seriously. what has our educational system become. i’ve tried to think of whether our generation is just too lazy, too dramatic, etc but i honestly think we are being over worked and have too high of expectations for our age and for how we are treated. we are told to eat 3 meals a day, get 8 hours of sleep, get to school on time, be in clubs, do sports, finish all of our homework etc. not to mention house work, jobs to pay for college (which is a complete other rant in itself) and still have time to spend unwinding. what many adults fail to understand is that when they were in school they didn’t have advanced placement classes (AP/college courses in high school), they didn’t have honors classes. these more advanced classes are undeniably required if you plan on getting into a good college. it all adds to the stress level of teenagers today. they always say that we have it easier because they didn’t have nearly as advanced technology as we do but it goes both ways. the more technology advances the more we are required to learn. and to be quite honest, the teenagers (with everything else that is going on in their lives) can only handle so much. they wonder why crime rates are going up, they wonder why more and more teenagers are depressed, committing suicide, etc. the problem is right under their nose.
for example: an athlete cannot be overworked by a coach, otherwise they crack under pressure and injuries are more and more common. the same goes for school. another thing i would like to point out is (where i live at least) many elementary schools have cut cursive writing out of the school curriculum. many people think this is outrageous since it has been something children were required to know and “would use for the rest of their lives” for SO long now but it just comes to prove how many things kids in just the 2nd grade must learn! you have youngsters learning long division 2 years earlier than i did when i was in elementary school. it’s crazy! now there’s nothing wrong with improvement, but there comes a time when it gets to be too much for people to handle.
i suppose what i am trying to say is that the human mind is a delicate thing, and people need to be reminded that memorizing all of this information can become unnecessary. there is a fine line between exposing students to certain material, and forcing them to memorize something they have no interest in majoring in. maybe there needs to be a few changes in our school systems today.
okay that’s my rant. sorry it’s soo long and sorry if it doesn’t make sense. it’s 12:30 am and i’m stressed out and i needed to get that off my mind so that i could continue to study for final exams tomorrow.
Seriously?! The problem isn’t in being pushed to hard. Kids are far, far more smarter than we give them credit for, and in general, they have been treated far below what they are capable of and far below what our standards used to be.
The problem is what we focus on teaching, how we teach it, and the environment we teach it in. School makes kids feel suicidal because they get bullied and do not receive adequate support, not because they have to long divide.
Yes, the school system needs a complete overhaul. It relies on antiquated notions of intelligence and ability and it ties teachers hands as to what they can do. For example, when I went through training, they advised not trying to break a fight up. Because trying to physically break a fight up will result in you getting sued. That’s right, it’s encouraged to let children beat the shit out of each other, in order to protect your own ass and entire career, because one of those child’s parents is likely to sue you for daring to lay a hand on their kid.
That is the problem. Bureaucracy, expectations of teachers to be parents but take away their ability to do so, the government expecting money to materialize out of thin air for school districts, those are the problems. Not that you have to actually study for your finals, or that people expect you to learn things you are capable of learning.
I think both have really good points. Yes kids/teens have a very capable ability to learn things. But at the same time, it’s what we are learning too. Or how it is being taught. (and yes, there are many kids who get bullied in school that get no support at all, I haven’t heard of many schools giving support for children who are bullied unless it’s extreme)
Schools expect everyone is on the same playing field. Or 2 fields to be precise. Not everyone has the same learning abilities. Some learn slower/faster, or in quite places, or sitting in a soft comfy chair instead of a hard plastic one. But schools have the “Main or AP level” and the “special needs level”. There really isn’t much of an in between, and depending on where you are it could be more lenient or strict.
Not to mention every teacher has a different style of teaching. This year I have had U.S. Literature my first and second trimester. First trimester I had one teacher then a different one for Second tri. I got a solid B as my grade first tri and the worst F I have ever had in my second tri. They taught so differently and I learned better under one versus the other. This is a big things because we only have so many teachers in a subject, sometimes only one. And therefore there is no variety. Even though every person is different, there is not many different ways provided to learn.
My school has 6 periods a day, everyday. Personally, I think it’s a horrible way to run school, because you are responsible for 6 different classes each and every day/week. It gets really hard if you have more than one hard class. Even if the other classes have little homework or are an easy subject for you, it gets extremely hard to do homework for one class, and still have homework in another and another etc. It’s basically forcing you to prioritize you assignments. “Which class is more important” or “Which class can I do the work better/easier in”
People are social creatures, Teenagers especially so. It’s hard to find time to relax or have fun if you have to worry about homework. And if you have a job it gets even more hard. Then when you get to being a Junior and Senior in high school now you have to worry about what you are going to do for the rest of your life! I don’t even know what I want for my birthday in a few months let alone know what I want to spend a shit ton of money and time on for something that will have to get me a job to pay for things necessary to live.
It’s crazy how much is expected of teens, and yes each thing is achievable, but when there are too many goals set to reach at once then it gets confusing and stressful.
On top of all this you have just the basic issues of life be it with friends, family, money, health and plenty of other things. Sorry I made this response so long, I agree with a few points from each person above, and I’m just adding another viewpoint. Thank you for reading.
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