Social Issues

If you look on the internet for maybe five minutes you're more than likely going to stumble across a complaint about school. Most of the time these complaints are brushed off by our school leaders as the typical tirades of teenagers, but is there more to our suffering and protests than our superiors think?

Firstly, I'd like to say that I'm not trying to complain, however I'm sure that I will sound whiny at times and I apologize. I'm simply trying to explore the reasoning behind all of the turmoil.

What I've been bothered by most recently has been my teachers; really just one specifically. This educator has stated that they may offend you  and if that's a problem you should probably transfer out of their class, but is that really ok? A teacher who knows they're offensive but rather than trying to better themselves simply suggests you avoid them? There seems to be something wrong with this logic to me.

But I digress. This is more of a personal issue rather than an issue with the school system as a whole. As I'm sure you've heard many people think school used to be fun, back when it was actually about learning new information and expanding our world views. 

This isn't to say that we don't still learn new things, but it is a rare day when I am excited to go to class because I know I'm going to learn something useful. I completely understand why our superiors have deemed it necessary to continue our education, but how far is too far? A common complaint is that the things we are learning about now are not necessary for our futures. For the most part, I agree. Is it necessary that I know how to balance a chemical equation in order to succeed in the world? Most people would say no. Do you know how to balance a chemical equation? Whether the answer is yes or no, do you ever come across a situation where you may need this information? For the most part, I'm betting the answer is no. 

Another issue that is prevalent is that school isn't about learning anymore; not for the students at least. I know for me and a many of my friends when I think of school I think of stress about grades, homework, tests and quizzes, AP Tests, colleges, SAT's and many other things that make me want to crawl into a corner and cry a little. School is more about studying and memorizing facts than it is about expanding my world views and trying to better myself as a person. Sure I know that the molar mass for oxygen is 16.00 grams, but what does that tell you about me? All I think it says is that I spend too much time doing useless calculations and I have begun to engratiate the knowledge into my mind so I'm not constantly flipping between a periodic table and a worksheet.

I know this has been very negative, so I'll talk about the flipside for a moment as well. I do know of some teachers who struggle to inspire their students, and that’s our fault. It is so easy for us to be distracted from learning about the real story behind Pocahontas when we have the world in our pocket. Smart phones have revolutionized the struggle to pay attention in class. Students have to learn to shut off their screens and try and at least try to learn something.

Really both sides have some things that they should work on.