Doesn't that title sound lofty? Well, it is, but I shall rise to the challenge.
As a TL;DR, here's my argument. Teachers get shit pay. The education system is flawed. Kids suck at learning. College is a business.
First off, an analogy. Imagine that school is just a giant slide. The ladder up is school, and after school you can go down that big, fun, exciting slide that is the rest of your adult life. I mean, I can't wait to get the chance to go down this extraordinary slide right now. But that's just it, I probably never will. I'm going to climb for 6 years of elementary school, and then 3 more or middle school and then another 4 years of high school climbing will commence. By this time my arms are tired from hoisting myself up for so long and pushing too hard. Just to go down this lousy slide. But here's the best part: If I want to be able to fully enjoy my slide-ride, I should probably get a job. Which requires a degree. Which requires, at the very least, another 4 years of college. BUT WAIT! I don't just get to enter into college, oh no, that would be too easy. I, along with the rest of the graduating high school class, must test/apply/beg to get into a college that will prepare me for my slide-ride. Or at least, prepare me for graduate school. Oh, did I forget to mention that in this day of inflated grades and inflated degrees, to get a job that used to require an undergraduate degree I really need a post-grad or doctorate level degree? Oh I didn't, did I. Let's add an extra 3 to 8 years onto that ladder climb. Feels more like a hike now doesn't it. Right now that is a total of anywhere from 16 - 24 years of schooling, coming out with a doctorate somewhere around age 30.
But that doesn't even begin to cover what they teach in school. I'm not bashing any curricula, I'm dead set against how they teach. In elementary school they teach to prepare students to middle school, in middle you prep for high school, and for 4 years of high school you are trained to get into a good college, because heaven knows college is the gate to a good job. Never are you taught how to think, or how to be creative, or even how to learn. Instead, we are stiffed and taught how to survive in a new school environment that we "can't possibly be ready for". I mean, without the help of these awesome schools, we all would definitely all just fail in school, right?
School should teach us to learn, and should foster a passion for something, anything. Unfortunately this is extremely hard, as trying to get each student to be interested in something and then actually have them go and actively pursue their knowledge is difficult. Kids are lazy. And if they are lazy for the most part, why should a teacher want to help? It's really a multi piece problem: the system itself is flawed, but lazy students don't lend themselves to change or a changing system. In the end teachers get hurt while athletes get millions of dollars for running (can you feel my disdain?)
On a completely different note, I've been reading some good books this past few weeks. "A Novel Bookstore" by Laurence Cosse. Excellent book translated from French to English. You'll get more out of it if you know basic Paris geography. Know what they mean if the narrator is talking about the arrondisment. Also, a Zombie Novel called "Allison Hewitt is Trapped" by Madeline Roux. I enjoyed it and read all 3xx pages in like 2 days. "The Handmaid's Tale" we read in class in English and I absolutely loved it. Get out there and read it.
That's all for today. Tomorrow I go and concur the "Three Day Hill" in which I hopefully write for a full three days in a row and make blogging a part of my daily ritual (as Facebook and procrastinating are now!).
Good Night, Good Light.
Dan
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