Is school a waste of time?

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thread starter imogene Nov 03 2010 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[warning: late night rambling ahead. caution. may induce seizures.] Before you go on thinking, "You're just lazy and stupid! Education is important!" Yes, of course, education is very important. It's one of the most important things along with sex and food. But there's been this nagging little idea swimming around in my head that 'school' might just actually be a 'waste of time'. Knowledge and information is so widely available now, especially because of the internet with things like: wikipedia, online video tutorials such as lynda.com etc., free media downloads, and all sorts of stuff. Often I would spend hours just reading and browsing, learning about so many new and strange things that 'they just don't teach you in school'. I'd get lost in reading a book I'm actually interested in, or I'd get so far forward into the 'bleeding edge' of pop culture, that I'd know about 'memes' weeks before my peers did. Basically what I'm trying to get at is that I could practically teach myself all these things without going to school/paying large amounts of money. But there's always something that gets in the way of my curiosity and exploration: school. There's always something from school that I 'have' to do that gets in the way of what I 'want' to do. At times, school almost feels like a freakin' obstacle rather than promoting a learning environment. I'm sure many of you have had similar feelings of doing things for school that are uninteresting or you thought was 'pointless'. From scantrons, horrible testing methods, and 'dumbed down' teaching, just how much of this is actual learning, and not just memorization and regurgitation, multiple guess, and 'learning to test'? How many of you feel interested to learn from school most of the time? Do you feel like you learn more outside of school? Do you feel like you'd be able to 'grow' better if you weren't tied down with 'obligations' to a 'broken system'? Do you feel like the depth of information on the internet has 'killed' textbooks? I know that these are some pretty extreme views. But it's not all bad guys out there. I understand there are some benefits to school too. Things like: Some people need the guidance. It provides socialization with peers. It provides arbitrary incentives like 'grades' to aspire 'goals' for people to reach. Some people don't actually like learning and need someone to force it into them. It's what we've been doing for many years now. EenRite told me about an interesting type of school called a Sudbury school . The premise is that students decide on their own what they want to learn and they're responsible for their own education. It's really interesting and it's something I'd consider putting my kids in. Is school a waste of time?

My Characters: SwaIIowtail - 59 Broa Fighter

2PermbanFiasco 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

The problem with many people today is they expect guidance. Which is usual, but the way they expect it is someone to hold their hand and lead them through every obstacle in life instead of that person using their own brain and wits to get through an obstacle. That includes education, the internet could pretty much teach you near everything, and if for some odd reason it's not on the internet you could always pick up a book on your own spare time but there's many of people who choose not to do that. They rather complain about their schools sucking while obtaining mediocre grades at best instead of using the best of their time to learn themselves. Long story short, school is good and bad. You need school to give you the blueprint of life. But much of whats in school you will never use your career so high school mainly change to help you learn about which career you want to take, so once you attend college you will not have to attain remedial classes who just teach you random crap until your 2nd or 3rd year which you finally dive into your major. By then a person may say, what the hell this isn't what I expected and change major so if they start sooner in high school they will know exactly what they are getting into by the time they get their with the tools of life to help them prosper in their field.

sonikuboy 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

You could easily learn straight off the internet, but whos to say everyone would do it. At least at school your work is monitored so the teachers know you are actually participating and learning whats being taught.

My Characters: YuiHirasawa - 15 Mardia Warrior

Sephie 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

When you get to college you pick a specific field to excel at. In that field you realize that there are many things that you can't simply do in front of a monitor. You can't have literary discussions of specific texts dating back hundreds of years. You can't get first-hand experiences of watching chemicals react or watching specific instances and solving the math behind it under a controlled setting. And when you actually go into this specific field... you realize there are lot of things that aren't even discovered yet. This is the beauty of the sciences.

