![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
As an aspiring teacher, I naturally have a lot of feels and opinions about education. A lot of these focus on the discrepancies between how I value education, and how society tends to value education, ie. it doesn't.
Okay, sure, I know you're probably thinking: 'But I do think education is important, and so does everyone else!'. But what people say is usually a lot different from what they do to show their beliefs.
Let's say you're a student. Considering that you have access to the internet and you can somehow read, I don't believe this is a farfetched fantasy for any of you. You're browsing the internet and someone posts an inspirational quote, say:
He who opens a school door, closes a prison. - Victor Hugo
You're probably going to think: 'Wow, learning is such a wonderful thing. We should all be educated people.' And then you're probably going to go to school the next day and nap in class or pass notes to your friends (if you have any) whilst laughing at the teacher.
I'm not going to blame you for being kind of hypocritical about this, but this is essentially how everyone else works as well. And hey, school is pretty boring stuffs so it's kind of understandable. But let's think about the people with influence, power, and money (synonyms) over education who just happen to have this attitude as well.
I'm not into politics, but if I was, I could probably guarantee you that, any politician, when asked about their views on education, would wax eloquent about how we must teach our younger generation, education is important to society, yadda yadda yadda. And everyone will nod and agree. And then afterwards you can go up and ask said politician about spending more money on schools and providing them with resources or putting time and effort into rehashing the education system in Australia and they'd be like lalalalala what I didn't hear you. Which sucks. Just a little.
But that's okay isn't it? We all know that politicians are corrupt people and no one likes them ever and all they're interested in is their vain little butts. Schools are interested in education, definitely. I mean, isn't that what a school is for? Teaching? Confirm this with me, a school is for teaching right?
Well, yeah. It is for teaching. Also for making money, getting good marks in test scores, ranking higher than other schools, and telling students that studying there is the best way to get a high paying job. So...status and money, pretty much. It's kinda funny because I think that's what drives everything else as well. Everyone wants to be classy and rich. Does this drive to be the best and to make a lot of moolah overpower a school's original goals to teach kids? Yes. Maybe. But you know, it's not the school that teaches kids, it's the teachers.
Teachers definitely don't teach for the money. Just look at a teacher's wages, those people are paid peanuts for how hard they work. You have to be smart as well, to be a teacher. I mean, why would you get an uneducated person to educate others? That's just silly!
Teachers are kind, benevolent loving adults who have dedicated their lives to bettering those of the next generation in hopes that they will become the hopes of our tomorrows. And that's not just me blowing hot air about my choice in profession. But you know, the ATAR cut-off for a Bachelor of Education around here is about 80. Now if you're an Australian like me, then that's going to make a lot of sense for you, otherwise, let me try to put that into perspective.
The ATAR cut-off, ie. minimum mark achieved, for commerce is around 94. The ATAR cut-off for law is some 99.5 or so. The ATAR cut-off for nursing is 85. The ATAR cut-off for engineering is 91-99.
Psst, guys, guys. How do Doctors and Engineers know all the stuffs they know? Some poor sucker had to teach them, that's how. Why aren't teachers expected to be, I dunno, a little smarter than these guys? Look, I'm not calling our teachers dumb. I'm just saying that the selection process for who can or can not end up as a teacher could stand to be a little bit more selective! People who want to get into medicine here have to sit their own little test called the UMAT. Instead of testing for how awesomely you can memorise essays and grind maths questions, it is a test that assesses how sane you are as a person and whether you have enough common sense and empathy to not randomly kill your patients. Somehow, it's a little scary to know that the people responsible for shaping the tender young minds of our babies are not tested for common sense and criminal insanity before being allowed on the job. At least lots of doctors deal with conscious, free-thinking (to a degree) adults for the majority of their time. And yet you leave these depressed, suicidal, 16 year olds to people who may or may not have been a terrible listener in the classroom back when they were kids. Damn, that makes a lot of sense!
It's not the university's fault that the ATAR cut-off for education is so low though. After all, these marks are a reflection of the amount of people who are applying for these university degrees. (It's a popularity contest, case in point, Aboriginal Studies cuts off at around 60.) That is, there are lots of smart people applying for law degree positions, and not a lot applying for education degree positions.
