Tag: a better education system

Empowering Discussions

Drop In

Impower You

This post is dedicated to Annabanana and all other wild, strong willed adventurers.

High School drop outs have a bad reputation. It’s “oh so obvious” to society that if a person drops out of school they are a “failure”.  Pffft! You say drop out of school, I say drop in to life. Sure there are those that give up and never try, but I know many people that have dropped school so they could get a GED and move on with their lives. Some people go on to college, some start their own business and some take off on adventures.

We do not have an education system that teaches people to be creative and seek knowledge. We have a system that produces batches of patriotic worker bees who can memorize well. I was so bored in school,  I decided that if school was so boring, college would be the same or worse. It took a year of working boring low pay jobs to change my mind about attending college. So finally, I got an Associates degree and I am happy I did. The bottom line is most of our success is dependent on how we react, the choices we make and whether or not we decide to learn on our own. Now I know that sitting in a classroom memorizing rules doesn’t work for me. I learn much better when I can work creatively and at my own pace. I learned that failure is just a fork in the road that takes you in a different direction. It’s not all bad.

Do you think having a GED would stop you from becoming a governor, a famous actor, a business owner or an Olympic medalist? Think again.  http://www.k12academics.com/academic-testing/ged-testing/famous-ged-recipients

There is a huge difference between giving up and going against the crowd to get where you want to be. When have you decided a different path was better than following the crowd?

Social Action

Education Vs.Conformation

Impower You

This story was reported by Liz Dwyer at Good Education.

A young woman, age 13, was harassed so much her parents pulled her out of school. It wasn’t sutdent on student bullying, but teachers who could not handle criticism.

http://www.good.is/post/a-13-year-old-s-slavery-analogy-raises-some-uncomfortable-truths-in-school/

The girl in question wrote an essay for a contest and compared her school system to slavery. I have to agree with her.  Our public school system was not set up to create critical thinking and dissent. It was set up to create worker bees and patriots. What I learned in school was how to memorize facts. I excelled at school, even though it was challenging to finish all my work and I was bored.

It’s a shame that instead of taking her criticism and fixing the school they simply harassed her so much she left. This reminds me of the saying that “pride causes many falls”.

I have long been a proponent of Montessori, Charter and Home study education. I was able to spend a year in home study and if my mother could afford it I would have stayed that route until graduation. I may have even wanted to attend college right away instead of waiting so long. I was challenged to do more than memorize. I had a wonderful teacher to contact for help and I could work at mt own schedule. Obviously these methods do not work for everyone,but there has to be a better answer. We have millions of students and thousands teachers. We need a system that works for students not for the teachers, principles and superintendents.

It is time for a revolution in education. I believe we need a new curriculum based on critical thinking skills, basic accounting, tax and common sense life skills. We need less History and more Science, less Physical education and more Practical Math skills.

What do you think we need more of in schools?

🙂