Sunday, March 14, 2010

Education for sale!

Lately I've been thinking about the role of education. In particular, the influence of grade's kindergarten through 12. Are the teachers really there to help us maximize our potential or are they there as babysitters? Honestly, in my grade 12 year, I learned more on my own than in the classroom, thanks to Wikipedia.

I guess teachers are there to expose you to the many directions available; to illuminate the pathways. But it still seems as if we are being taught how to be a respectable worker. Show up on time, have your work done by the deadline, collaborate with peers, ask assistance from superiors, and produce a fine finished product. These are the essentials that are ingrained into us by our mentors. Think about how restricting this is; it starves off the creative process. Artistic human beings don't allow time constraints to limit them, a lack of resources to hold them back, or the judgment of others to influence their work.

Is school simply a manufacturing plant for robots that don't break rules? Robots whose performance is graded according to how well they 'stayed within the box'. The greatest minds in history were the ones that strayed from the pack. The eccentric Albert Einstein or the volatile Van Gogh. Many people of socially conformed society labeled them mad, but they've made some of the biggest contributions to the human race.

School isn't a bad thing, but it could be greatly improved. One suggestion: philosophy being requisite in every grade. The pursuit of knowledge will set the mind free. If you aim for enlightenment, you will see the sun.

Freedom

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