On Modern Day Education

Arcane

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“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
- Mark Twain


How often in your life do you think you’ll need to draw upon your extensive knowledge of the inner workings of quantum physics? Your profound insight into the life and works of Venetian High Renaissance painter Titian Vecellio? Perhaps one day you will engage in a scholarly and most illuminating conversation concerning the lingering impact of the medieval crusades upon the society today…

But probably not.

So the question you must ask yourself now is… what does knowing that “x=73y^-8i” tell me? And how is this supposed to help me in my later life?
The sad truth is that modern day schooling isn’t so much concentrating on what may be actually really useful to us, but on cramming our heads with enough academic and fancy-looking trash that colleges and parents can’t tell the difference.

Today’s minds and our educational system have been corrupted by something I like to call the Grade over Gain Syndrome, and from the looks of it, it’s something that’s here to stay.


But what is this Grade over Gain Syndrome exactly?

Little is known about this bizarre mental disorder, but it is in fact widespread in our world today, and is extremely catching. The virus is particularly notorious for targeting the minds of adults, especially parents, and expert research has shown that it can in fact be a hereditary disease (though not always). Luckily for us, the virus is non-lethal - though certainly not harmless!

How do I know if I have it?

Well, this is exactly the problem. The thing is that the GoG disorder is a very subtle disease - its symptoms are so quiet and so common that many people disregard them completely. The most familiar symptom however, present in 95% of GoG sufferers, is the tendency to become overly obsessed with grades and academic work, even when it is completely and utterly pointless. This kind of behavior then often leads to pressure and over-exhaustion from work, and can even cause rifts between suffers and their children, who are nearly always the secondary victims of GoG.

Oh my god, what do I do if I have GoG?

Sadly, there is currently no cure for GoG except extensive rehabilitation to change the patient’s mindset, and even this is a very tentative form of treatment, seeing as stubbornness and refusal-to-see-things-any-other-way frequently accompany the GoG disorder (see also: On Human Nature). Preventing it is currently the only solution we can offer. Expert advice to the populace is to keep an open mind - never let yourself get tied down by mindless convention, and if you suspect your family or friends have caught the GoG virus, contact your family doctor immediately.


Putting that aside… Why do people feel so strongly about grades? What are they really but tickets to a good college where the process is simply repeated? Grades are nothing without gain, meaningless. Information goes in one ear and out the other; students forget everything they’ve learned after the final exams. This is not because they’re stupid, or because they have BAD ATTITUDES, but because THEY DON’T CARE. You can’t teach someone something unless they care. You can’t force people to like something they don’t like. But that is exactly what many people nowadays fail to realize. And so our “education” continues to decline into the depths of just-because, and school becomes no more than a chore. Don’t let it happen to you. Don’t let it happen to your children. I beg you, no matter what happens, always remember this: that schooling should never be separate from education.
 

Kainami

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There are two major issues here:

GoG syndromes require the basis of strict parenting and illogical decisions from the guardians. Therefore, since not everyone is a possible victim of GoG, education still proves to be helpful towards certain people, which lead to the second main concern.

If there was no education, or knowledge of what x=73y^-8i 's outcome is, there is a large chance that the world will be overrun by retards. To put it in metaphorical terms, if the retards were a waterfall, education is the dam. If the dam breaks, the waterfall floods everything and we all go straight to hell.

I understand your point of view. There are just these few perfect water droplets of H20 (if you don't know what that is, it proves you need education, therefore even further solidifying my argument)

Enough water metaphors. Kainami, out.
 

thewrongvine

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I agree with Arcane. Heh, funny how it's so dramatized. :D

Most people learn things that they never use in life.

I think it would be better if people picked what they wanted to learn. I mean the basics are needed, like maybe pre-school to 6th grade, but afterwards it should be a person's choice. If you take out the stuff not everyone needs, you can fit a lot of things from pre to 6. Then from 7 and 8th grade, you choose your line of work, such as more math, language arts, science, specials (music, tech, etc). Of course, that's just like the system of picking a different high school or college or university, but maybe at an earlier age.

