Individuality vs. Conformity in Schools
Are we trained mice in a maze, or individuals? Pubic school’s mission is to teach children to conform to society’s norms and also to help kids reach their full individual potential. Becoming a productive, law abiding citizen is important in maintaining order and general respect for one another, but reaching one’s full potential as an individual is a more important and potentially more beneficial goal. To reach full potential, students should be able to use their own curiosity to determine their educational path. So much time is wasted sitting through classes that don’t interest everybody, learning how to pencil in bubbles, and testing as a group that the individual student’s natural curiosity is forgotten.
No one will argue that education is not important, but it is important to define what education is and …show more content…
Source C shows a book cover titled, Preparing for Kindergarten Testing, this is not an exaggeration. I started kindergarten when I was four years old and even before my very first day, all the kindergarteners were “invited” to school to test for reading readiness. We were rewarded with a popsicle but it was still a test, and the very first of many. Every grade since then has started with a test at the beginning of the year, multiple benchmark tests throughout the year, countless practice tests for the end test and eventually the final test. Many times the energy and drudgery is in a subject that is not appealing or interesting to everybody. That is a lot of wasted education time.
Although school might mold students into “good citizens” not everybody is reaching personal fulfillment. The only way a student would be able to reach their potential is if they are able to chase their curiosities instead of forced seat time in a classroom for six to seven hours a
Are we trained mice in a maze, or individuals? Pubic school’s mission is to teach children to conform to society’s norms and also to help kids reach their full individual potential. Becoming a productive, law abiding citizen is important in maintaining order and general respect for one another, but reaching one’s full potential as an individual is a more important and potentially more beneficial goal. To reach full potential, students should be able to use their own curiosity to determine their educational path. So much time is wasted sitting through classes that don’t interest everybody, learning how to pencil in bubbles, and testing as a group that the individual student’s natural curiosity is forgotten.
No one will argue that education is not important, but it is important to define what education is and …show more content…
Source C shows a book cover titled, Preparing for Kindergarten Testing, this is not an exaggeration. I started kindergarten when I was four years old and even before my very first day, all the kindergarteners were “invited” to school to test for reading readiness. We were rewarded with a popsicle but it was still a test, and the very first of many. Every grade since then has started with a test at the beginning of the year, multiple benchmark tests throughout the year, countless practice tests for the end test and eventually the final test. Many times the energy and drudgery is in a subject that is not appealing or interesting to everybody. That is a lot of wasted education time.
Although school might mold students into “good citizens” not everybody is reaching personal fulfillment. The only way a student would be able to reach their potential is if they are able to chase their curiosities instead of forced seat time in a classroom for six to seven hours a