Jonathan Hus week two: My question that has been left unanswered

 

    Why is the school system the way it is? Every time I try to wrap my head around the rationale of why the current system is in place, I find my mind dancing in circles in search of the right answer. I bargain with myself on the pros and cons of the established system but also wonder why I end up left at the same empty stop in my head, feeling that there really may not be a right or wrong answer.

When I play with this idea, I like to refer to the quote by Albert Einstein who claimed that “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” This is what I constantly think about when trying to find some answer to this vague question. I believe that today's system is set in place to provide the necessary tools and thinking skills in order to shape well-rounded teens to be shoved into the real world. While I agree that teaching English, math, science, and history to all teens in the country can help in this pursuit, I also find that for myself, it’s not so easy to believe in this rudimentary take. Einstein's proposal points out the fact that many teens and young adults aren't great at one or many of the subjects taught in school. Over many years, this feeling of failure and loss of hope to actually feel as if one can learn leads many to not find an interest in learning or being able to absorb information altogether. The reason I point this out is that in today's system, we are forced to all take the same classes whether or not it's even something we’re even remotely interested in. We are subconsciously forced to take many rigorous classes that don’t align with what we want to do in the future so we may by some possibility be considered as “a competitive candidate”. To me, this isn't exactly what I envision as learning. Learning should be the spark that ignites a passion in each individual to pursue not just in school, but personally as well. Not a mandatory task to have to persevere through. For example, if one is taught that since they're not good at Pre-Calculus that they're stupid, it leads these same people to abandon the pursuit of finding what they are good at. I myself am a STEM person and have found my true passion in life to lie in this area, but I also have to participate in learning about the Christian crusades on the Muslim world, among other topics, which in the long run has little to nothing to do with my future. While I do agree that learning all these different topics aside from what we enjoy leads to us teens becoming well-rounded individuals, I don't agree with the fact that it should be forced upon each and every person. This then poses another question. Why can’t the pursuit of becoming “well-rounded” be a personal goal outside of school?

Circling back to my earlier claim, these takes are all valid in theory, however, it is more 3-dimensional than it seems. Although tailoring the school system to each one's individual interests sounds great, teens would inevitably lose this well-rounded feeling that I believe is the whole point of the currently established system. In addition, we would lose the ability to perhaps explore other subjects we may have thought were boring, to actually be very interesting or even more entertaining than our current passion. By only focusing on one's interests, it can lead many to not want to explore the ancient history of Afro-Eurasia or delve into the complex poetry of William Shakespeare which provides many with ideas that could actually end up tying back to their interests. This is what I mean by this everlasting dance that this question poses. There really is no right or wrong answer to the question of why the school system is the way it is or what would be the ideal version of education. Right now, I can't really picture what a better system would look like but these are just my thoughts and opinions on today's structure. What do you think a different school system would look like?