Reforming Education

What is the goal of education? What does it provide for students and the world alike, and how efficient is it today?

When I think of education, I think of human development. I think of the cultivation and growth of mental, physical , and emotional aspects of being, along with diversity, innovation, and creativity. The problem with our current educational system is that it’s based off of industrialism and conformity. The whole goal of our educational system is to raise industrialized, almost robotized citizens with rote memorization and standards. With a new age and generation rapidly approaching, I believe that it’s time to reform education as a whole. We need to redefine it  and implement a new system to encourage motivation for learning and developing.

Plato, argubly one of the greatest philosophers of all time, written a book called the republic, where he describes some of his teacher’s (socrates) dialogues. He talks extensively about education and what it is. According to Dr. Win Wenger, socrates’ school has produced millions of more geniuses compared to our current educational system, each genius having a character that we should be teaching our students: a true passion and motivation for learning and self development. socrates believed that all knowledge came from within the student, and that it merely has to be drawn forth. Although this may not be neccesarily be correct, it does highlight one valid point. Instead of an industrialized system of forcing student’s to memorize formulas and knowledge, teachers should guide students towards learning, questioning, and discovering for themselves. There is a difference between learning and memorization. Learning constitutes understanding, and what better way to understand than by observing and thinking? Standardization does not guarantee learning, but encourages conformity and memorization, meaning we are effectively depriving our children of their ability to learn, a complete contradiction of what education stands for. A reformation simply must take place. It’s time to encourage innovation, thinking ability, and passion in our classrooms, not just the answers for the next science test.