Most (smart) students don't want to teach! Can we take a step back for a moment and pretend to be shocked at this fact? Seriously, how many of you go to school thinking: 'School is so cool I want to go back to it after I'm done.'? That tiny minority of you who agree with that statement, you guys are the ones who are our hope for the future. But what about the rest of you? Do any of you ever think: 'Teachers are such smart and wonderful people, I think they deserve all of our respect'? Oh wow, that few? Well no wonder no one wants to be a teacher, who wants to be looked down upon by others? Wouldn't you rather be thought of as smart and cool? Like going to a party and being able to say: 'Oh yeah, I'm a rocket scientist.' Or: 'Haha yup I'm a doctor alright.'
Money as well, if you were a super smart student and you were confident that you were going to get great marks in your ATAR won't you go for law, where all the money is, rather than some other silly degree with a super low cut-off mark that doesn't pay anywhere near as well? We are discouraging people from choosing education as a career, resulting in lower quality teachers (who may or may not have settled for the subject because they weren't smart enough to get into anything else), and turning that into a vicious cycle. Ouch.
Well, are the kids who are learning from these teachers interested in education at least? Uh, well, as you might already be aware, not really! Because let's be honest here, you were never really that interested in learning when you went to school, right?
Okay but that's for the majority of kids who would rather just go and have fun, but what about those smart kids who always score awesome in their exams? The answer, once again, is not really! Just because they are studying hard, it doesn't always mean that they are there to learn. There are so many reasons why a student could be driven to study hard. The desire to enter a university. The desire to make lots of money in the future. The desire to be approved by their parents, the desire to be seen as smart by their peers, the desire to prove their worth to themselves, the desire to be better than others. And then there are those kids who study for the sake of studying. Who look at the wealth of information the school and teachers have provided them and think: 'Wow, knowing things about the world is so fascinating.' Haha, what a nerd. Well, I, for one, at least, approve of that kid. Even if they are overdoing it a little.
Do kids even know why they're going to school? I have no idea, but if I were to wager a guess, I'd say no. If you asked the everyday kid why they were going to school everyday, I'm pretty sure that they'd tell you that it's to learn. Then when you ask them why they're learning, they're going to give all kinds of exotic answers that only kids could give. And that's adorable, but why are we sending those kids to school?
If you were a parent (or if you are a parent, even better!), why would you send your kids to school?
Hmm.
Let's see...
Because everyone else does it? Fair enough. Group mentality can help sometimes. Especially when everyone throws themselves onto the ground and you follow suit. It might just save your life. Or leave you a tad confused when you realise that you've been trolled by a flash mob. But what about more personal reasons? Surely you have some kind of say in this as well, right?
So your kids can learn to read, write, and be smart in general? Okay, that's cool. Now we're getting somewhere. Reading and writing are important skills in life and smart kids are valuable. Smartness is valuable. This is a pretty valid reason.
So they can get into university, get a job, and make money? Oh! This is a good one. Everyone likes money. Who doesn't like money, right? Of course your kids would want to make money. Lots and lots of money. You're making them go to school for their own good. Then you can retire and they can afford to send you to a good nursing home once you're old. Makes sense.
So your kids can grow up to be normal, society-bound people? Haha. Ha! I like this one. That wasn't sarcasm, I really do. Everyone wants their kids to have friends and connections, and to be able to talk to other people and juggle all kinds of relationships in life. Unfortunately, some of us have failed to do so, and are now sitting in our parents' basements staring blankly at a computer screen, nursing romantic crushes on virtual characters, and building solely internet friendships. (Oh you know who you are.) But for the rest of us, (or the rest of you), we're pretty functional socially. School is a simulacrum of the greater society, and we're used to having authoritative figures (teachers), peers (students), schedules, assignments, rules, punishments, rewards, and more informally, cliques, ranks, rumours, and discrimination. It's pretty hard to have a childhood filled with this without school, so that's one learning experience we probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere else.
So your children can become free thinking, critical, discerning people. Right? Isn't that what education is all about? It's not about maths or science or tests, or money (well, sometimes...), it's about being able to view the world in a critical way. To be able to absorb information without blindly believing in it. To be able to question the ways things work. To be able to express yourself, to be able to help others, to advance society, to make intelligent decisions, and to better your own life.
That is why we value education, right? To stop repeating the mistakes of history. To become more technologically advanced. To be smarter, richer, faster, stronger, fairer, simpler, better. To pass on the knowledge and skills we have now and to build upon it. Upwards. (I'm not actually too sure what we're aiming for. That's a philosophical subject that's up for debate but it does seem rather like human nature to want to continue moving forwards.)
Okay I don't even remember the point I was trying to make any more. But the point is, I think we've lost sight of this. We've lost sight of this because we are a society that is run by an aging population on aging ideas. As we grow older, we learn more. As we continue to find things to believe in, we forget to keep our minds open to the things that are emerging. The more we learn, the less we are able to continue to learn. This is painfully obvious but I realise that one day, I'm very likely to travel this same path. Stupid biology.
