Our educational system has brought us a long way. It’s part of the reason for almost every idea of bright minds in the world today. However, it’s received its fair share of critics as well. Does our system need a change? And if so, how should that change look? Over the past few weeks, I have acquired quite a lot of information on the topic of education and therefore, I feel inclined to answer these questions. Here’s my personal take on this.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you already know that I’m of the opinion that our school system needs to evolve. My first suggestion for improvement comes from our system’s way of seemingly thinking that all students are equal in their characteristics, personalities and interests. The reason for this isn’t difficult to understand; The less individualistic an approach to education is, the more “efficient” it is. It tends to also be less student-friendly, though. Thus, I would really like to see a more tolerant education philosophy implemented into our school system that gives pupils more freedom on what they learn and when they learn it. It wouldn’t be wrong for the people in charge to turn to Freinet- and Montessori forms of education for inspiration.
Something my research on Paulo Freire, Maria Montessori and in particular John Dewey made me realise is how important it is to help students learn by making them find the solutions themselves. In other words, what I’m talking about is teaching students how to learn or, to put it in Maria Montessori’s words, “help them do it themselves”. Including this stronger into teaching methods and also giving students practical examples to learn from is key to becoming more self-responsible, which is kind of the whole purpose of education in the first place, right?
To go the extra mile, our school system could not only teach us what to learn and how to learn ourselves, but also how to think about what we learn and how we deal with information in general. Because unfortunately, manipulation is omnipresent in our society, be it from multi-billion-dollar companies or from political influencers. And in order for youths to really develop into full, independent, contributing members of society, they need to be able to think critically and to distinguish what’s reasonable and believable from what’s better to be closer inspected.
To conclude, if you ask me, a stronger emphasis on individualism, self-responsibility and critical thinking is the way to go for our education. I really do believe that when all those tips are properly and broadly implemented into our educational system, we can look onto a very bright future. After all, that is what todays young people are: the future. But that’s just my take on this, what to you think? Do you agree? What are the most important things to be changed about our schools? I’m looking forward to hearing about your opinions in the comments below!
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