Is our educational system too old fashion?

Question

Should our educational system be changed in order to keep pace with our rapidly changing society?

When I was at school, eight years ago, doing my GCSEs, apart from maths, science and english, most of the subjects we were studying have no relevance into todays world and have all been forgotten by my feeble mind. What was the point of that education? What was the point of being forced to study religious education?

School children should learn more life skills - e.g. home financial economics, basic car repair, computer skills, on top of maths and english.

Answer 1

While I am not entirely sure what you mean by being "old fashioned," it is apparent that our modern public school systems, by and large, don't seem to be doing their job. The solution, unfortunately, cannot be a quick switch to a new way of doing things unless a support system is in place. For example, in our local system, teachers are not given enough authority in their classroom; the reason for that is that schools are fighting to keep students on their rosters because they get paid by how many students they have. Clearly students everywhere have discovered this and standards have been relaxed far too much.
Change is always a double-edged sword; one must not only be prepared to support the changes on a permanent basis, which meets enough resistance by itself, but they must also pay the price in other ways, initially at least. An example of this would be to raise standards of behavior and insist on compliance. While the resistance to the idea would be significant, it would also encourage the marginal students to just stop going to school. Personally, I would require school or make them dig ditches or clean sewers. Sending them home to watch TV or hang out in the mall is not a suitable option. Sometimes key options are what people need.
The most important issue you address is more troubling: how do we bring the high school graduate into the workplace when he does not have the skills? Should we give lessons in banking and bill paying? How about teaching someone skills in order to hold a job? I observed a young man, a college graduate, ask someone what the area code for Honolulu was. It was 9 AM. The upshot of it was that the college graduate believed that it was 9 AM in Hawaii too! Someone gave him the area code and he found out what time it was when he called our business associate on his personal line. I think someone should have learned about time zones in high school, at very least. That should be in with the other stuff that makes us a bit more human.
Frankly, I think that getting along with teachers is the student's problem; you often don't get the boss you want and it is your job to get along with him, not have him get along with you. The world isn't fair and it would be a good lesson to learn that early. My teachers in HS or college weren't always fair and when I complained, things didn’t change; my parents told me to work harder at it. I didn't see the righteousness of it then, but it was very good advice.
Lastly, the entire educational system isn't too keen on what actually gets you a job and what doesn't; it would be nice if it made it pretty clear that you needed an MA or PhD in Psychology to even earn a decent living and that learning Shakespeare made you a sterling dinner partner but perhaps not much else. It isn't that learning these doesn’t have personal value, but how our world values them that makes a difference; sometimes we learn skills we don't especially want to learn because it makes a difference in our career path. That’s part of maturation. Being aware of how marketable you will be when you graduate from anything would be highly advisable.
Lastly, I believe that by age 10 or 12, one ought to begin taking courses directed at what talents you have; if you fail, you try something else, but this plain vanilla HS graduate we have today is pretty much prepared to do nothing. Frankly, that's a greater crime than anything else.
Although people make it in the fast food industry if they work hard, watching life happen to you over the counter at a convenience store will only leave you complaining about the minimum wage. No one was ever expected to support a family on that. Restoring personal initiative and responsibility is really the task of all our education systems. That means making it clear that presenting oneself properly and getting along with others is as important as what subjects you are learning. Once the education system makes it clear, it’s up to student initiative to make it work.

Answer 2

The first failure with regards to the education system is the premise that it is the government's job to educate our children. Our government-run schools are a failure. In the inner cities, less than half graduate. Kids do not leave with skills to hold a job, let alone show up for one. A lot of kids cannot even speak an intelligent conversation. The best solution is private school vouchers. Everytime competition is introduced, the industry gets better. For example, look at the phone industry. It cost 25 cents a minute to make a long distance call in 1980. That is $1.50 in current money. It costs 10-15 cents, depending on your plan 26 years later. There are other reasons why government schools fail, but that would take a while to explain.

The religious education is an excellent talking point. I was raised Catholic and have not been to church in a long time. Too often, the message is missed and the messenger is the problem. We as a society need to promote morality and moral living. Any reasonable person would agree that the 10 Commandments are words to live by. Good religion also teaches marriage, sexual morality, and the like. One of the main reasons why we have so many societal problems: divorce at 60%, out of wed lock births climbing, STD's all over the place is because of a lack of moral training. Take a look at the revered by many (not me) President Clinton. He represents the term situational ethics. This means, depending on your situation, you may or may not be honest. I was raised to always do the right thing, especially when there is no one around to see it.

Your point that children need more life skills is great. Let us teach our children in the home (from the parents) honesty, integrity, and the like.

Let us teach our kids that getting a job and working for a company for 40 years is gone. How about stop depending on the goverment for our health care, retirement, education of our kids, etc. How about personal responsibility and learn how to work with the opposite sex instead of divorcing when there is a problem. How about it is wrong for 15 year old girls to get pregnant? My personal favorite is passing a law that allows individuals at their own expense to buy a converter for their cable box and block channels that they feel offensive. I am sick and tired of flipping through my channels and catching the crap that MTV puts on: the hook-up shows, the filth that people call rap music videos. I would love to see the entertainment industry see the reports of how much of their filth is blocked from even coming into people's homes.

Answer 3

I don't think they are old fashion. If that were the case then children would be able to read and do basic math skills. If anything the system has tried so called innovative systems and they and they have failed. I have experienced this first hand
with my own children and was a Special Ed teacher for 10 years.
So I believe I know what works. Presently in the school systems if a student chooses there are vocational schools that their school system will assist them in enrollment and learn a trade. These schools are an alternative for someone that wants to learn a trade. The computer classes in most schools are very adequate in learning the basic fundamentals of the computer. Home financial home economics should be learned in the home that is the parents responsibility. Hopefully you studying gave you a foundation for values and morals. That is what religious studies are about.. You pose a great question!