And so I'm going to be as critical and creative as possible now that I'm still within the first quarter of my life of absorbing dumb ideas.
People need to stop treating teaching as just a part of the production line that sends humans through life, but like a key to unlocking the infinite potential of humanity. If I might point out a very scientific fact for a moment, and bring to your attention the large size of our brains compared to all other animals out there.
We are here today because we were smart. Our smartness is the one asset we have that has littered our kind all over the goddamned world. Shouldn't we, then, naturally place importance on this aspect of ourselves? (Wait...we do. We like smart lawyers because for some reason we enjoy watching cool dudes in suits argue our cash away over some silly civil issue. Haha, rich people!)
It's not even that people don't think of education as a good thing. We, as a global society, are just not treating it as a good thing. Our hypocritical actions are not reflecting the way we like to yap on about educating the next generation. Hell, I started this three hour long rant because of a few things my dad said about the importance of education. He likes to say that learning is a lifelong thing, and that knowledge is one of the only things you can ever really call your own. That all the most rich and advanced countries and societies are the ones who have the best education. And yet he never considers my side of the argument when I'm informing him of things he has assumed wrong. He works off prejudices and unresearched facts. He judges by race and wealth. He has no idea that education is pretty damn bad in the USA. You know, the world's greatest country. Haha.
I think that one day I'm going to start rejecting new things. And when that day comes, I'm going to have to either consciously stop myself from being a retard, or stop being a part of our educational system. Learning, and not just the kind you get from school, mind you, is what makes the world go around. If you are incapable of it then it might be a good time to step down, and let someone through who is not past their use-by date. Whoops. That was off topic. Let me try again.
Everyone should remember how important it is to be an intelligent and critical thinking human being. And how that state is obtained through high quality, open minded education. And to place value upon the people mainly responsible for this, parents and teachers. Considering that I'm planning on becoming both, I'm going to, personally, try my best to provide it.
Maybe one day, tired and jaded, I'm going to come back to this and remember what I'm doing it all for.
This uneducated and unresearched rant (not essay) is brought to you by Krystal. Who adamantly insists that this is just an opinion and that you shouldn't take offence to anything written here. ie. relax, it's just an opinion on the internet.
Okay, sure, I know you're probably thinking: 'But I do think education is important, and so does everyone else!'. But what people say is usually a lot different from what they do to show their beliefs.
Let's say you're a student. Considering that you have access to the internet and you can somehow read, I don't believe this is a farfetched fantasy for any of you. You're browsing the internet and someone posts an inspirational quote, say:
You're probably going to think: 'Wow, learning is such a wonderful thing. We should all be educated people.' And then you're probably going to go to school the next day and nap in class or pass notes to your friends (if you have any) whilst laughing at the teacher.
I'm not going to blame you for being kind of hypocritical about this, but this is essentially how everyone else works as well. And hey, school is pretty boring stuffs so it's kind of understandable. But let's think about the people with influence, power, and money (synonyms) over education who just happen to have this attitude as well.
I'm not into politics, but if I was, I could probably guarantee you that, any politician, when asked about their views on education, would wax eloquent about how we must teach our younger generation, education is important to society, yadda yadda yadda. And everyone will nod and agree. And then afterwards you can go up and ask said politician about spending more money on schools and providing them with resources or putting time and effort into rehashing the education system in Australia and they'd be like lalalalala what I didn't hear you. Which sucks. Just a little.
But that's okay isn't it? We all know that politicians are corrupt people and no one likes them ever and all they're interested in is their vain little butts. Schools are interested in education, definitely. I mean, isn't that what a school is for? Teaching? Confirm this with me, a school is for teaching right?
Well, yeah. It is for teaching. Also for making money, getting good marks in test scores, ranking higher than other schools, and telling students that studying there is the best way to get a high paying job. So...status and money, pretty much. It's kinda funny because I think that's what drives everything else as well. Everyone wants to be classy and rich. Does this drive to be the best and to make a lot of moolah overpower a school's original goals to teach kids? Yes. Maybe. But you know, it's not the school that teaches kids, it's the teachers.
Teachers definitely don't teach for the money. Just look at a teacher's wages, those people are paid peanuts for how hard they work. You have to be smart as well, to be a teacher. I mean, why would you get an uneducated person to educate others? That's just silly!