My Characters: Kari3 - 101 Broa Chief Bandit

2PermbanFiasco 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] Sephie : When you get to college you pick a specific field to excel at. In that field you realize that there are many things that you can't simply do in front of a monitor. You can't have literary discussions of specific texts dating back hundreds of years. You can't get first-hand experiences of watching chemicals react or watching specific instances and solving the math behind it under a controlled setting. And when you actually go into this specific field... you realize there are lot of things that aren't even discovered yet. This is the beauty of the sciences. [/quote] I personally don't think of college as school. In college education gets more in depth and theres much to research and such with many of it being online to help you and lets you explore into the unknowns. But "school" itself becomes a joke after middle school in my opinion.

krishy + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

internet is my school. Mainly because you get EVERYTHING from the computer and internet now a days, eg. sources for Essays and such, even the structure on how to write those essays and how to spell words in that essay, dictionary to spell words, and the computer holds the tools to type out that essay. This can be done with anything. I basically learned 3 unites of grade 11 (junior?) physics from the internet. :] SCHOOL, is kind of meh, the teaching and structured times to learn so and so subject is good.

My Characters: Apathiee - 137 Bellocan Bow Master

imogene 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I think some people might be misunderstanding what my post is saying. I'm not suggesting that we should learn everything from the internet. My mention of it was just a primary example of the kinds of options and choices that we have today. What I'm trying to get at here is that schools dumb down classes to cater to the lowest common denominator, and it pushes down the students who actually excel.

My Characters: SwaIIowtail - 59 Broa Fighter

danielarthur 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

My school certainly is. Even if you are interested and want to learn, the teachers are all too busy with the bad kids so that they can't teach properly. It is a waste of time, although i don't agree with your views. Children (such as myself) usually need guidance. It's all well and good if you're a genius but the lower ability children need guidance and someone to teach them. The internet has made textbooks obsolete with the quantity of information but the quality on the internet can be complete and utter BS, any fool can post on the internet, they just need to buy the rights to a domain. Textbooks are actually thoroughly checked, making them better in the long run. In short; School in the right environment is good, but in the wrong environments is a complete waste of time. Internet is not all knowing and there is still a need for school.

My Characters: DarthursSin - 120 Scania Night Lord

Sephie 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

danielarthur This is a quote I found on a similar thread... [quote] puzzles : lol that's ridiculously short sighted. I can guarantee that you are not nearly half as well off as you think you are, simply from reading what you just wrote. But if you want a simple answer.... We attend high school because that's how the system works. High School is intended to be a judge of how well you can fare in college, and is the deciding factor in what universities you can get into. While grades and such are not the single determining factor of intelligence, it damn well shows how hard you are willing to work (that is if you take a decent amount of AP/advanced classes, or all offered ones like me lol) and that you have at least a basic level of intelligence. Universities are not going to take the time to get to know you if you have crap grades, because that simply shows you have no work ethic, since apparently you can't even get good grades in something as easy as high school. So... high school is simply a prerequisite for getting into a good university. University is not really for the education, as all universities offer somewhat similar levels of education. It is for the connections, as the more prominent professors and other such people all tend to have some relation to the good universities. The better universities have better funding, and as such, offers more opportunities for internships and the like, as well as the possibility for recommendations from well known professors, provided you do a good job for them. This also improves your chances for finding a job once you get out of uni. Basically, to answer your question... Post 7th grade education is needed to succeed in life, unless you want to flip burgers and fail at life. But, that's your call bro. I think I'll stick to my plan though. Edit: btw, you think any worthwhile companies to work for will even take a look at you if you don't get past middle school? It seems like you're totally clueless as to how the world works. I'm sorry to say this but, you're quite dumb... better stay in school... [/quote]

My Characters: Kari3 - 101 Broa Chief Bandit

Classicvibe + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Early education exists more to make kids develop their thinking skills and such... For younger kids it's more about repetition and memorization ( which is essentially dumb education as you described), and then gradually less and less as they age, to the extent that it becomes all about understanding of concepts. I guess you could argue to some extent that some subjects don't require that much time at school, ( some of my friends got fives on AP tests without taking the class o.O), but those subjects aren't really why schools exist... I mean, e.g. sex ed is like, REALLY easy to learn, lol, but they teach it anyways at school because they feel responsible for making sure that kids don't mess up when they go through puberty. It's also because even though some subjects are easy to learn, ( like economics or world history) most students won't want to. Hence the requirement to take that subject. I'm taking a lot of science classes at a university now, much of the concepts I learn would take me hours of self studying - especially since it also involves chemistry and bio laboratory experiments. It's definitely not a waste of time for me. And yeah, some subject requirements, especially for college, are simply there so that potential grad schools/companies can get a good gauge of your abilities, especially when it comes to learning. You may not even need a subject for a certain profession, and they'll still put it up as a requirement - like physics and calculus for medical school

My Characters: Classicvibe - 180 Galicia Bishop

grassdance 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Well yea everyone knows that the internet can a be a good source of info and that you can teach yourself but it doesn't teach you manners it doesn't teach you social skills. Not everyone is motivated to learn if they had the internet they would just waste time. But in School you actually have to listen even its boring and you can actually get knowledge.

