Traditionally,
schools were created to ensure that citizens of the United States were better
educated and become productive members of society. I think we should go back to
this model instead of the business model we currently use. I believe that we
should learn basics for how to survive on our own. I remember classes like
personal finance and single survival in high school, and I think those are a
great idea. I also believe we should maintain basic math and English skills, as
well. Although I don’t believe in a liberal education, I do believe that some
aspects of it can be beneficial. For example, I think that requirements for
math, English, and science should be honored. They enable people to develop
basic skills to help them in the future and to better understand our world. I
believe that students work better when they are working on subjects that they
find interesting. I also think that standardized tests are not a viable option
anymore. Students should receive grades based on knowledge they gained that
should be measured through another means, like presentations or projects where
they can show the knowledge they gained in their own creative ways. I really
love Laura Gibbs’s experience in her fourth grade open classroom. I think this
would be a brilliant idea to implement in a larger scale to see how this would
affect learning. I especially agree when Laura says, “…We have replaced
curiosity and passion with grading”. I know that when I was in school, I had to
focus mainly on grades and don’t recall much from what I was supposed to learn
because of this. Now, in college, I am constantly doing homework and unable to
do extra reading about things that interest me because they have me taking
classes that I don’t care for and have no true interest in, that require hours
of my time to complete for a grade that seems irrelevant. If I were to teach, I
would grade based on projects and presentations rather than test grades and
quiz scores. There may occasionally be a quiz, but I would mainly want to
ensure that my kids retain the information they learn and are able to apply
that to something in their real life. I think this would cut down on anxiety
over grades and encourage creativity.
This is not what I want my children and future generations to look forward to:
Hours of sitting and listening to lectures about subjects they are not interested in. Not retaining any knowledge and learning skills that are not necessary for them and, most of the time, will not help them in their life.
Picture: Google Images
