Yesterday, I watched Dead Poet's Society in the company of several of my very good friends. This cinematic masterpiece always hits home with a loud crash for me. Yes, good people of the internet, I am still in school and so have a clear view of the educational system and what us kids, the future pilots of the world, are doing. The topic of my most recent observation is frightening: no one is learning anymore. Whose fault is it? Everyone's. The focus of this particular article is the teachers. With luck, I will get around to blaming the kids by next week.
At first glance, I'm sure this statement looks like yet another prophecy of approaching doom and gloom, but every bit is true and should cause natural alarm in any thinking head.
During my elementary school days, I remember being excited when one of my teachers said something that made perfect sense. I loved learning. I loved making sense of the world and slowly gaining the reputation of being a "genius." I hated school because it meant having to go to a certain building every day and being forced to think about a certain subject for a certain amount of time. My love of learning was a simple form of the instinct to search for, and find, truth. In fact, around fifth grade, I started to pick up books of philosophy written by G.K. Chesterton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and C.S. Lewis. Trying to follow the advanced progressions of thought regarding complex and intangible subjects was difficult, to say the least. I barely understood what was being said, but I knew that every word could be believed, and every once in a while, I kept up with these great minds and grasped their messages. I wanted to follow their example and write the truth for others to read. Whenever I knew something to be true, I wrote it down in my journal.
This practice slowed when I entered high school because time became harder to find. My classes seemed much more dull, maybe because I knew much more about the world at this point. I was no longer discovering life, but reviewing. There were still "Aha!" moments, but I learned the most by just living. I am now in my senior year, and pushing myself to focus at school and finish homework is a serious challenge. I have no interest in any of my classes, and so have no motivation to participate besides the knowledge that I have to pass them to leave the school for good.
To make my movie reference, many of my teachers fall under the category of J. Evans Pritchert. In other words, they follow a very structured curriculum and rarely worry whether their students are interested. In their defense, many subjects, such as math and science, must be taught structurally. But even in those cases, the teachers don't mind if their students are memorizing instead of learning. In my physics class last year, my lab group's official motto was "Don't try to understand." When we did try, we only lost time and became more confused.
Fortunately, I have seen a few exceptions to the rule. One or two of my teachers over the years have been genuinely concerned for their students and passionate about the subject at hand. Somehow, this minority has made me stupidly optimistic about future educators. Surely when this era of ignorance toward education had ended, only real teachers will be employed. Until that day comes, it is the student's responsibility to bear the full weight of their education, not waiting for guidance that may never come. I will elaborate on this point next time around. Live well.
No comments:
Post a Comment