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I chanced upon the following video ripping into the education system.
Its just six minutes long so it won't take up much of your time.
I must admit that it did open old wounds for me...
...and I feel that I must comment upon the salient points made.
You should perhaps be warned that I may be a little biased in my words.
That which follows is my commentary on this video by Next School.
Industrial Age Values
The parallel drawn between the mass education system and the qualities deemed desirable for factories stings in its truth.
I remember the bells and being lined up with other students in neat lines and collectively made to recite anthems and the like.
Furthermore there was a nationalistic slant to things - an element skirted by the video - but worth mentioning if not delving too deeply into at this stage. The short of it is that it makes logical sense when the author of the video claims that the education system was designed to merely prepare human beings for the toils of mundane factory work ("mass production and mass control").
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Just follow the instructions and you're fine.
You know what can also follow instructions?
Thats right! Robots and computers.
They can follow instructions far more precisely and without complaint.
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Which means that the education system must change track as otherwise it'd simply be perpetuating the obsoletion of the poor kids whose futures are entrusted to their care.
Lack of Autonomy
The notion that students within the school system are given very little autonomy or control hits very close to home.
While there are a few things to be said here, such would overlap things to be said about other aspects. Yes the system was quite unmotivating.
The one thing that I would like to point out here is that the metaphorical trucking of students within a cage of their curriculum by the system looks very familiar to me. I myself like to refer to the education system as being a rollercoaster.
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Students are there for the ride.
Inauthentic Learning
This is a whale... and not of the Steemit kind.
If one were to accept the message delivered within this section alone then it would blow a huge hole wide open within the validity of the education system that we have been coerced to accept (heck - in some nations its considered a crime to provide one's children an education that doesn't involve submission to the potential-curbing, control-enhancing drivel that the state would have them endure).
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What is the point of delivering satisfactory test results when a significant portion of the semi-irrelevant information that had been crammed into our poor minds against our wills (really now - ask any child if they 'want' to study that next chapter of non-important-stuff-made-important-by-archaic-grading-practices - along with all the rest) would be destined to fade over days, weeks, and months?
While we're at it - what is the point of robbing children of the majority of their childhoods so that they may recite the precise day that the Normandy landing occured in WWII?
Think about it for a moment. Once upon a time a child had a pretty simple but authentic childhood skimming knees in the dirt with friends and not doing particularly well at school. Then, when they were well advanced in their teenage years they took on adult responsibilities and either went in for their first jobs or started to treat their education more seriously. With a few sparse qualifications and a school-leaving certificate they found an entry-level job and worked their way up.
These days? Kids find that they are no longer kids by the time they finish their mandatory education - and often find themselves graduating in their early-to-mid-20s... where a huge chunk of their lives is thus already forfeit for a lot of great memories... of... pouring over books... and playing video games because they need a quick fix and haven't many authentic friends to hang out with. And then they find difficulty finding work because they are either outclassed by others with equally useless certifications - or lack experience or... are overqualified.
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No Room For Passion
Zinger after zinger. Here comes another one!
The author pretty much states that the education system does not seem to care about the unique passions of its many students.
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It is standardized... a uniform, standard delivery of 'stuff' (that it labels lessons) for all - in pretty much the same way.
The education system itself is increasingly acknowledging of this - and this is why recent decades have seen the rise of "Teaching Assistants" and, more tellingly, "Learning Support Assistants".
Yes, I know that the latter is intended for persons who suffer from "learning disabilities". Yes, I know that I used quotation marks there. And I failed to find a truly fitting image. Lets just say that the blindfold is a metaphor for the irrelevancy of the challenges posed such that there 'needs' to be assistance so that the student doesn't end up completely lost... because... sure... its him or her who is at fault and not the education system...
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The system would have us believe that a significant portion of the classroom suffers from a "learning disability". This conveniently skirts around the real issues - those of subjecting a broad demographic set of human subjects with a single form and method of teaching the same set of information.
Lets try a social experiment. Lets set up a single set menu with very 'few' choices for an entire town for an entire week and see how many people like it. Yes, ensuring that the menu is very diverse - just as the subjects that students are expected to invariably excel in are.
I've jumped the gun here - so lets move on to the next problem.
How We Learn
Students of very different personalities and ambitions are simply expected to excel with the same standardized set-menu education curriculum, the same standardized set-menu education resources - and the same time-frame.
The author of the video (or it might simply be the narrator - 'shrugs') laments that students could learn far better had they been attributed a different kind of resource - or simply more time.
And, you know what? He is right. I know how it feels to underperform in examinations where I would do very well in a portion of the paper but would simply run out of time before I could finish it all. An examination a fair portion of the relevant information for which I would forget in the coming days - and thus undermining the validity of the result.
Lets be a little honest with ourselves. If you were to ask yourself if you could pass those exams that you took more than two years ago - would you pass even half of them? Yes - some of you could - but now try answering that again following five years.
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Nah... I'll just hold on to these dry squishy certificates until the education system gets redesigned from the ground up...
Lecturing
OK. Great.
A lecture spanning 45 minutes has been delivered to a room with 50 students.
Yay...
The mode of delivery is not optimal. Not everybody will be at the same level of understanding. Some will be ahead. Some will be behind. This is stated in the video.
What is not stated is that one reason why lecturing is "fundamentally dehumanizing" is due to the sheer density of the information being presented to students with little regard to their state of mental or physical health or enngagement, let alone their ability to follow.
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While I admit that I was quite "triggered" by the video - I had been looking for an opportunity to demonstrate a correct way to utilize youtube videos upon Steemit.
Always be clear that the video is not your own and always add your own additive commentary or similar to justify your post. Like many others, it annoys me to see people posting others' videos with scantily any indication as to whether its theirs or not - or even some text that dispells any notion of piggybacking off of the work of the author of that video.
If you 'must' share something of the sort without additional commentary - then I think that declining payment on post is a sufficient measure (but always be clear that the video is not yours).
This is also meant to spark a discussion.
Do you feel yourself to be in agreement with the message of the video (or my commentary)? Did you have personal experiences that you wished to share? If so then do comment below.
Does there remain hope... or...?
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Also if you found this post interesting and would like to share this with your friends then a resteem couldn't hurt.
If you 'didn't' like this then feel free to share your views in comments. A civil conversation can go a long way.
Sincerely,
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