Systemic Educational Apathy

The one thing the masses of America have in common is education. It’s an educational system that has been under reform since its inception. And in a global marketplace everyone that cares about the United States success as a super power has found themselves concerned about the state of education in America. I believe that most people are in agreement that the western education system is in decline.

Many feel that US education should take on a system that is more heavily tested. The feeling is founded in some reasonable evidence, nations that use a more rigorous and heavily tested curriculum are now becoming forces to be reckoned with on the global scene. So trying to mimic those styles seems legitimate. However, we forget that those same countries are trying to create systems that are more heavily centered on free thinking and a study of the arts.

But as the debate over education in the US grows people are beginning to take sides. Parents blame teachers and politicians. Politicians blame teachers and parents. And teachers blame politicians and parents. Nobody seems to realize that it’s the system that’s flawed and that all the complainants are participants in that system.

The embedded Royal Science Academy (RSA) video examines the flaws in the education system. We no longer want students to think, we just want to them to know. But the United States has long been a fertile ground for people who wanted to think for themselves, think outside the box, and create new ideas. Some of America’s greatest thinkers, inventors, and philosophers didn’t regurgitate ideas, they made ideas.

Now we expect students to sit in class and absorb information. We don’t teach them how to search for information. We don’t teach them how to find information. We don’t teach them how to think critically, or to challenge conventional thinking to come up with original thoughts. This is the true failure of modern education.

As the video shows, we anesthetize people so they can sit through 8 hours of education. We restrict movement and focus on tests. We teach to tests. And in return we produce workers and not innovators. When it’s innovation we claim to want from the next generation. Watch the video, tell us what you think.