A Learning Experience…or a Burden?

[Zippy]

Well, this is referring to school these days. While it may not apply to university level schools, it will apply to lower level schools from high school. But as of late, I’ve been taking notice of just how repetitive schooling seems to get. Language arts seems to teach us the same stuff over again, history seems to go over the same stuff just with more detail. It seems that the only new things I learn are in math and science, and because of that, it makes them the more enjoyable subjects to me.

Sometimes, at least to me, it seems that teachers just assign work for the heck of it…making it a burden on the students. I even brought the subject up with a teacher of mine to which he agreed. Personally, I think that the public school systems, in America at least, are horribly inefficient.

What say you? Is it more of a burden than a learning experience the older you get? And what do you think about the efficiency of the school systems?

[Al]

That is exactly how I feel.

[Digi]

Ah, mostly school is really just a burden. Every now and then, I might actually learn something! But really, it doesn't do much for me anymore.

My other classmates like to be stupid and stall the class, when I actually feel like getting taught something. I mean like, okay, you don't want to learn.. Just don't pay attention. I, for one, actually want to get something out of the money I'm funding the school with. >_> But if it's not the students, it's the teachers who just can't teach. I have to teach Chemistry to myself because my teacher, for one, can't spell or teach properly. <_<

I just think that the systems are.. kind of alright. It's just the students who don't want to cooperate and the couple of terrible teachers that could use a change.

[emvee]

I would say it's a burden, but sometimes the faculty can't help but assign work or get in trouble themselves. I know in our senior year, the teachers were beginning to rebel in their own ways, because they were cheated out of teaching what they wanted to teach. Work was expected even if there was no work to be done, simply to make our school look efficient to the inspectors that might be roaming the halls.

So basically, they took their inefficiency and took it out on the students, but the faculty couldn't do much because their jobs were at risk.

But in short, I do feel the system is inefficient. I mean, lessons over the years should be progressive, instead of pounding the same facts you've heard over and over again deeper into your head.

[red.yoshi]

Like I always say: "Without the stressful tests and homework, school might actually be fun and you might actually pay attention and understand the teacher." Of course, this is for those who actually are interested in the learning experience.

School is really just review, with, yes, detail. You keep putting in less and less time in until you get to college, and start studying what you actually want to do in life.

[Yoshi]

Once you hit the University level you will be knocked flat on your ass.

Learning is a burden in itself as it forces people to think about things that they might not want to, either because they're just not interested or that it's something that opposes their own beliefs. Subjects that cover similar areas get repetitive, as those details are usually a part of the classes core concepts. They need to be covered again because different people have different backgrounds. Even at the University level I've read John Locke no less than five times for different classes (American Gov't, International Relations, Comparative Politics, Political Theory, Social/Political Philosophy).

But the way they're approached and those small details you're talking about are important. History is going to be repetitive because it doesn't change. The additional details that they go into as you get into higher levels aren't supposed to be factual memorization, they're tool and concepts that students are supposed to use to think about what happened and maybe understand what went on a little better. Maybe even apply it to today.

The public school system does need work, but figuring out where the best way to change rules and regulations is hard to know for sure. Should the curriculum itself be changed, or the way it's presented? How much does the environment play into it, and, is more independent study or a more rigid teaching machine method better? Maybe it's just a misunderstanding of why these things are being taught.

After all, haven't you ever wondered why you need a high school diploma to sell cars or join the US marines?

[Enrique]

The only thing I could think of when I first saw this thread was a book that my classmate read that said that homework has an adverse effect on elementary school students.

Personally, it's both. Depending on a person's future plans, the school system may be a good base for fundamental ideas leading up to college or it is a complete waste of time.

I agree with most everything that has been said about inability of teachers, flaws in the curriculum, and needless repetition. Another problem that I'd like to introduce is the existence of standardized testing (ACT, SAT, Regents Exams (in NY)). Many teachers teach students how to pass a standardized test - most guilty in NY, where the final exams for many "core" classes are standardized tests - not necessarily to help their students gain knowledge.

Especially when standardized test scores are worth about $10 to Bill Gates in the big picture.

[Lord of the Dance]

Of course there's flaws in the system. People are only human, you know.
And yet, I do see a decline in performance. While school used to be a privilege, and still is in a lot of countries, now it has become a chore. "Oh dear, I have to go learn today. Oh dear, I have a test. Oh dear, I have an essay to write in one night."
I think it mostly has to do with how often the school will get sued because of stupid things, and how willing the students are to learn. People these days just don't know what they want to be, and thus they do not want to be anything. And so they don't do anything. And that's why it's a burden on the rest of us.