Over the weekend, my husband shared with me a music video he had come across on YouTube. He said that it had been up for a while but he had just found it, and thought it was something I should listen to. It was entitled Don't Stay In School .
At first I was turned off. When it was all said and done, while I agreed with some of the things he said in the song, the last line rung louder then all in my head, "Don't stay in school" and I was appalled. But then my husband showed me the follow up video Boyinaband made and I listened to what he had to say. (You can watch it here!) and the impact of the last line changed...quite drastically.
The truth is, he has a point. A very good point! But I think it goes a little further then where he went. The more time goes on, the more the educational system is altered, supposedly for the better, but is it really?
We have come to a time when we wax poetically about how the value in math is to learn valuable problem solving skills, yet the act of solving the equations has been washed away with the requirement to memorize and regurgitate in lightning speed. How is rapid regurgitation more important then the process of getting from "look there's a problem" to "I figured it out!"? If it's about problem solving, then allow our youth to solve the problems rather then memorize solutions to dictated, somewhat unrealistic scenarios that, while may have relevance when they are 30, have little to no relevance to a 12 year old. Even worse, they don't even attempt to make it relevant to these 12 year old students so that the information actually sticks, filed away for a time when it is important.
And then there are the arts. We take pride in our children's abilities to make music or draw. We brag when our children are honored with being a part of a publication for their insightful poetry, but we are just as quick to eradicate these programs from the school under veiled claims that there isn't funding, as if these areas are somehow less important then the "core subjects". Need I remind you that the arts enhances creative thinking, problem solving, increases self esteem and offers an outlet for profound expression often ignored in the black and white world of the general education classes labeled the "core" classes?
At the end of the day, we've wrapped our educational system around already tangled knot of standardized testing, taking away the fun of learning and the ability for teachers to tailor their lessons to providing their students with the most valuable and relevant educational experience they can with the required criteria interwoven and braided within the fun and creative.
We have, as a society and, specifically with in the educational system, stripped away individual thought for a world in which there is always a right and wrong answer and a test around the corner. We have become so engrossed in the quest to conquer the paper test that have lost sight of the important test, real life. Knowing the name of coins does not automatically translate into the ability to count back change. Spending years on the entire beginning and fundamental development of the government does not spell out the inter workings of today's society nor insight instant interest and desire to be in the know. We can blame the parents all day long. We can argue that it is up to the school to teach the theory and the parents to teach the application, but that is setting us all up for failure. It is not a "us or them" situation. it is an "us" situation in which the lack of improvement on either side further hinders the success of the opposite and, society as a whole.
Now I'm not saying that math or history are meaningless, because they are not. But why do we require knowledge of slope and, even more infuriating, imaginary numbers rather then how to balance a checking account or budget effectively for a household? Why are we not requiring a class about things such as money management, effectively shopping and budgeting to survive and thrive as well as math levels through pre-algebra and allow students to delve into their choice of further math classes that reflect their own personal goals? Why do we drill Shakespeare's sonnets into our students along with Romeo and Juliet as if their life depends on it? Read the play. Discuss it. No need to memorize it. Save that memorization to vocabulary words of today or how to write an appropriate business letter or resume cover letter.
We have the power, as a society, as a whole, to stand up and demand a change but we must do so together. We must see the need for a change and move forward to create it.
What do you think? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Let us know in the comments!
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