The Purpose of Schooling

[Mune]

Ugh, I spend the majority of my day contemplating where my education/schooling is going...

Quite honestly, I’ve got some very firm beliefs when it comes to schooling in this day and age. I have so much to rant about, that I will only write the tip of the iceberg just for the sake of time.

What really fries my nerves, is when I hear about subcultures... Or ‘sub-groups’ being developed. Different places call these groups different things. But at my school, we call the different groups “Chavs” – “Scenes” – “Nerds” – Well- I personally don’t- I’ve created my own subcategories and ranks.

The point I’m trying to make is that it seems with every year that passes, schools are focusing less and less on education- And more upon the social aspects. Sit down with a wise man, perhaps an old man/woman that is close to you, and they’ll share stories of how- “If anyone so much as breathed in a way the teacher didn’t like, he smacked you with a cane.”

Although I’m heavily against subjectively-selected-abuse. (If that makes sense, punishing a child for something the teacher personally doesn’t like.) – I will enforce the point that school is meant for learning. Nothing more. It’s meant for the maturing of minds, and the passing of information from one generation to the next.

I passively hear conversations about how Jimmy dumped his girlfriend by a text. I really don’t care. I whole-heartedly agree with my grandparents on the idea of “They should bring back the cane.”

NOW- Back to the point (and this has relevance to my signature)- Zenit and I were discussing how- In the modern age, you can be the smartest person in the world, but if you’ve no written qualifications on paper- You’re nothing. We’re constantly told that if one leaves school to forge his own life- His life will be terrible. It’s simply not true- It depends on the individual.

We got to a point (Zenit and myself) at which we were both thinking the same thing. “I say all of this. I point out all of these imperfections in the educational system- But I don’t step in. I don’t act upon my beliefs. I’m just the person sitting by the riverbank, throwing abuse at passing debris.”

Education has gone to pot. I have two teachers, perhaps three that genuinely make their subjects look enjoyable. The rest have just given up. They do the job for the money and nothing more. [Or well, those are my personal observations, of course I can’t speak for them]

Our Chemistry teacher for example, is absolutely nuts. Today for example- He told us “This chemical is highly flammable.” – We said “How were we supposed to know that?” to which he replied “What, you’ve not seen the test before?” and we all shook our heads.

He bursts into the chemical cupboards, retrieves the chemical, pours it onto his hand and sets it alight. After muttering a few chosen words to help the pain suppression- He finished with “Okay, you see now?”.

Just- Little things like this enhance the experience so much. With this chemistry teacher- You can really feel the emotion behind it. With all/most of my other teachers- They speak with one-toned voices and seem to hate it.

I’ve gone off-topic a lot here... My basic and concluding point is “School is no longer for learning. I can understand the principle behind it. School is based on such a fantastic principle. Let’s pass information to the younger generations. It’s a pity that social matters seem to come long before the education does.”

Again- These are my personal observations/opinions. I can’t speak for every school, for some people here- There maybe no talking in lessons, or swearwords said just to ‘look cool’ in the café etc.