A tutor I had a few years back told me a famous quote (I don't remember who it exactly was by) which said don't let school come in the way of your education.
Now I know exactly what the quote means.
Going back in time to the early years of my life when I attended elementary school in Pakistan, I realize the many causes of my failures and difficulties. The education system structure was simply wrong and today I feel it only adds confusion into the minds of young people.
As an example I encountered many difficulties in math, science and history. I was unable to understand many concepts such as the different categories of animal life except for birds and reptiles due to their similar appearances (ie. scaly skin, feathers etc.). I was unable to categorize other species such as mammals as I had literally no experience in categories.
Who would understand the relationships between cows, wales, humans and other mammals unless through thorough scientific research?
I feel the reason I managed to pull through elementary school was by memorizing most of my material instead of actually understanding it.
It was only later that I was able to understand how categorization works when my father taught me the different members of the cat family.
It was only from there that I understood how biological categorizing works after I observed different families of animals. But most of this came from independent research and discussions with people, not from school.
I know even ask myself, why are children even required to study something at such a young age which rather complex to understand.
Especially over things they have no first hand experience with. As already mentioned, I understood reptiles, birds and their relationships with one another because I had actually seen real life birds, turtles, lizards, snakes and not just from images in a textbook.
The same problems also arise when teaching other subjects such as history. Most of history is dominated by politics. We were made to study things like European and Roman history to the point of boredom.
I had little understanding of ancient history or how humans lived thousands of years ago. I could not picture or imagine how people lived in prehistoric times. Most of the visual insight we were given to ancient civilizations were paintings which is not very accurate.
How is a child supposed to grasp the political history of societies thousands of years ago, when he/she has little knowledge to the current political events of his or her society?
Even when learning about the history of our country Pakistan, we were not taught the Indo-European origins of our people and languages. Most crucial topics in educating us on the origins of our country and prehistory of our people was left out. This was not only because it was not part of the curriculum, but also because the teachers has no idea of this prehistory.
Only at an older age after discovering amazing connections between languages and peoples that most would not expect to be connected, my interest in history and culture skyrocketed.
I have also gained a strong interest in science after learning of interesting scientific facts and theories. With the age of the Internet and flow of free knowledge, I can confidently say I know human history better than most of my teachers did.
I can also confidently say that most of the things I have learned in life is through the Internet and through personal discussions with people knowledgeable in certain fields. Reading books has also been equally advantageous.
One can argue that the Internet is an unreliable source as anyone can post information true or false.
There is truth to this, however the Internet has many advantages that school does not have. If a student is required to research a certain amount of information on a subject, he/she could be spending hours researching through entire books for only one section within a section for the required information.
All the time wasted on this could be used into doing something else useful.
As examples I had to find meanings of listed words as a homework assignment in school. I have always resented using a dictionary knowing how much time and energy can be wasted on looking up each word even in a working order, let alone a list of several words being looked up.
Because it was the early days of the Internet I had to do a bit of web browsing for a dictionary website. But once this was done, I completed the list of words without any problems.
Another example is when I chose to do a history project on Genghis Khan. Instead of having to pull out books and search through them for hours to find information relevant to my project, I simply used Internet websites and video documentaries to help me with my project, using the websites as citations.
The Internet offers other advantages such as almost unlimited info on many topics since websites have more data space than school textbooks.
School also censors certain topics considered "politically incorrect" depending on the country they are taught in. Though access the Internet also gets censored in some countries, it still has no restrictions to what is put online.
As an example the theory of evolution is not taught in many countries due to the religious sensitivity it carries with it, yet the study of biology and comparison of organisms still continues. The question comes up how are these things related to one another since they are so similar?
But because the answer of evolution cannot be discussed, there is more confusion instead of full understanding of the entire subject.
I am not trying to suggest the Internet or virtual schools as a replacement for regular schooling, but rather point out the flaws in the school system worldwide; which only results in people learning through independent research rather than following a collective belief of a society.
The only solution to making school a useful place to learn is to seriously reform the education system and make learning interesting for students so the material doesn't end up being memorized instead of being actually learned.
How to reform the system is a different issue. However; a good start would be easing pressure on students, such as letting them wake later in the morning to start school, when young children need extra hours of rest.
Examinations should also not determine the student's entire grade, rather a fraction of their overall performance through the school year.
I have found that semestered school system is also very useful for students. When I attended high school, I took four courses a semester which made it easier to come though the courses even if they were academic/university level.
Examples like these can serve as good ones in reforming the school system which needs desperate reforming worldwide, no matter in what country.
