Today I watched a video on You Tube entitled "Why I Hate School But Love Education". Right away the title caught my eye and I had to watched it.(Link here) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZmM7zPLyI In the video a young man speaks for 6 minutes about education and all that is wrong with schools. The video basically sums up everything that I have been feeling about school, and puts into words what I have been thinking in my head for so many years. In the United States today schooling is a part of mostly every kids life. Teachers, counselors, and parents tell you every day that in order to get a good job and to have a good life you need to go to school and do well in school. The stress that is put on students to do well in school these days is immense. Going to school is never really something that is questioned and when I asked my parents why I have to go to school they usually reply, "Well, because you just do. Everyone has to."
I often wonder if going to school is really the only way to get educated. What about Jesus, Socrates, Malcolm X, Mother Theresa, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Jesse Owens, Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Abe Lincoln, and Walt Disney? These were all people who did not go to high school or college but changed the world anyway. Shakespeare changed the world with his writing, Beethoven with his music, Mother Theresa with her charity work, and Malcolm X with his work for human rights. All of these people were educated in their own ways and didn't need to go to school for 16 years to do it, so why do we? As the guy in the You Tube video says in the end of the video, "There is more than one way in this world to be an educated man." Education is very important but school is not the only way to get it. Unfortunately, school is the only option given to many students around the world.
After watching the You Tube video, I decided to go on Google and do some research on if schooling is the only way to be educated. I came across an article entitled, "School Not the Only Way to Learn" by Meredith Small for LiveScience.com. In the article Small talks about how she visited a group of Maya kids in Mexico and talks about how they did not have the opportunity to go to school but they were very good at other tasks. The Maya children cultivated fields, prepared food, cared for other children, chopped wood and pick up goods from town. At the end of the article Small observes that because of their knowledge of growing food and survival skills,"Unlike Western kids, they would still survive, even without understanding Shakespeare or knowing how to do algebra, or having the experience of riding the yellow bus." Smalls work with the Maya children shows that there is more than one way to be educated, and it doesn't always have to involve going to school for 30 hours a week for 12 years.
Every day, students spend countless nights writing papers on books they could care less about and doing never ending math problems they will never use in real life at 2 AM as they struggle to keep their eyes open, just to be woken up at 6AM to go to school and repeat the whole process again. Why should we spend so many hours memorizing useless things we will never remember or use in the future. Why should we sacrifice our sanity, our happiness and our life for school, when going to school is not the only way to get educated.
Citations:
Small, Meredith F. "School: Not the Only Way to Learn." LiveScience.com. N.p., 7 Sept. 2007. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
Oh, Chrissy, I could write forever in response to this post. I am amazed that some of your classmates have not responded to this very provocative post. First, let me address the technical stuff. Thanks for mixing it up a bit and choosing a provocative topic. Also, thanks for doing some research. I think finding a Youtube video is a great idea, and I like that you supported your claim with research. There are several minor mistakes with the writing. For example, look at your second sentence, "I had to watched it..." I found a couple mistakes like this.
ReplyDeletePart of me agrees with your frustration about formal schooling. Higher education is a personal choice. No one has to go to college. I would argue, though, that elementary and secondary education need to remain requirements for all citizens. Our success as a nation depends on the education of our citizens, and therefore, education must be mandatory. All Americans need to be proficient with language and numbers. We can't guarantee this unless we try to educate everyone. How are we to compete internationally, if we allow people to choose not to be educated? However, higher education should remain a choice. That said, I still struggle with this video you found. Specifically, I struggle with what the speaker claims are "statistics." He really does not cite statistics. He lists some statistical anomalies. Is this logical? Should we make our decisions for educating 300 million Americans based on the educational choices of 10? The video was rhetorically powerful, but I felt that it misrepresented this issue a bit. I guess that is the nature of rhetoric.