While sitting down, taking one of my finals, I asked myself something. Am I more worried about passing with a decent grade, or am I more worried about what I am learning and retaining? A lot of students feel as though they just need to pass the class and move on from it. I, for one, really hate math with a passion. For some reason, all the formulas and equations would never stick into my brain so I could remember them.
The classes that I enjoy are a lot are the lab classes: the classes where you do hands on activities that relate to the course. I personally retain significantly more information from a lab than I ever will from a lecture. Why is that? I believe it is because I am learning by doing; it is hands on experience. Instead of sitting through a lecture hall and spacing off or getting lost, I can work out real life objectives at my own speed. Don’t get me wrong, lectures are fine and they can be very helpful, but sometimes it can be a struggle to “connect the dots” from transferring what you learned in a lecture or a textbook rather than through a hands-on experience.
At the end of the semester, what are most the students concerned with? Grades. It’s as if that A or B on your report card is a symbol on how well you can memorize, not what you learn; it seems like everyone is concerned about getting that GPA they wanted instead of furthering their knowledge of that class. Doesn’t that show an underlying problem in the school system? It is an extremely complicated issue. How do you change a system to benefit everyone? It’s also a system that has been in place for as long as anyone can remember. I often wonder: is there a system out there that can tailor to the student’s needs, instead of the “pass or fail” or “sink or swim” system here in the U.S? Again, don’t get me wrong, education is a beautiful thing. Education helps us broaden our horizons and really pin point what our strengths and weaknesses are, so that way we can become better well rounded individuals.
What I want you to do is step back and think for a second. What would it be like if every single student got an education that doesn’t just see if they pass or not, but rather focuses on something much deeper: an education where they can seek the best possible chance of individual growth?
Just to put that in perspective, let's set up a real-world scenario. Like I said earlier, I absolutely do not like math; a lot of the time, it just doesn’t make sense. However, just because I wasn’t in Calc does not mean I put in less work than someone in a higher math class. I worked just as hard for my grade as they did. Something needs to happen so everyone who attends school or some sort of an educational institute can have the education they deserve. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, but the school system today tries to make it a “one size fits all” method. We all know that clothes aren’t one size fits all, so why does the way we learn and gain knowledge have to be?