Teachers are kind, benevolent loving adults who have dedicated their lives to bettering those of the next generation in hopes that they will become the hopes of our tomorrows. And that's not just me blowing hot air about my choice in profession. But you know, the ATAR cut-off for a Bachelor of Education around here is about 80. Now if you're an Australian like me, then that's going to make a lot of sense for you, otherwise, let me try to put that into perspective.
The ATAR cut-off, ie. minimum mark achieved, for commerce is around 94. The ATAR cut-off for law is some 99.5 or so. The ATAR cut-off for nursing is 85. The ATAR cut-off for engineering is 91-99.
Psst, guys, guys. How do Doctors and Engineers know all the stuffs they know? Some poor sucker had to teach them, that's how. Why aren't teachers expected to be, I dunno, a little smarter than these guys? Look, I'm not calling our teachers dumb. I'm just saying that the selection process for who can or can not end up as a teacher could stand to be a little bit more selective! People who want to get into medicine here have to sit their own little test called the UMAT. Instead of testing for how awesomely you can memorise essays and grind maths questions, it is a test that assesses how sane you are as a person and whether you have enough common sense and empathy to not randomly kill your patients. Somehow, it's a little scary to know that the people responsible for shaping the tender young minds of our babies are not tested for common sense and criminal insanity before being allowed on the job. At least lots of doctors deal with conscious, free-thinking (to a degree) adults for the majority of their time. And yet you leave these depressed, suicidal, 16 year olds to people who may or may not have been a terrible listener in the classroom back when they were kids. Damn, that makes a lot of sense!
It's not the university's fault that the ATAR cut-off for education is so low though. After all, these marks are a reflection of the amount of people who are applying for these university degrees. (It's a popularity contest, case in point, Aboriginal Studies cuts off at around 60.) That is, there are lots of smart people applying for law degree positions, and not a lot applying for education degree positions.
Most (smart) students don't want to teach! Can we take a step back for a moment and pretend to be shocked at this fact? Seriously, how many of you go to school thinking: 'School is so cool I want to go back to it after I'm done.'? That tiny minority of you who agree with that statement, you guys are the ones who are our hope for the future. But what about the rest of you? Do any of you ever think: 'Teachers are such smart and wonderful people, I think they deserve all of our respect'? Oh wow, that few? Well no wonder no one wants to be a teacher, who wants to be looked down upon by others? Wouldn't you rather be thought of as smart and cool? Like going to a party and being able to say: 'Oh yeah, I'm a rocket scientist.' Or: 'Haha yup I'm a doctor alright.'
Money as well, if you were a super smart student and you were confident that you were going to get great marks in your ATAR won't you go for law, where all the money is, rather than some other silly degree with a super low cut-off mark that doesn't pay anywhere near as well? We are discouraging people from choosing education as a career, resulting in lower quality teachers (who may or may not have settled for the subject because they weren't smart enough to get into anything else), and turning that into a vicious cycle. Ouch.
Well, are the kids who are learning from these teachers interested in education at least? Uh, well, as you might already be aware, not really! Because let's be honest here, you were never really that interested in learning when you went to school, right?
Okay but that's for the majority of kids who would rather just go and have fun, but what about those smart kids who always score awesome in their exams? The answer, once again, is not really! Just because they are studying hard, it doesn't always mean that they are there to learn. There are so many reasons why a student could be driven to study hard. The desire to enter a university. The desire to make lots of money in the future. The desire to be approved by their parents, the desire to be seen as smart by their peers, the desire to prove their worth to themselves, the desire to be better than others. And then there are those kids who study for the sake of studying. Who look at the wealth of information the school and teachers have provided them and think: 'Wow, knowing things about the world is so fascinating.' Haha, what a nerd. Well, I, for one, at least, approve of that kid. Even if they are overdoing it a little.
Do kids even know why they're going to school? I have no idea, but if I were to wager a guess, I'd say no. If you asked the everyday kid why they were going to school everyday, I'm pretty sure that they'd tell you that it's to learn. Then when you ask them why they're learning, they're going to give all kinds of exotic answers that only kids could give. And that's adorable, but why are we sending those kids to school?
If you were a parent (or if you are a parent, even better!), why would you send your kids to school?
Hmm.
Let's see...
Because everyone else does it? Fair enough. Group mentality can help sometimes. Especially when everyone throws themselves onto the ground and you follow suit. It might just save your life. Or leave you a tad confused when you realise that you've been trolled by a flash mob. But what about more personal reasons? Surely you have some kind of say in this as well, right?
