YinvsYang

In the last 20 years of our lives, how much has the world changed? We have seen changes in technology unlike any other time period in history. Information is now at the touch of your fingers. We can literally answer almost any question we have simply by visiting Google. It is amazing how different the world is becoming due to this rapid progression.

On the flip side of things, our education system has not changed since the turn of the 20th century. That’s over 100 years. Now sure, they have added subjects, and integrated computers into the learning. But let’s be honest with ourselves. A school education is not what it used to be. It used to be, or so I am told, that obtaining a college degree would give you an advantage. That success in school had a direct correlation on your success in life. You may have not used everything you learned in school, but you sure used most of it. Nowadays, I’m not so sure.

Let’s skip the debate in the lower grades. I mean, through 6th grade, you only learn the basics in Math, social studies, English, and science. Then, in the higher grades, you learn advanced subjects in the fields of math, social studies, English and science. However, I am not really questioning what is taught. Instead, I am questioning how it is tested.

Is it really necessary to remember the specific dates of wars anymore? Is it necessary to learn how to perform advanced calculus equations by hand? Our tests are written pieces of paper learned from boring textbooks that have not been updated in years. How could they? You know what the cost of that would be?

Children are taught to read things, remember them, and then answer questions designed to trick their wits. In my humble opinion, it is utterly insane to test someone’s knowledge like this. Today, many of us in the real world understand that it is a huge adjustment once you get there. We have to re-learn how to find out the proper information without it being fed to us. We have to learn on the fly how to manage our finances. We are forced to get a new education after spending the majority of our lives in expensive institutions dedicated to our supposed ‘education’. It’s a shame, but time has passed this system by.

Now, school is still a good thing, socially. It is important for children to interact on a social level. Today, kids even have the option of email if they have a problem with confrontation. That gives children another way to communicate indirectly. And communication is very important, as are social skills. That is what I really learned from school that has helped .

Since I have been out of school I have learned more than I ever have. I learned most of it, though, the hard way. I had to learn how to handle my finances. I had to learn about buying a home. I had to learn about starting a business. I had to learn about the economy. I had to learn that cooperation usually gets me a lot farther than competition does. I had to learn an extraordinary amount, as I am sure each of you have.

The truth is, no matter what degree you get, your education is never finished.

I just wish the school systems conveyed that. I wish they taught the children how to obtain all the answers rather than how to remember them. But for us already done with school, it is up to us to expand our education daily. It is up to us to do everything in our power to understand the world around us.

If not, we will only be armed with a 20th century education in a 21st Century world.