It's a strange title I know, but bear with me.
I was helping my girlfriend study for her chemistry test today and I realized something: I was having a great time. Meanwhile, with the test coming up tonight (she's on her way to take it as I write this), she was sweating bullets and pushing back anxiety. Whatever she felt about studying chemistry, you can bet it wasn't enjoyment.
This is one of the many inherent problems with education as it is right now.
Instead of being fascinated with what's being studied and thus feeling compelled to learn it on a deep level, we spend time having information stuffed into our heads at a cookie-cut pace in order to be sure we understand just enough to be useful, dependent, workers.
I don't mean to sound conspiratorial. It's just that according to societal dogma it's more efficient for you to receive exactly enough education to be useful to society as a whole. Digging into each individual's potential, catering learning to their strengths and weaknesses.... Our education system simply doesn't have the infrastructure for this at the moment, nor our politicians the interest. Not to mention the inherent biases that teachers (mostly unknowingly) carry with them, influencing what careers students of certain genders, races, and socio-economic backgrounds go into much later.
But what good is learning in this way? Basically, we've turned education into a prestige game. Such and such went to so and so school. That means they're socially identified as 'smart' and deserve all the privileges associated with 'smartness'.
Even though, rationally, we understand that just because a person went to a certain place - indeed even if they did very well in at that place, it doesn't necessarily mean that said person is 'smarter' than someone whose schooling wasn't as good or whose scores not as strong. It simply means that that person is more educated. That's still important, but not quite the same. The thing we call 'being smart' is much closer to being something inherent about a person. Many agree that it can change or be refined over time, but most will also agree that this is much more difficult than educating someone.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with wanting/having money and status, if those things are rooted in proper values. But what things do we value in our society? School does have a place and I think that on the whole it's a good thing (i.e., better than a place without schools, obviously). But that's too binary. There must be better options.
The question is, what do those look like?
By the way, I've decided to start using a Progress Bar for my upcoming big post (maybe this is something I'll start doing?). It'll keep me honest and also let readers know how close to actually appearing the post is.
Big Post Progress Meter:
Sources: 1 | Progress Bar is by yours truly.