Lately I've been looking back and debating with myself and others the relevance of our grade school education. Those who'd rather not fix something not blatantly broken, read no further. Those who constantly tweak and improve the state of this world, continue on.

I went to a high ranking high school. My middle and elementary schools were similar quality. On average, the teachers knew how to teach, and the schools were the pride and selling point of the neighborhood. That's why it saddens me to consider that my parents mis-invested their time and money educating me in the traditional fashion, throwing me into high rank schools. Before my crit, I'll give in that our education system is good in that it exists, is established, and is respected. That much alone is uncommon.

But we can do better. I find a disconnect between how the real world feels and how the grade school system feels. Or rather, our education system takes some markedly bad things about real world institutions and imposes them on kids. There's extra emphasis on bureaucracy, authority, and organization. Be inside classroom doors by eight-o'clock; obey the teacher; and always come prepared with supplies bought and answers memorized. And with such a system, although ironically seeking to foster prosperity by spreading the same mantra that brought our existing prosperity, our status quo will not improve. Our society continues to stagnate from these mantra, notions that have lost meaning from over-application and zealousness. Tight regimens aren't always good. 

There is a lot of waste, because with a blind allegiance to established systems comes a lack of common sense.

In terms of core classes, however core can be defined, the material isn't always relevant or necessary. We learn more than we have to, and it's getting worse. Reading and writing effectively with the native tongue does not take twelve years to teach, unless the context or goal is specifically to become a teacher of such things. Not saying all those critical literary analyses I wrote weren't challenging and enriching as much as they were tedious and boring, but ultimately, the failure of the system is in the real world there's rarely a need to write ten pages analyzing someone else's work outside of academia and certain fields of research. Even then, the context isn't nearly always literary. 

And there is the time cost. Has anyone paused to think how preposterous it is to have young people spend forty hours a week sitting in class for two-thirds the year, and with few if any of them coming closer towards their life goal or dream career than say, since their first day of middle school? It gets worse. Students have to make up for time wasted sitting in class listening to lecture or doing relatively unimportant activities not specifically targeted to individual educational interests, and they do that after school, doing work at home to understand material they should have been able to absorb during classtime. For instance, I learn much better on my own and through actively applying the topic, than say, listening to long lectures or working with a group I'd rather not be in. I also learn much better when I've personally decided the subject is within my interest. And I know I'm not alone on these preferences.

Granted many teens are unstable, but is putting them through a suffocating regimen making things better? Is it better to trample their paper-tiger ambitions and tell them instead to just follow the high-ranking crowd? Things need to get better, and I think an alternatively guided path needs to exist in our system, one that gives space to all sorts of growth. The early phase of grade school is immensely useful. It's about playing with other kids and mastering the fundamentals of learning and being in a group. It's about being curious, courageous, independent, and empathetic. It is also a time kids heavily require adult supervision and attention, but the mothering can stop by age eleven, so the mentoring can start.

Mentoring is not common, at least when I was a student. You should not necessarily need a trained teacher to mentor. The student should be able to choose based on feelings of inspiration. They should be able to grow freely, of course within ethical boundaries. A student who is more interested in music may find a senior student who is exceptional. Conversely, the senior student should be given the opportunity to learn what it's like to teach, rather than learn, for there's no better way to learn than by teaching. This positive feedback loop is not only sustainable but also efficient. There's no wasting talent by putting exceptional teachers in front of class after class of students with a paint-by-numbers lesson. I feel that situation is common today and probably a good two-thirds of students are not truly interested, or become interested too late. Of course, survey classes should exist, but they should not be mandatory, and should not replace more advanced and flexible workshops. Students should take survey classes to find their core classes. Instead, we just have them taking too many classes altogether, so it's no surprise to me now why school made learning seem like such a chore. I've yet to have a job as bad.

Learning something you're interested in improving on and mastering is about as exciting as it gets. It brings a new dimension of richness and meaning to life. For me, this something was drawing, and it saddens me to no end that I was unable to get the resources and mentorship directly from school in my early years. My friends were my main source of encouragement, and artists I found in various commercial media were my ghostly mentors. To those who deny that all people can be so driven and focused on learning something, I admit I wasn't focused at all. I procrastinated and continue to procrastinate on my passion.

But it's probably more like drugs: once you try it, you can't escape, no matter how long you're stay away. Except, at least I feel, finding your passion like this is a good thing, so all young people should try and give into their dreams, at least once.

The education system needs change. Because it is with a stagnating school system that we have more people trying to just get by in a professional world that is short on accountability. Fewer people decide on a job based on the confidence that it's a job they were meant to do and can do better than anyone. We've stopped asking ourselves the important questions. We've gotten good at jumping through seemingly the absurd and pointless hoops of bureaucracy, authority, and efficiency to buy our bread and butter and audis. We're conditioned to think only of ourselves; since in our school systems, we are competing against one another in meaningless contests that chain and loop to no end. 

After all this time, I still fail to see the importance of tests. There is no physical record of accomplishment, with the exception of a certificate or a ribbon. Certainly it's important to be certified. We need certified doctors, cops, fire officers, dentists, etc. But why do we need to certify students who are only beginning to discover their careers? Would colleges prefer a high SAT score in English over honorable mentions and awards from several articles about this country's political polarity, socioeconomic gap, or media sideshows?

Instead of the STAR, PSAT, SAT, midterms, finals, etc. etc, I'm certain at least a good portion of students would rather learn writing by reporting on real world issues. Learn history by researching and contributing to Wikipedia. Learn programming by doing the school website or helping out in the multimedia lab or even by making video games made available during recess. Learn art by painting murals on the dozens of empty walls around the schoolyard. Learn design from making pamphlets, announcements, notices, and signs. Teachers should facilitate this sort of constructive, purposeful education, let the capable ones play freely, and try to nudge and soothe the ones who aren't as able until they improve and find their path. It's easy and wasteful to just maintain the paperwork, schedule, and classroom rules, including the one that makes kids carry large textbooks back and forth when each day only requires a dozen pages. We subject kids to the plight of Sisyphus. Does that bother no one?

In a burgeoning age where information is accessible and omnipresent, there is a diminishing need for people who can retain and regurgitate. Google can do that far better. We need people who are open enough to see possibilities and trained enough to execute on those dreams, preferably with a sense of humanity and practicality. Doing great things means taking risks, being self-motivated, knowing how to assemble outside help when needed, and conversely how to hunker down and focus until the problem is solved. The work is also iterative, meaning what was done a month ago will be needed even months later. There's a lot of refining, a lot of love. Work is long term and meaningful. Never in human history, to my knowledge, were there more people who preferred to be drones doing short-lived busywork than apprentices aspiring to master a true, meaningful craft. 

I sincerely believe, that if the system fully worked as it should, a lot less of everyone's time would be wasted, taxpayer money too.

Addendum: with each generation, we find there's less time to get to all the things in life. A successful career, a happy family, a meaningful life, a stable lifestyle. Even more so that it doesn't make sense to spend at least six years of what is essentially our prime doing things that are not doing their share to enrich our future. If career was decided by the latest of age eighteen, it would give us much more time and space to explore and understand the other thousands of things about adulthood. My parents always reminded me I'd regret wasting my youth playing videogames and watching cartoons when I got older. They were partly right, but not the part about MegaMan and SpiderMan.

July, 2010

Update: Congrats for making it to the end. Here's a video with a message that runs along the same vein.