Why the Education System Is Bullsh*t

Life is all about learning. Every single day, no matter how old we are, we learn something new; it’s how the world works. Our minds are capable of the most incredible things, things that we haven’t even begun to discover yet. So why should we invest our minds, time, and money into the education system when our own life experiences can teach us the biggest lessons of all? Our modern-day education system and what we are teaching kids is all bullsh*t and here’s why.

Nowadays, in order to show how clever you are and how much you have learned, students have to regurgitate the information taught to them by taking countless exams at the end of their school years. Firstly, the information that kids have to learn is partly outdated and irrelevant; It’s something that they will probably never have to use or need unless necessary for their career. Secondly, why would anyone want to force someone to learn a subject that they are not even passionate about or vaguely interested in? It seems like such a waste of potential; potential that could be used to focus on what people are actually good at and what they enjoy.

Young people aren’t happy with what they are learning, and rightly so. Unless they are the next Albert Einstein, who wants to learn about general relativity and molecules? Unless someone is the next J.K. Rowling, why are students made to read and write essays on books that they don’t even like? It has to be taken into consideration that every single person is different. Everyone has different aspirations. Everyone is individual. So why can’t their education be too? People shouldn’t be forced to learn topics because they have to or because it ‘supposedly’ defines how clever they are. Why has it been decided that everyone has to go through the same process, as if we were all built in the same way with the same mentality? Why should young people spend the first eighteen or so years of their life following a strict regime that gives them no true fulfillment and prevents them from exploring early on what they are genuinely interested in? They need to be able to try different things. They need to be able to experience everything the world has to offer. They need to be able to disregard the things that they aren’t good at or aren’t inspired by and focus on the things that they succeed in, the things that drive them forward.

People wonder why some students have no ambition. It’s because they are not given any. They are not motivated to want to do well or pursue something that they like, either because they’re not allowed to or they’re not given the opportunity to do so. We should be encouraging not only young people but everyone to focus on their personal ambitions and helping by providing the resources needed to achieve them. I think the whole education system needs to be reconsidered, in every single aspect. Scrap the system we have now. Times have changed. We should be moving forward with the future and progressing, not retreating into a system of routine. See people for what they really are. Individual. Let students explore a variety of different subjects and then let them focus on what inspires them.

Another part of the education system that is bullsh*t is grades and exams, especially with the recent change which has seen the end of the modular system; a system where some exams were taken early and students could hand in coursework as part of their mark. Now, there no longer is such a thing as coursework and students have to learn the content of three years’ worth of knowledge before taking all of their exams at the very end of the year before they leave school. How can the Department for Education be that unintelligent that they do not recognize that some students struggle with taking exams and that not everyone learns or succeeds in the same way? Not everyone is good with exams or essays and they shouldn’t have to be. An exam you take or the grades that you receive should not determine how successful you are in the future and they definitely should not categorize people. They do not determine our abilities or what we can do because that changes every single day. What we do now could change in five or ten years time. We could have a change of heart with our careers or realize that we are better at doing something else. So we shouldn’t worry if our children aren’t good at something or if they don’t get the best grades because they will live up to their potential as they mature and find what motivates them to do well. Some of the most successful people in the world didn’t even achieve any grades at school or they were made to feel like they would never be good at anything; but look at the likes of Richard Branson and Philip Green, who left school at a young age and never went on to higher education. They became successful because they focused on what they truly believed in and were passionate about and they didn’t let anyone discourage them.

As a final word, remember that we are not born to be perfect or to follow procedure, we are born to progress, in every aspect of the word. It’s time for us to look at reality, to look at the way that the world is evolving and how we can evolve with it. It’s time that we focus on what truly matters and only we can make that change.