Then, you can argue that most kids would be lazy and bums and not pick anything and then have no "eduction" but kids get bored because of how it is now, learning all that useless stuff (for most people). Perhaps if it wasn't that boring in the first place, kids would get more motivated to their dreams, and actually pursue eduction as a fun thing.

Kainami, why can't you just say water? A lot of scientists and the "smart" people just use complicated phrases, words, numbers, combinations, etc just so they sound smart so those that don't understand fully think the person is so special. But it can be said simple.

A lot of smart people just use big words n stuff so they sound smart so dummies think they so smart. Make it simple. :D

No offense to anyone, but do you think someone who has been schooled like it is now, and learned "x=73y^-8i" when they were younger, but is now a, say, construction worker, still remember it? No offense once again, because there's different purposes for people. A lot of things learned in school is NOT education for life. :O

~Hai-Bye-Vine~
 

Syndrome

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If you don't know how to use what you've learned in real life, you aren't learning.
That's pretty much all I have to say xD
 

Ninva

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Haha! I love this article. Why didn't you submit it to POFW? If you did, then I forgot again.

Anyways, the education system is corrupt. No one likes it. When I was in eighth grade, I left my principle a little poem. It basically told him that I didn't approve of how things were. So he naturally got very upset, but then he thought it over and tried helping me. Shortly he'd learn I was just too obsessed with my own thing to care about my grades.

The reason education is corrupted is because of the No Child Left Behind Act passed by president Bush (and other acts that transformed schools into businesses). This act made schools compete for high grade scores. This act also made some schools actually ignore "drop-out" students by putting them in certain disqualification categories. Since then, my education experience hasn't been bright. Being a person of several learning disabilities, I was put into a special education program, which merely neglected me for I was too busy "reading" in a corner. In truth, I was looking at the pictures and outlining stories I'd write someday even though I couldn't read or write at the time.

Once my mother wised up, she took me out of the public education system and brought me to a private school, which is a whole new learning environment for me. I do not thrive at all. I barely manage to stay afloat in the constant competition to meet the honor roll, win academic decathlon and to earn scholarships for the distant future. Teachers have regular lectures with the same message: "The more education you got, the more money you got." There's no amen, just a finger in your face.

Education is now a point based RPG. You can either train your character the right way to stay above the evolving monsters, or you can master one skill and boost your way through a horde of one type but then falter against other types. Thus I have a hard time believing that anyone can be lazy during their teenage years. They just have their "priorities wrong."

Life isn't a RPG game. Education should mirror life. It should teach students skills they need and want. A well-rounded education helps us, but those who want to perfect a certain craft should be allowed to.

I know future engineers who have to stay in after school finishing English homework when they could be helping dad in the garage. And I know of ambitious programmers being rejected by colleges because they failed history and literature their sophomore year.

Things have changed. This isn't your father's situation. The information we are required to learn has increased significantly, yet supposedly it's not enough. America is starting to plummet while other countries are rising with their education systems. Now we, the next generation of Americans, must try to fix the education system and compete with Asian countries. I am not anti-Asia, but I'm not pro-poverty either.
 

Knight7770

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Quite often I use humor in class and in my essays. I think I'm a pretty funny person, and am leaving the 'comedian' career option open. Humor is also important in real life conversation and speeches. But do I get extra points or a higher grade for using it? Of course not. :thdown:

Good article, though.
 

Ninva

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Please, Vine, my post was a joke. It was sardonic.

I understood that, and I hope Arcane was joking too (really, I do). But my stance remains firm. Education is a great way to get a round knowledge, yet I believe we focus too much on the grades than the students.

That was my big rant. Once I think about it, I probably sounded like an idiot. Oh well.

Anyways, my reply is irrelevant to your comment addressed to Vine. I just feel obligated to state that my reply is my own opinion.

I still believe education is important. We need education to avoid making stupid mistakes in life, yet some of us get left behind. That's not good.
 

thewrongvine

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Yeah, I know it was a joke, heh. I was just using you as a point, :p

~Hai-Bye-Vine~
 

Jimpy

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There are just these few perfect water droplets of H20 (if you don't know what that is, it proves you need education, therefore even further solidifying my argument)

*Perfect h20 droplets. You've kind of stated 'water droplets of water' there. :p

Most people learn things that they never use in life.

