Am I really learning?

It’s seemingly impossible to enjoy a full school day these days. There always that one class period of the day where you find yourself frequently checking the clock, just to be let down by the passing of no more than five minutes. It sucks the worst when this happens multiple times a day, but yet, it’s happened to us all. Why has school developed this stigma of being nothing but torture? Why can’t we seem to find any sense of enjoyment in the knowledge being filed in our brains? I think education isn’t serving its purpose. What good is a mind full of facts when its owner has no idea how to apply it to everyday life? School boards and educators stress the value of “core classes.” Why? We may not need three-fourths of the knowledge we gain from them in the long run.

Electives are few and far between anymore. All the state cares about is ISTEP scores. Training kids for statistical success according to test results is the only stress is education these days. Instead of increasing electives that could potentially bring a light to the usually dark days of monotony in high schools, they’re shutting more windows and keeping students in the dark of their dreams. We’re being trained for all things by the book and mundane. Not everyone can fill cubicles. Some of us are meant to live outside the norm. Some of our success can’t be measured in ISTEP scores. There’s a good deal of students who won’t learn anything relating to the career they desire until they enter it.

High schools are supposed to be training students for their future. Sure, core classes aid in this, but they should NOT be the focus they have become today. Core and electives should be balanced in a way that allows students to apply their knowledge in everyday situations.

Naturally, this blog was provoked by the very thing I’m raving about. I’m just chilling in the library with nothing to do and too much time to do it. Is it lunchtime yet?