School Sucks and What to do about it Part 1...

School Sucks and What to do about it Part 1...

School sucks. 

You know it does. I mean I grew up hating school. It was most often boring, uneventful and lacked relevance.

I'm willing to bet that you might agree with me. I wanted to find out if people had similar school experiences to mine so I went to one of the most reputable sources I could find: Reddit. Here is what I found:

This is a Redditt search result showing how people felt about school.

Redditt was clear. People do not like school. But I couldn't stop there, so I decided to further my research. On my way through a Google search, I stumbled across something striking. People didn’t just find school boring, pointless, and tedious. It actually made them feel bad, depressed and sad. 

As an educator with more than 10 years of experience in the field, I’ve interacted with thousands of students. I can tell you that many students today feel similar to what you just saw [and are about to see]. 

This is a google search showing how people feel about school. Students said things like, it makes me fee sad or mad or angry or bored or want to cry.

I think I know why so many people, especially students, feel this way. They are attending school as a part of a system that was never built for them. 

Now most of us attended school in what’s called the industrial school system. The Industrial school system moves kids through it like an assembly line. You go from elementary school to middle school to high school then on to college and after that hopefully, you get a good job making enough money to pay Sally Mae back all that money you borrowed. And you know she ALWAYS comes to collect. Kids today still go to school in industrial model schools. 

Let’s just be real here. We know that school isn’t working. We know that the system is unfair. We know that students of color and low-income students don’t have the same outcomes from the school system as white and wealthy students. We know that the one-size-fits-all, assembly-line, cookie-cutter approach to education does not work. We know that the education system is old, tired and played out. Yet, we’ve been doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. You know what they call that? Insanity

So its about time we do something different in schools. A fresh look and a new mindset is the only way for us to get off of the assembly line and create schools that serve students well. If we keep thinking and doing the same thing about school, we will continue to build schools that...well...suck. 

What's something you think we should be doing differently with schools?

__________________________________________________________________________

I recently gave a TEDx talk at TEDx South Congress. Because this message is important to me, I wanted to make sure to share it in as many mediums as I can. I will be doing a four part article series on Linkedin to share the written version of the talk!

This is Part 1 of the 4-part series.

Thanks for reading. Please leave a comment with your thoughts. I'd love to hear what you think.

Jordan Hill

Senior Account Executive, Healthcare and Facility Services - National Accounts - Procter and Gamble

5 年

Amazing brother. You would think reverse engineering children's brains would be a widespread concept by now to help cultivate learning.. crazy to imagine a world that's actually being shaped by children before they even realize it.

Fiona Reith

Helping early career professionals who are anxious about the next transition in their career discover meaning and direction again with 1:1 Coaching | Career Coach | Business Coach

5 年

Great stuff. A very eloquent piece on why we have to listen to children, use technology and our communities and change the system for the better. Think differently!

Oliver Washington Jr.

Lifelong Learner| Community and Educational Facilitator|DEI Advocate| Substitute Teacher at FWISD

5 年

Insightful & hitting the sweet spot of dysfunctional schooling. What can we do: 1-create & facilitate lifelong learning partnerships/leaening hubs between learning,business, & community institutions; 2- listen and solict imput from the primary stakeholders of learning, learners Pre-K-20+; 3- What should 21st century and beyond learning look like, who is responsible for facilitating the development and engagement of lifelong learning, how do we facilitate real-world learning and equitable learning partnerships, how do we create a learning-teaching dichotomy between the student, the teacher, and the community? Will this lead to transformative, engaging, and equitable learning across the 21st century learning landscape?

Ky'Londa Glaze

10+ Years Building Communities, Crafting Narratives, & Forging Lasting Relationships

5 年

Also....the addition of reddit and google clips ???????????????????? I LOVE That?! Can I steal it? (ie. its already stolen ????) You've become my LinkedIn mentor and you didn't even know it. ????

Ky'Londa Glaze

10+ Years Building Communities, Crafting Narratives, & Forging Lasting Relationships

5 年

I missed the live talk but I will certainly check out the recording! Great work!

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