Most people don't learn things they could use in life.

If you take out the stuff not everyone needs, you can fit a lot of things from pre to 6. Then from 7 and 8th grade, you choose your line of work, such as more math, language arts, science, specials (music, tech, etc). Of course, that's just like the system of picking a different high school or college or university, but maybe at an earlier age.

Then, you can argue that most kids would be lazy and bums and not pick anything and then have no "eduction" but kids get bored because of how it is now, learning all that useless stuff (for most people). Perhaps if it wasn't that boring in the first place, kids would get more motivated to their dreams, and actually pursue eduction as a fun thing.

While we learn a lot of useless filler, it does give us a taste of everything, and ultimately helps us have some sort of direction without it being blind. I didn't know very well what I wanted to do until about grade 12-ish. I don't think the system should be shortened. I'm actually kind of pro-system being made longer. Obviously I would have changes, but the average 16-18 year old is really quite clueless, and the system we have in place does in effect provide us with direction. Maybe not in a way everyone wants, but we don't always get as we want (not much will change that).

A lot of smart people just use big words n stuff so they sound smart so dummies think they so smart.

Smarter people use simpler words so anyone can understand what they are talking about. Jay Ingram for example. He's my literary hero.

The reason education is corrupted is because of the No Child Left Behind Act passed by president Bush (and other acts that transformed schools into businesses). This act made schools compete for high grade scores. This act also made some schools actually ignore "drop-out" students by putting them in certain disqualification categories.

Once my mother wised up, she took me out of the public education system and brought me to a private school, which is a whole new learning environment for me.

Some people however are too laissez-faire and end up going to private schools of sorts just so things are easier on them / less demanding, which I'm not sure is the best fix. A step further from changing school sytem, I've known a few people who get pulled from the system entirely and as a result tend to have huge social issues. Which is something the school system certainly gives us, which I would argue is more valued then the knowledge we gain from cutting up a pig and smelling its formaldehyde laced organs.

I am not anti-Asia.

Don't kid yourself. :rolleyes:

Quite often I use humor in class and in my essays. ... Humor is also important in real life conversation and speeches. But do I get extra points or a higher grade for using it? Of course not. :thdown:

I've done a few essays and things myself that were really quite funny but just didn't meet criteria, which some of my teachers have just as well said 'its good but can't receive the grades'. :*( My heart weeps.
 

Ninva

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ome people however are too laissez-faire and end up going to private schools of sorts just so things are easier on them / less demanding, which I'm not sure is the best fix.

No. Lutheran private schools are much more demanding, and the GPA are much higher. Sorry to disappoint you there, Jimpy.
 

Seb!

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This is sad. Little kids are running around with knowledge about the natural world that Pythagoras and Archimedes would have killed for.

Throughout our history, many people have died to pass on the secrets of the universe so that everyone could have the opportunity to understand how nature works. Everyone should know what we have learned up to this point, no matter how unimportant you think it is.

It's also untrue that you will never have intellectual debate after the age of 21. If you're uneducated and ignorant, you just cannot understand reality in the way that educated people can. It's just one of the facts of life and it has nothing to do with money.
 

Arcane

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+ My point wasn't that schooling was useless, but people aren't gaining as much from it as they could. A lot of kids don't even know why they're going to school, except that they have to, just-because. Hell, even me, it feels "WRONG" somehow not to finish school, go to university, blah blah blah...

+ Another thing is the majority of kids don't even like school, and that's crucial. You CAN'T have kids hating school, because that defeats the whole purpose of education. If I hate, say, English, I'm never going to try my best in it, or remember anything the teacher says, and so in the end, I'm just learning it for the grade, so my parents won't ground my ass.

