I came across this piece I submitted for a class when I was graduating high school, almost two decades ago. It is startling how honest it is and how it remained relevant.

Education - The System

As a student, I have experienced the educational system from kindergarten through the completion of high school. My years within the system have left me with first-hand experience of how the current system's only main achievement, be it intentional or not, is the production of thoughtless, unintelligent, non-free thinking individuals. These docile and uncritical individuals are the direct by-products of a system that rewards books smarts, but never forces the students to think for themselves. It is these points that will be explored in this essay, the main three among these being: History of the current educational system, ways in which students are made docile, and finally, the ways in which the educational system could be improved.

The history of the educational system is a depressing one. Traditionally, schools have been very strict. Teachers were the authority, lessons plans were created, taught and, finally, memorized. Children were, as sometimes is still the rule, to be seen and not heard. Many individuals would like to believe that schools of this nature, the teaching methods of this sort, are part of the past; that perhaps it is part of a time in which children were treated as second class citizens and were unable to express themselves or take a more active role in their own education. Through my first hand experience in the system, I know that this is not true. This sort of traditional thinking is still present in the educational system and remains harmful to the students who are forced to deal with it.

Students are made docile in a variety of ways. Some of these manners are more evident than others. The most obvious manner in which students are made placid is the fact that the very term to describe them brands them as second class participants in the learning process. Being a "student" means that the individual is secondary to the teacher. He (or she) is there to learn and not there to share in the learning process. It indicates that the student has nothing to share with the teacher, whether sharing lessons or opinions not previously rendered. This can not be true. Each person has something to teach another. It is not logical to assume that simply because a person is branded a "teacher" by profession that they know all there is to know. That because they have graduated from the role of student, that the lessons of life end and the role of teacher must be thrust upon those graduates. Teachers are only people; people are fallible and, therefore, subject to mistakes and errors, even biases. Let us not forget that the students are not allowed to question the instructor, simply sit and absorb the information that is shown to them. Students are not allowed to question, and even if they do question, are shot down or dismissed. A person's education is not their own to explore, simply theirs to absorb, to witness and be a non-participant in.

Repeat Repeat Repeat

Assignments, projects and work in general seem to follow the same dogma of rigidity and uncreativeness that has been a part of the educational system for centuries. Students are rarely given a chance to flex their minds outside of the corporeal confines of the guidelines that are set forth by the teacher. Assignments typically consist of a series of set guidelines and a selection of topics, which are, of course, chosen by the instructors. These are the same assignments that have been handed out for years, sometimes decades. Year after year, class after class, the same assignments are given. Instructors have become just as docile and uncreative as the students they teach. Years in the education system have dulled the mind. Each year blends into the next and I can not even remember individual assignments that I have worked on. Each project is so much like the previous ones that all of them become blurred. The educational system, especially in high school, is just that, a system. Assignments are passed down, students choose a topic from the list that is provided by the instructor, students work on the assignment and then present it to a room of classmates who are just as uninterested in the topic as those who were forced to research it. Students are forced to listen to the droning of their peers during these presentations.

However, just because someone is forced to research and present a topic doesn't mean that that individual is educated on that topic. Numerous times during my education I can recall students who simply read information that was gathered from research straight from the book. The individuals were not informed or educated on the topic, just able to read from a piece of paper. I would argue that a situation such as the one above shows that the education system produces docile individuals. Students do not even care about their own education anymore. It is not interesting or challenging for those who are sent to schools to learn. There is nothing presented to them that forces them to think, to use their minds or think for themselves. It is common for students to have to write essays for English or related classes. It would seem like these would be the classes that would finally allow the students to flex their minds, present their opinions and thoughts on specific topics, books, events, etc. However most of the time this just results in the students presenting the same theories, opinions, and essays that the teachers have seen a thousand times. How often can the same theories and thoughts on Hamlet be presented? Most students that are forced, by the system, to read Shakespeare and other classic works of literature have no interest or appreciation for those works. Students are not going to even try to put forth a good effort if they are not interested in what they are working on. They will just continue to sit at their desks, row after row, staring blankly at the board (or clock) until they are free of the confines of the classroom.

Is It Too Late?

There are literally dozens of ways in which the educational system can be improved. Students can make a stand, realize that their education is something important, to be cherished and in their control. Teachers need to realize that assignments must be relevant if the students are going to be interested in them. Yes, Shakespeare was a brilliant writer and the themes of his work are ones that resonate through time are still relevant in our today, however, there are many works of modern fiction, works that children can relate to, that would be just as interesting to study. Essays that students are forced to write should be written about events, themes, ideas and situations that the children can relate to. It would be fine to have a few traditional "pick a topic" styles that has plagued our system for decades. However, teachers could try and offer the students a chance to write about something close to their hearts or own interests once in a while. Those who cringed at the thought of having to write about post modern industrialism might jump at the chance to write an essay on the validity of comics as a literary medium. If teachers would simply take the time to shake the dust off of their imaginations they might find students who are willing to be more than docile, unthinking automatons.

Looking around the city streets, malls and stores, I am witness to the never ending stream of mindless drones who purchase without question or motive. They are told to think along corporate lines and follow brand loyalty without every wondering to themselves "why". This does not have to be, though. If only more thought and care were put into the educational system, all of this might change. If assignments, tests, and the general atmosphere of schools were changed the students might take more interest in their own education, they might grasp the strands of their own destiny and strive to change it for the better. We, as individuals and learners, must take the mothballed ideas and ways of the current educational system and update them, making them relevant for this new millennium. People are capable of so much more than what they are currently doing. Those famous writers, artists and philosophers of our times that are currently working in McDonalds are capable, but only if given the chance and opportunity to expand their minds and horizons.