My Characters: uluruaustral - 40 Bera Brawler

realmdefendr 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I'm just wondering, do you go to school in the US? In Sydney, Australia, we have 'Selective Schools' which require a test for entry. What's better is that Selective Schools are Public schools, meaning that they're (almost) free to attend, unlike private schools and such. Having gone to such a school, I can't say I know what it's like when schools 'dumb down classes to cater to the lowest common denominator'. Though I think school is somewhat a waste of time, I'm glad that I went to it. Had I not gone to school, I would never have discovered my love of literature, or learnt about Chemistry and Economics - though I really do hate the latter two subjects, it's added to my depth of knowledge overall. Same thing with piano; I was forced to practise and learn the piano for the majority of my life, and there was a time when I was on the verge of giving it up. In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't - it's one of my favourite leisure activities now. Sometimes, I guess, it's not until you're forced to do/learn something that you discover you like it.

My Characters: realmdefendr - 66 Scania Hunter

skalz 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I believe that school is important, but I'd wish there was a better system than "tests and scores". To be honest, I thought high school was very useful for me, even though I don't take 3/4 of the subjects I took back then, but it made me realize that I at least had interest in it. And sometimes, it's hard to find a starting point. Biology, for example, my teacher started with the cell, then went on to talk about the gastric/digestive system and so on. I'm trying to learn HTML coding by myself and I find it hard to start or even practice. So, for my, school sets a starting point. All the extra info I wanted to know or study in to, I looked in to it myself. Also, school gives me a deadline. I've been wanting to do a lot of art projects during my break, but with work and summer school happening, I had no time or no dedicated time for it. I'm taking a course now that, even though it's actually a complete waste of $300 which I really do hate, I'm getting stuff done. High school is vital. Sure, I really don't need to know trigonometry in my study as an animator, though I do need to know tangents and curves, and I really don't need to know about chemistry or biology, though it's nice to know that so that I can take care of myself...but what high school did for me, and many of my friends, is that it showed us opportunities not thought of. I mean, if I wasn't studying as an animator, I may have gone in to biology or psychology. Right now though, in post secondary, and I'm saying this as an art student in a school that is horribly run and very pathetic, I wish I could take time off to practice on my own time. Right now, I'm flooded with work (and I'm actually taking a break right now procrastinating), and I can finish everything with mediocre outcomes than concentrating on one and tweaking it well. Right now, I just wish I had my own time to practice the skill of drawing and animating, instead of getting pushed through it and expected to do well. I guess, in the end, majority of people really don't know what they're going in to anyways. I mean, my grad class, we knew a general direction, but we still had no idea. I know many of my friends who have changed their minds too. While it's a complete waste of time for some, and for the present...sometimes, it might just pop up. I complain about the school system. But education itself is very important.

My Characters: Okamus - 19 Windia Aran Awakened

imogene 11/03/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

@danielarthur Textbooks are controlled by political parties and companies about what you should or shouldn't learn. A pretty public example is whether or not evolution/creationism should be taught in schools/included in textbooks. Is there such censorship on the internet? No there isn't. Sure, you could say that just about anyone could post anything, but in general, the internet is a better place for publicly verifiable evidence. @grassdance Like I said in the thread earlier, I'm not suggesting we learn everything on the internet. Of course we shouldn't be social shut ins. Yes, we should go outside. But do you really need school to go outside? Don't you hang out with your friends outside of school?

My Characters: SwaIIowtail - 59 Broa Fighter

tiganior1 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

ITT: One sided views from people who see school only as an obstacle in their lives, and only talk about their grades. My school is self-directed, so we're not forced to do anything. We can fail if we really want to.

My Characters: zezima4960 - 72 Broa Ranger