Where has all of our taxpayer money gone to? Instead of building a new theater and a swimming pool, that huge chunk of
money should have been used to build walls in grimy, old High School South. However, I am not here to discuss the fiscal decisions of our Board of Ed., nor rant about the shabby structures of our school.
Education fails in our school district, if not the entire country. The only reason why students at WWP HSS succeed is due to the painstaking effort that they put into their academic work and activities. I have yet to meet a teacher who greatly inspired me to pursue learning to the fullest extent.
From the way our teachers teach us how to "learn" the subject, I have to say that either they don't know how to teach very well or they just don't enjoy their job. Because of this, the learning process becomes a drudgery instead of an incentive to develop intellectually.
How does staring at a powerpoint for 45 minutes straight evoke a passionate desire to fully grasp the fundamentals of a social studies topic? How does being placed in classes supervised by spaced-out and irresponsible teachers inspire students to develop good work ethics and time management? Unless the student applies himself with more intensity, it is rather difficult to learn in such circumstances.
The way we are taught to learn is highly counterproductive. We are forced to analyze and analyze and analyze some more. This is evident especially when it comes to writing essays. Our creative freedom is crushed with equivocating prompts. We no longer can enjoy a book properly because of that essay due next week. Furthermore, no one is properly taught how to write an essay. Our language arts teachers never go fully into detail on how to craft a legitimate essay nor do they concentrate on our grammar and comprehension skills. It's always an essay and then another essay and then another one. To add some more bad news, the feedbacks that we receive from our teachers are flimsy and ambiguous. But we students are at fault too. We tend to be passive instead of being proactive. We lounge lazily in our rooms when we could dig in deeper into the course material and discover new possibilities in scoring better on the next test. Hence forth, we end up blaming our teachers for everything.
I also believe that we students perform poorly academically because our schools try to cram too many subjects into our heads in one sitting. Consequentially, we are forced to regurgitate that mishmash of reluctantly acquired information through tests and quizzes.
Passive learning fails to enrich as much as active learning. Take a look at Finland. That country has the best educational system in the world. There are several reasons for this.
1) Interactive learning is highly encouraged.
2) The best teachers are hired.
3) Classes are fun. Therefore, the students actually enjoy the workload even if completing it means sacrificing free time.
4) All this is possible because the money is utilized for appropriate purposes.
The reason why the United States cannot compete with Finland on education is because the United States is a militaristic nation. Too much of our taxpayer money has been allocated towards manufacturing arms and waging unnecessary wars.
If we students want to experience a whole new educational process that is more enriching and dynamic than ever before, our nation must first go through a paradigm shift.
The United States must dismantle all of its military posts from the world. These establishments are a waste of money and resources. Second, the United States economy must significantly reduce its dependence on war factories. I cannot tell you just how perplexed I am at how much money our nation puts into and makes from generating killing machines and apocalypse-inducing man-of-war's. Why should we spend all that money to blow up innocent citizens and destroy homes? Why can't we use that money to renovate schools, aid students with learning disabilities, and help foreign students adjust to their new environments? Why must we always solve everything with violence? Is this really what we want to leave in this chapter of American history, that the United States is willing to blow everyone up and that we Americans are bellicose, gun-loving, racists? We must not repeat history. Remember Vietnam. Remember Iraq.
We should no longer enroll in jam-packed high schools and memorize pointlessly from textbooks and forget everything after an exam. The maximum number of students per school should be limited to 300. It is better to learn in a quiet space than in a hectic, wall-less environment.
Interactive learning must be asserted strongly in kindergartens and primary schools. This will motivate children to learn at a young age and succeed in their future academic careers. Writing and economics should be taught intensively in middle schools. If students firmly grasp the fundamentals of those two subjects, they will be set to pursue lucrative careers in their adulthood. Once they finish middle school, specialized high schools shall be available to accommodate each student's respective interests in a certain subject. Finally, the concept of "Ivy League" or "elite" universities should be abolished. Every college and university must be equally prestigious and not be ranked above or below one another.
Changing the American educational system would be equivalent to ameliorating the current American image. With a newly improved schooling system, our nation shall conceive more critical thinking individuals. We shall in turn, appoint future leaders that will guide our country alongside the morals that we have been fighting for since 1776. We will no longer be a gun-loving people. We will no longer be accused of supporting a system that takes innocent lives and segregates races. We shall be progressive. We shall prosper. We shall lead with peace and freedom.
My wishful thinking is that this change will take place soon. However, I do not see that in the forecast. Any sort of reform takes time. For now, we must endure and make do with what we have. Good luck to you all, fellow students. I wish you luck at surpassing the banalities of our high school's educating methods and hope that one day, all this will change forever.
The United States must dismantle all of its military posts from the world. These establishments are a waste of money and resources. Second, the United States economy must significantly reduce its dependence on war factories. I cannot tell you just how perplexed I am at how much money our nation puts into and makes from generating killing machines and apocalypse-inducing man-of-war's. Why should we spend all that money to blow up innocent citizens and destroy homes? Why can't we use that money to renovate schools, aid students with learning disabilities, and help foreign students adjust to their new environments? Why must we always solve everything with violence? Is this really what we want to leave in this chapter of American history, that the United States is willing to blow everyone up and that we Americans are bellicose, gun-loving, racists? We must not repeat history. Remember Vietnam. Remember Iraq.
We should no longer enroll in jam-packed high schools and memorize pointlessly from textbooks and forget everything after an exam. The maximum number of students per school should be limited to 300. It is better to learn in a quiet space than in a hectic, wall-less environment.
Interactive learning must be asserted strongly in kindergartens and primary schools. This will motivate children to learn at a young age and succeed in their future academic careers. Writing and economics should be taught intensively in middle schools. If students firmly grasp the fundamentals of those two subjects, they will be set to pursue lucrative careers in their adulthood. Once they finish middle school, specialized high schools shall be available to accommodate each student's respective interests in a certain subject. Finally, the concept of "Ivy League" or "elite" universities should be abolished. Every college and university must be equally prestigious and not be ranked above or below one another.
Changing the American educational system would be equivalent to ameliorating the current American image. With a newly improved schooling system, our nation shall conceive more critical thinking individuals. We shall in turn, appoint future leaders that will guide our country alongside the morals that we have been fighting for since 1776. We will no longer be a gun-loving people. We will no longer be accused of supporting a system that takes innocent lives and segregates races. We shall be progressive. We shall prosper. We shall lead with peace and freedom.
My wishful thinking is that this change will take place soon. However, I do not see that in the forecast. Any sort of reform takes time. For now, we must endure and make do with what we have. Good luck to you all, fellow students. I wish you luck at surpassing the banalities of our high school's educating methods and hope that one day, all this will change forever.
1 comment:
i kinda like the no walls :]
gives our school "character"
however yeah i think the random investments are stupid. probably explains why we have no ropes course or substitute teachers ._.
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