Education

Here begins my first little rant.


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     In all the years of my life I have been considered a 'smart' person. Family members viewed me in part as a "Straight A student". Despite the obvious paper-evidence that would contest to this, a lot of those I knew and still know today have some sort of framework I'm supposed to fill. Now this is no rant on my own shortcomings or how they are or are not justified, but rather a more in-depth look at the education system today, or at the very least the education system that I've been put through as a child born and raised in America.


     There is first the education your parents give you before you enter the official education system. They teach you to share if you have siblings, they teach you to be polite, and to be kind to others. Or at least this is my hope. Unfortunately this isn't always the case. What happens more often than not is parents impart their values onto their children at a very early age. We're born a blank slate but that slate is quickly tarnished or colored with what our parents view and how they think. I'm sure there are books and books about the sociological aspects as well as they psychological facets of this early "brain-washing", but that's not really the purpose of this rant.

     The reason I bring the early stages up is because of what happens. Usually parents limit their children because they are afraid they would get hurt. they shelter us and keep us indoors for the most part, tossing colorful toys at our feet in an attempt to keep us busy for as long as possible while they go about their busy day. This is far more evident in single-parent households, as the parent usually has to cook,clean,and work while also taking care of the child. With the teenage birth rate being what it is in America, a lot of the single-mothers are also working multiple jobs, and in some cases still going to school if they haven't dropped out.


This puts a rather large strain on the mother and puts a large damp on the child's early 'education'. Many can't wait until their son or daughter gets into the government funded education system so they can have more time to themselves. Who can blame them, having a child is a huge responsibility, stacked on top of the already large pile of responsibility that being a responsible adult already comes with. I congratulate any woman or man who can be a successful parent; in that they find some sort of balance between the Adult-world and that world that contains only the parent and child, in which the child thrives in ignorance of what lies outside of it.

Now let us assume that a child has two parents, and has a dedicated stay-at-home parent in which to learn from. The early years, from around birth to around four years of age, is mostly a parent-child relationship. Between then and perhaps even after or during, children are introduced to other children. This brings another facet of sociology to mind, and no doubt is another form of education. The first time one child meets another is a sort of crucible for them both.  Can they apply what their parents have taught them to a complete stranger? Can they be friendly? Can they share? Be nice?

Sometimes they can't, perhaps the personalities of the children clash and they don't get along for whatever reason. Other times they become best of friends and turn into, depending on the coupling, tiny little heathens or perfect little angels. A cute sight really, and the more children added into the mix the larger the world they live in becomes. They form their own society, containing parental contact, but mostly consisting of the love or hate shared between the children.

Adventure becomes the most important thing, and imagination flourishes. Baring the psychological disadvantages that a child may have doing certain things at such a young age, or being able to grasp certain concepts, the world they live in is usually defined by happiness. Its what our childhood memories are built on.
The only memory I have of myself as a child playing alone was when I tried pulling a T.V off a table. Everything else included my sister or my friends. These memories are the best to form and the one's you'll look back on the most.

   However, to get back on track, learning throughout the early stages of childhood development is only in preparation for the first day of formal education. The first introduction to a perfectly strange adult that isn't connected via some sort of parental link directly or indirectly. The concept of learning from someone other then the close friends of parents or family members is introduced. How kids take this usually depends on how the child was raised. Its easy to see who the spoiled and sheltered ones are when they cling to the parents leg in a desperate attempt to stay away from formal education.

    That fear is usually overcome, and from day one we are taught what others believe we need to be taught. Its a wide variety of subjects ranging from simple math to the history of our country.It is here we can see those who many consider to become the 'smart' one's develop. They absorb the information like the sponge we turn them into. Being able to regurgitate facts at the slightest of squeezes and soak up any change to those facts rather easily. This continues all the way through high school, with the children and then young adults not having much, if any input into what they would want to learn.

Everything is standardized. Work and Classes are structured and built around standards and test scores. Which boils ultimately down to money. The higher the test scores the more money a school receives in a direct or indirect way. The only reason anyone ever presents to these students is always "because you need to know" or "because you'll need it for the test. Anyone who questions why the students would ever need to learn this or that is immediately labeled a slacker or lazy. Not wanting to absorb the liquid knowledge or wanting to examine it at any rate is viewed as impeding the flow of learning and most questions are discarded, or ignored.

It limits the students and instead keeps them in the sponge stage for the most part. Its a wonder many go into college wondering what the fuck they're going to do with their life. Its no wonder that many of them never move past the 'party' stage in their life and instead just work at some boring 9-to-5 job that they hate for most of their life. They were sponges, all they knew how to do was absorb information and release information on command. Who's job is it to frame their lives?

We are the sum total of our actions and the actions of others. We take in what we believe to be right and correct and reject others. Those teachers that reinforce this behavior should be awarded. Usually its those in the literature and 'English' fields. Obviously, you can't simply spit out facts about a book and expect to get a good grade. Its here that we develop a sense of real self. What ideals do I hold? What paradigms shape my world? What ideas and concepts do I hold above the others?

It is really the only place where a teacher will as your opinion on something, or anything.

"What do you think?"

A question that truly shapes who and what we become at these stages.
Those that form their own opinion and think for themselves through the early points in their adult lives become "smarter" and more "educated."

Unfortunately a lot of parents simply don't care what their child thinks, and only cares about what grade they get. I remember enjoying showing my papers to my father or mother and hearing what they had to say. Over the years they stopped asking for them, I stopped caring to show them. Aside from the validation it gave, it was interesting to hear their own views, which could have easily been supplemented by actual conversations.

Something that should never stop throughout any one's life. Question, talk.

That is the true way you can learn, and the true education. That is how someone becomes well 'educated'.

In the current day and age however, many things are taboo, or not politically correct. Teachers and students are to not share each others opinions with each other because of this 'sponge' status they've put each student in.  Afraid for obvious reasons that no one would contest against whatever thoughts the teacher might have.

Maybe that is true, but coupled with a constant influence from the parents, friends, and other adults, then perhaps more would find themselves thinking for themselves and forming their own opinions.

Then maybe more of us will become more well "educated".

Which is better?
A sponge soaked in the opinions of others with no room for its own, or a dried sponge filled with only concrete beliefs, self made opinions and little of the 'outside'.