+ Certainly a lot of kids benefit from this all-round method, but some kids do know what they're doing, or know that they'll for sure never go into say, physics at least. Me, I knew what I was going to do several years ago, and sometimes that makes things like Algebra and homework (I gotta say this: I don't believe in homework. People should learn because they want to learn, and do "homework" because they want to do it and are interested, not be forced to do it because it "affects their grades") a real bitch. Hell, sometimes I think I'm learning more from my little research sessions than I am at school.
 

thewrongvine

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+ My point wasn't that schooling was useless, but people aren't gaining as much from it as they could. A lot of kids don't even know why they're going to school, except that they have to, just-because. Hell, even me, it feels "WRONG" somehow not to finish school, go to university, blah blah blah...

+ Another thing is the majority of kids don't even like school, and that's crucial. You CAN'T have kids hating school, because that defeats the whole purpose of education. If I hate, say, English, I'm never going to try my best in it, or remember anything the teacher says, and so in the end, I'm just learning it for the grade, so my parents won't ground my ass.

+ Certainly a lot of kids benefit from this all-round method, but some kids do know what they're doing, or know that they'll for sure never go into say, physics at least. Me, I knew what I was going to do several years ago, and sometimes that makes things like Algebra and homework (I gotta say this: I don't believe in homework. People should learn because they want to learn, and do "homework" because they want to do it and are interested, not be forced to do it because it "affects their grades") a real bitch. Hell, sometimes I think I'm learning more from my little research sessions than I am at school.

Exactly! Ehem. Yeah, that.

I say let the retards crash and burn the world... :|

~Hai-Bye-Vine~
 

Jimpy

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No. Lutheran private schools are much more demanding, and the GPA are much higher. Sorry to disappoint you there, Jimpy.

Ah sorry, I was thinking of private schools in a more general sense, things like 'adult high school', or one for people with 'learning troubles' and even ones that are 'upscale'. They tend not to be any more difficult then public systems, and often the ones you pay to go to, your marks are higher / get bumped.
 

Ninva

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Ah sorry, I was thinking of private schools in a more general sense, things like 'adult high school', or one for people with 'learning troubles' and even ones that are 'upscale'. They tend not to be any more difficult then public systems, and often the ones you pay to go to, your marks are higher / get bumped.

I got lowered by quite a bit.
 

Genkora

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well, I agree that there is a grade over gain syndrome, but there is an easy explanation as to why you must learn some things that are seemingly useless. The reason is not everyone knows what they are going to do for the rest of their life at the age of five. If they did, then we could learn only what is useful, but we don't. So we must learn a little of everything. Right now I am in school to be an engineer, so all that math was useful while history was not so useful. But what if I had changed my mind and decided to become a historian? Simply put, the history would have become useful. Not to mention it's nice knowing lots of things.

TL;DR keeps your options open, and yes, studiousness and intelligence are very different things.
 

wc3shady

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Despite the fact that 90% of students don't benefit from 90% of school, the 10% that do benefit are the people and scientists making the world a better place.
 

uberfoop

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The big problem is that the secondary school system in the US needs to be streamlined. Pretty much everything that needs to be there is there, but there's a bunch of garbage taped onto various things here and there. In the end, it seems as though a combination of an obstructive school management hierarchy and a lack of the balls necessary to take the initiative has kept the nation from cutting what should be cut. That, and a whole load of idealistic geniouses who think that things like, say, a highly structured senior project is a reasonable thing to impliment at a high school level. My english teacher even tried to slam my arguments down by comparing the structure to the engineering projects that I potentially could work on later in life based on my current path. Yeah, that's not how the world works. Unfortunately, it's hard to come up with a counter argument when you try to limit yourself to practical arguments that actually work in context compared to when you just spew idealism, so I generally just drop it.
 

Varine

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The current education system sucks. Pretty easy to see when people graduate who can barely read.

Despite the fact that 90% of students don't benefit from 90% of school, the 10% that do benefit are the people and scientists making the world a better place.

That 10% also usually has years more education beyond secondary school, which I think is what benefits them more than that physics 101 class they took in high school.

The school needs to focus on what you need to get along in life without expecting you to go to college. Not that post secondary school shouldn't be encouraged, but how many of you were taught how to file taxes in high school or manage finances? I wasn't (although we were required to create plans for opening a small business, never really understood why given everything we missed). Just something that is kind of required in life.... I find it sad, that in my 12th grade English class there were still they kids that paused on words like necessity.
 
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