So your kids can learn to read, write, and be smart in general? Okay, that's cool. Now we're getting somewhere. Reading and writing are important skills in life and smart kids are valuable. Smartness is valuable. This is a pretty valid reason.
So they can get into university, get a job, and make money? Oh! This is a good one. Everyone likes money. Who doesn't like money, right? Of course your kids would want to make money. Lots and lots of money. You're making them go to school for their own good. Then you can retire and they can afford to send you to a good nursing home once you're old. Makes sense.
So your kids can grow up to be normal, society-bound people? Haha. Ha! I like this one. That wasn't sarcasm, I really do. Everyone wants their kids to have friends and connections, and to be able to talk to other people and juggle all kinds of relationships in life. Unfortunately, some of us have failed to do so, and are now sitting in our parents' basements staring blankly at a computer screen, nursing romantic crushes on virtual characters, and building solely internet friendships. (Oh you know who you are.) But for the rest of us, (or the rest of you), we're pretty functional socially. School is a simulacrum of the greater society, and we're used to having authoritative figures (teachers), peers (students), schedules, assignments, rules, punishments, rewards, and more informally, cliques, ranks, rumours, and discrimination. It's pretty hard to have a childhood filled with this without school, so that's one learning experience we probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere else.
So your children can become free thinking, critical, discerning people. Right? Isn't that what education is all about? It's not about maths or science or tests, or money (well, sometimes...), it's about being able to view the world in a critical way. To be able to absorb information without blindly believing in it. To be able to question the ways things work. To be able to express yourself, to be able to help others, to advance society, to make intelligent decisions, and to better your own life.
That is why we value education, right? To stop repeating the mistakes of history. To become more technologically advanced. To be smarter, richer, faster, stronger, fairer, simpler, better. To pass on the knowledge and skills we have now and to build upon it. Upwards. (I'm not actually too sure what we're aiming for. That's a philosophical subject that's up for debate but it does seem rather like human nature to want to continue moving forwards.)
Okay I don't even remember the point I was trying to make any more. But the point is, I think we've lost sight of this. We've lost sight of this because we are a society that is run by an aging population on aging ideas. As we grow older, we learn more. As we continue to find things to believe in, we forget to keep our minds open to the things that are emerging. The more we learn, the less we are able to continue to learn. This is painfully obvious but I realise that one day, I'm very likely to travel this same path. Stupid biology.
And so I'm going to be as critical and creative as possible now that I'm still within the first quarter of my life of absorbing dumb ideas.
People need to stop treating teaching as just a part of the production line that sends humans through life, but like a key to unlocking the infinite potential of humanity. If I might point out a very scientific fact for a moment, and bring to your attention the large size of our brains compared to all other animals out there.
We are here today because we were smart. Our smartness is the one asset we have that has littered our kind all over the goddamned world. Shouldn't we, then, naturally place importance on this aspect of ourselves? (Wait...we do. We like smart lawyers because for some reason we enjoy watching cool dudes in suits argue our cash away over some silly civil issue. Haha, rich people!)
It's not even that people don't think of education as a good thing. We, as a global society, are just not treating it as a good thing. Our hypocritical actions are not reflecting the way we like to yap on about educating the next generation. Hell, I started this three hour long rant because of a few things my dad said about the importance of education. He likes to say that learning is a lifelong thing, and that knowledge is one of the only things you can ever really call your own. That all the most rich and advanced countries and societies are the ones who have the best education. And yet he never considers my side of the argument when I'm informing him of things he has assumed wrong. He works off prejudices and unresearched facts. He judges by race and wealth. He has no idea that education is pretty damn bad in the USA. You know, the world's greatest country. Haha.
I think that one day I'm going to start rejecting new things. And when that day comes, I'm going to have to either consciously stop myself from being a retard, or stop being a part of our educational system. Learning, and not just the kind you get from school, mind you, is what makes the world go around. If you are incapable of it then it might be a good time to step down, and let someone through who is not past their use-by date. Whoops. That was off topic. Let me try again.
Everyone should remember how important it is to be an intelligent and critical thinking human being. And how that state is obtained through high quality, open minded education. And to place value upon the people mainly responsible for this, parents and teachers. Considering that I'm planning on becoming both, I'm going to, personally, try my best to provide it.
Maybe one day, tired and jaded, I'm going to come back to this and remember what I'm doing it all for.
This uneducated and unresearched rant (not essay) is brought to you by Krystal. Who adamantly insists that this is just an opinion and that you shouldn't take offence to anything written here. ie. relax, it's just an opinion on the internet.
