Teaching for Today or Worse for Yesterday? | Teen Ink

Teaching for Today or Worse for Yesterday?

May 9, 2018
By Anonymous

To be real with you I don't know much besides the research I was able to do and the genuine feelings I have today's education, experiences and ideas from what I’ ve felt during my years here as a student and things I had questions to but never had a real answer to.

I hope for you to take something out of this and get a idea of what education could mean to you or does mean to you because I want this to be more informal than anything.

I feel as if I know enough from being like you -- A student that some things are unappreciated and unmindful yet appreciated and thoughtful in the terms of teachings and what we could be learning. That there is a common ground to when it comes to school as a generation and I want to tap into that.

 

I know you all have asked or thought to yourself in a classroom biting your nail or tapping your pen/pencil on the table irked and puzzled -- ¨Why would I use this in the future?¨  or Why do we need to know this?¨

Most of ask this out of pure confusion without the hint of disrespect towards the teachers. We respect your passion to teach truly. It's an issue on what's being taught and what is not being taught.

 

Early years of highschool I was a kid who didnt pay much attention to the idea of school really at all, thinking it didn’t matter, being a unpleasant outbursts of annoyance that relinquishes a teacher's authority for a quick laugh hoping for acceptance from people that I thought would be by my side for quite awhile.
From my own experiences I feel like i've lived both lived a life of a “typical” student weather that’s from the point of a disregardable student -- A student that wants to be here. I know what it's like to be a student in high school. -- The enjoyments, the challenges, the interactions. It's because i'm in my final phase of highschool just as you, walk the same halls as you, In a way Im just like you.

 

There is one type of learning that is not reinforced well in our current education system at the moment
and the other is a work in progress.

Being educated with the skills well prepared for the future for the current generation and those for the next.

Being taught about valuing our emotions, spirituality, morals, and who we are as individuals.

 

But what is education? -- usually is defined as passing on knowledge and skills, from one person to another, for benefit and use at a later time. This helps enrich students’ lives and also the community and world around them. Education should not be about comfortable, easy-to-deliver information. It is hard work, ever changing and just too important to not put every bit of effort into.

Of course there are fundamental essential skills that are taught to be literate which part of the social construct is important. If we look closer than that though - If school is about educating and preparing us for the life outside of our vastly changing world the schools need to keep up the pace with that change in economy.

 

(SEL) programs, which previously have shown immediate improvements in mental health, social skills, and academic achievement, continue to benefit students for months and even years to come, according to a 2017 meta-analysis from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University, and the University of British Columbia.

Students exposed to SEL in school continue to do better than their peers on Positive social behaviors and attitudes, Skills such as empathy and teamwork, and Academics. As well as they have fewer conduct problems, Less emotional distress, And lower drug use, Among many other benefits.

SEL competencies are critically important for the long-term success of all students in today’s economy.

 

As you can see having this imbedded in our our curriculum we could all benefit from this type of learning. It would have a domino effect that follows through with it, less misbehaved children, attentive, understanding, less bullying and maybe even as far as school shootings and threats if those students knew how to control and understand their feelings and the best part is it's not just for students but the teachers can learn from it just as much.

The key is embedding this type of learning in the early years of schooling so they can build off those skills as they grow.

 

Fortunately, many schools are now embracing changes and implementing new programs within their schools like the SEL program but is still being tested out even though that this could be in the process there are a lot of possibilities resisting change in education at all levels, which is why the process might be so slow.

Knowing that it is in the work is reassuring but we shouldn't led up on them knowing it is a actual problem without these courses and its as needed as ever to make sure they don't discontinue the courses or even create more courses like this one. This could save lives.

 

There is no excuse for the bored of education and governments to teach a outdated and inadequately revised curriculum in place that is designed to teach for a world that has since moved on. Especially take its sweet time to put our curriculum that gives us tools not just for a workplace but for our well being. Keeping us from reaching our full undeveloped/unrealized potential because of their lack of effort and narrow-mindedness to there liable ever advancing civilization.

We can increase our technology and progress as species but yet we can't get the ¨future of tomorrow¨ (Us) well suited for what lies behind these doors after college, Towards the real future. It's time to sit down and rethink what skills the next generation of students need to be equipped with for their lives to be as productive as possible because they delayed our own time.

 

What we can do in the meantime is not forgot what really is at stake and how blessed we are to have education even though it has its flaws it is still a blessing to have, what people in other countries wish they had access to, what others leave behind family and friends to gain so it shouldn't be something taken lightly and not looked into and redeveloped /tweaked when necessary.

Our future and the future of brilliant minds that have not yet sit in these very seats or even could be our future children depend on it.


The author's comments:

This was an assignment. I felt inspired to look deep into the education system from the past and present.


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