REFLECTION
While I was reading Finn's article, I started thinking about my own schooling experience in a middle class neighborhood. Day after day, I would wake up at 6 am, walk in the same classrooms and complete"busy work" that the teachers practically threw at our faces. I can't believe I spent twelve years of my life doing this. Twelve Years! I felt like I was on an assembly line being put together piece by piece, and when completed I looked like everyone else. Really, it didn't matter if you were smart or not, you just had to cheat the system to pass and move on to the next grade. “If you got enough right answers, you got a good grade." That one sentence alone represents the entirety of the 12 year education system that I was put through. No student actually understood what the teacher was saying, we just had to memorize, write it down on paper and then forget it.
Just think about this; if students were encouraged to be independent thinkers and challenge what was being taught to them, then maybe we wouldn't have wasted all of those years sitting in desks passing notes to friends. Growing up, getting good grades was important to me just so I could pass each grade and go to a good college. By no means did I think I would actually use anything I learned in the real world. “The dominant theme in the middle-class school was possibility. There was widespread anxiety about tests and grades but there was a pervasive belief that hard work would pay off” When I struggled with some subjects at school, I frequently told myself that "This work doesn't really matter. What matters is that I graduate and move on to something more exciting than this." SAdly, not all students can look forward to college after graduating (if they graduate). This counrty needs a new education system before students give up on themselves.
I found an article about why education is failing. I thought it was really interesting. Check it out!
http://www.newswithviews.com/DeWeese/tom100.htm
I 100% agree with your post. I also felt that if I didn't pass a class good enough that it would affect my chances of getting into a "good school". I barely remember anything I learned in high school because I was taking the classes just to pass because that's what we were taught to do.
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