Going to school

In my country there is a law that says you have to go to school, which is very normal in alot of countries.
Why, I wonder, do you have to go to school? We waste about 20 (or less) years on school, without REALLY enjoying life.
I do think everybody agrees that you have to go to school because otherwise you won't have a future and stay dumb, and never find a normal job.
But not all the lesson materials teached on school are neccessery, for example not everybody wants to learn another language other then their own.
Why not let other people choose what they want to learn instead of teaching things some people find not neccessery.
While I am writing this, I see I don't really have a particulary question for you, rather just my way of seeing things. So I came up with a question:
Do you guys think, that the schoolsystem the way it is now, should change?
Before answering this, read this short story which I love and think is brilliant:

"There once was a boy born.
Ever since he could talk, he asked questions and was interested in everything..
He asked questions about everything he could think of.
When the boy was old enough to go to school, he still asked so many questions.
In the beginning the teachers would answer them, and found him interesting. But that changed after 3 months or so.
He kept asking questions, and the teachers did not know all the answers to his questions, and started to ignore him.
Because of this, his mother got him off the school, and teached him home school in the way she thought was right.

The name of this boy was Thomas Edison."

 

You have to go to school for several reasons. First, if they didn't go school, the economy will go kaploop coz no-one will know anything. Secondly, it gives people options to find out who they are, make friends, learn social skills, and other things you can only get from school.

Where I live.. if you 16 and have an apprenticeship then you can leave
other than that, you can only leave if your 17 or graduating

My friend graduates at 16 coz her birthday is after school ends.​

 

Where i come from is really rural area, so the people here are sometimes forced to work instead of study. But the rest usually finish school, go to college etc.

 

The school system should DEFINITELY change.
First of all, teachers should need to do more to become a teacher, and they should be paid more for it. When I was in school, the teachers seriously didn't give a flying **** about me, and couldn't answer most of the questions i had. Seriously, I could die the next day, and they probably wouldn't even notice.

Second, there needs to be less than 35 kids to one freaking classroom. Its ridiculous. theres so many problems. first, youve got all the kids distracting each other from actually learning. then, no one can actually get their questions answered because theres so many people who dont understand asking questions. i remember not even asking questions because there were so many people i felt bad for holding up the class.

Lastly, if kids aren't doing well in classes, or if they're doing way better than the rest of a certain class and already know everything, then those students should be able to move up/down. Seriously, I learned everything I needed to know to go to college within TWO YEARS of homeschooling, because i skipped all of the crap high school would make me "learn" that i already know. Most students dont have that chance in high school.

 

In my opinion, the whole education system is broken in more ways than one. First of all, in elementary/middle school (or the overseas equivalent), the teachers need to be paid MUCH more, and a VASTLY better screening process needs to take place, to get the right teachers. I can't even count the numbers of my teachers who absolutely hated their jobs, and hated the kids, and everything else. They just went into education because they picked it out of a hat, or because they couldn't cut it in their chosen career. Also, optimistically, they need to somehow standardize the curricula for all schools, if at all possible. I moved around a lot, and I must have been taught with 4 different curricula in elementary school alone. Then when I was home schooled for a year, I became like 2 years ahead of everyone else.

High school DEFINITELY needs better teachers, with better pay, and more funding so those teachers can actually make the classes fun. I mean, in high school, in ALL 4 YEARS of high school, the only fun thing we did was make a volcano. Once. High school doesn't teach kids anything except how to hate school. That's all it does.

College, of course, gets a lot better, since they have a lot more funding and better teachers (usually). But even there, there are things which seem kind of pointless. IMO, at least for certain professions, we should reinstate (here in the US, anyways) the apprenticeship system. I have found, from personal experience, that one month hands-on in your career will teach you more than a year of formal classes ever can, and you'll find out if you're cut out for it faster. I mean, I took a 1-month field school for archaeology, and learned more there than in all my 3 years of college, and not just about archaeology - I learned how better to deal with people when they're tired and achy, for instance, or how to work through aches and pains, rudimentary first aid (still have some pretty nasty scars from that course - damn sharp trowel), and I learned that field work is one of the most fun things I can possibly do. Now imagine an apprenticeship for years under full-time archaeologists - that would teach a lot more than a college degree ever could.

 

definitely agree with this education shout not be a field you go to when the other ones don't work out. It should be an occupation thats difficult to get and pays well.

Better teachers, i agree, but i can't see how making classes "fun" is better for education. I mean, it should at least be interesting enough so kids don't despise school, but fun seems a bit out of the question to me.

 

That's because the education system has trained you to not think of school as fun. I know it's possible, the government just can't seem to grow the balls to divert funding to make it happen.

 

uh, actually, school was pretty fun when i actually went to it. Homeschooling wasn't "fun" but i definitely learned a lot. And now I'm in college, and that isn't really fun either. And yes, i know that school can be fun, but why is that a good thing? I thought kids were supposed to be learning?

 

Actually I don't allow schooling to interfere with my education.

ohshi-

 

They should change it but instead of teachers how about making the teachers drill seargents because my class won't show the heck up. I wear one of those special hearing aids for old people when I don't need one just to hear the freaking teacher. they make school too fun is what I think.

 

Then they're screwed when college stops giving a crap about you. You're responsible for showing up and getting your crap done. The teachers aren't going to halt the day because one of their thousands of students doesn't show up.

 

Because children need Education.
They're not responsible enough to make their own choices.
Seems quite fair to me.

 

yes but it's also like dictating these people's lives because it does waste most of our life. We dn't get to enjoy our childhood as much as we used to

 

Enjoying childhood is great, but theres this little thing called a future which they should have. You can't just enjoy being young and stupid and not getting an education all your life. Kids aren't mature enough to make their own decisions about education(case and point:you) so its only logical to make them do it.

 

ye but did you see my earlier post. If we could then we should lengthen the vacations because schools are basically teaching the same thing every year

 

Schools do tend to teach the same thing a lot. That's a problem that needs to be fixed. But no, we should not lengthen the vacations. If anything they should be shortened.

 

all i have to say here is that you can enjoy life and go to school at the same time. i loved high school because i didnt have to pay for it. its hard for people not in college to understand, but life sucks if you dont have money and cant go to college because (most of the time) you need a college degree to get a good job and go places and make something of your life. :)

 

You can make 60,000 dollars a year even IF you only have a high school dimploma of you work with the railroad industry

 

You're right! I totally forgot that the only purpose in life is to have fun!
Seriously though, let Luka's post sink in for a second and see how wrong you are. Their lives are being dictated because they're young and irresponsible and to prevent worse. They don't see the need for basic education so we'll show it down their throats. Unfair? Tsk yeah right, come back when you're out of the stage of hedonistic puberty.

Also, like mrsbaggins said, you can go to school and have fun at the same time. Of course you don't get to enjoy your childhood as much as you used to -boo ****ing hoo- but why stare yourself blind at the things you don't have instead of making the best out of the things you got?

Or we could try an intelligent approach and teach different stuff instead of just less stuff.

 

I don't think everyone would like to work in the railroad industry.