even for the ones that do, the top ten can be a pretty unfair category.  I found that some schools will add a few points to the overall average based on advanced or AP classes but even these few points sometimes don’t add up to a student’s average that is higher due to an easy schedule.  I used various students’ “college confidential.com” posts to construct the following example:

Let’s say you have a 90 average and you have taken one honors course (add 3 points) and one AP course (add 5 points).  Now you have a 98 average.  But what if your friend has a 99 average having taken all easy courses?  You’re still going to be behind him or her in rank.  A one digit difference could make difference between sitting on stage with the top ten and sitting with the rest of the class on ground floor.  That sounds like encouragement to beat the system not motivation for real learning.

Many students will look at their ranking as a measurement of how smart or capable they are.  Ranking is the farthest thing from measuring how smart a person is.  The truly intelligent students are going to be the ones who take it upon themselves to learn for the sake of learning, to open their minds to new ideas and new perspectives and to hold the world in their hands with knowledge as their power.  The children with their eyes on the ground who try to beat the rat race and brandish their success with numbers and awards will always fall short of genuine greatness, the greatness inherent in truly expanding one’s mind.

The solution: Stop teaching your children that the purpose of youthful endeavor is to become one of the highly ranked. For humanity’s sake ask the kids if they know why they are learning something.  If they don’t know find out if there is a reason for particular curriculum and if there isn’t then change it!  I look forward to a future where schools start turning out true thinkers again.  Until then I will continue to question everything.