Answer 4

I wouldnt call our education system old fashioned, I would say that it needs work. Many of our children come out of high school without the educational and social skills that would help them move up in the world.

I do think that learning a vocation would help. Some people just cannot afford college and by giving these kids a vocation, it gives them a chance to move up in the world.

Unfortunately, the reality is that people with college degrees earn more than those with just a high school diploma. And the educational and financial aspects of college can be daunting to some who are unprepared for the reality.

I think a combonation of traditional subjects and a vocation would give our kids a leg up in the world, considering the the American education system as a whole is not as good as compared to other countries.

Answer 5

I would say, examine the best and highest performing school systems in the US and use whatever systems those schools use.
It makes no sense to re-invent the wheel.
Priority should be given to ungoing problems the schools are facing
High drop out and pregnancy rates being one thing the schools need to address in concert with parents.

If a young adult doesn't see any value in education then
its a major problem.

As far as the school systems being "old fashioned"
to the contrary I feel that the old fashioned methods seems to
produce more success
now most kids don't even want to be in class. let alone go onto college.

Answer 6

Well, I think that we learn too much unnessesarry stuff. 10 years from now I'm not gonna wake up and say, "Well I think I'll recite the different algebraic rules!" As a matter of fact, 10 years from now I won't remember half of the things I'm learning (use it or lose it) so we should be learning things that we will use so we don't lose it.

In my oppinion more schools should be working on computers to save paper. Even if somthing needs to be taken home, like notes to study, or home work to do, computer font is 3 times smaller than some peoples handwriting. I also think that school books should be a set at home and a set in the class room so the students don't have to carry books to school every day.

Answer 7

I agree with the first guy who answered. What is wrong with the "old fashioned" way of learning? Your parents, and their generation speak better English than any kid in America these days. They understood the way you put sentences together and how to add numerals. Now they're so obsessed with teaching this all important sex education. Now why does that need to be initiated? Your point about auto repair and the like, it a good point. Before Homek became Family and Consumer Science, they did teach you how to balance a checkbook. But in this 'modern' society, they have to focus on how to show your kid how to have sex. This is unneeded and would have never been allowed in school years ago. You have good points, but the subjects shouldn't change, but especially the way it is taught. That's what liberal college is for!!!

Answer 8

There are several different aspects of education that need substantial reform.

First, there is the goofy "grade-level" system, where a bunch of kids are put together in a classroom simply because of age. The only time a student is put into a class of students who are not the same age is when that child is being humiliated as "low-performance" and is held back.

If we had such a system in high school or college, there would be outrage. But apparantly, all 6 year olds are supposed to be completely equal in the classroom, regardless of any external factors.

So, my first reform would be to throw out the grade-level system, and instead put in an ability-level system, where students acheive at an appropriate pace to their abilities.

Another aspect that could use some work is the "work with the teacher" aspect. That is, a student is stuck with a teacher for the year, regardless of how compatable they are with each other.

This would be MUCH tougher to reform, and frankly, any reform would only have modest success, but that success would come at almost no cost. Students should be matched to teachers. Teachers should be matched to students. Both, of course, within some reasonable limits.

Third, kindergarten is not mandatory for students. Since this is the case, we either need to abolish kindergarten or make it mandatory. It doesn't really matter, as long as all students are consistent and therefore equally prepared for school. I would personally prefer mandatory kindergarten.

Fourth, our current testing programs are absolute baloney. They only measure a portion of a student's abilities, and they do that remarkably poorly. Many of the questions are inexcusably badly written. There are assumptions about student experiences that are unrealistic. The tests need to be reduced to about a third of their size, and need to include more written work, especially in math and science.

Fifth, we need the arts, sciences, and PE to come back. Our current math and reading programs are so myopic in focus that they barely engage students at all. Rather, our reading programs should cover the materials that relate to social studies and science, as well as the arts. Math should relate to PE and science. We do NOT need more mealy mouthed units on "being friends" or "keep trying", but instead need more units that are based on actual useful and engaging information.

Sixth, social skills need to be explicitly taught. The days when parents taught their children manners are gone, and will not come back. We need to teach these things in the classroom, rather than punish our children for not meeting expectations that they were never prepared for in the first place.

Seventh, exit exams. They will never be perfect, but they simply need to be in place and adhered to, rather than having people whine about why they didn't pass. If someone is not going to put forth a maximum effort to learn, then that person does not deserve any breaks. There is some personal responsibility in this after all.

That said, exit exams need to have a percentage of tests passed to be considered a graduate. There are many adults I know who simply cannot add or subtract and who cannot write a decent paper to save their lives, yet they are now teachers, doctors, lawyers, and bankers. They did not need EVERY little skill covered in an exit exam, only a relevent subset of skills. A graduate should be able to pass with 4 out of 5 successful subtests.

Oh boy, I can go on and on about useless information being taught, politically motivated requirements, budget naughtiness, and general stupidity, but I just can't keep up this head of steam.

By the way, I have been a teacher for 15 years.

Answer 9

First, allow me to get my wise a** answer out of the way: I agree, the schools my grandchildren attend badly need to upgrade the outmoded computer systems. 128 megs of ram and 6 gig hard drives just won't cut it.

Back to grappling with your concerns. I get the distinct impression that you went to some sort of religious, parochial school, since religous education is frowned upon in public schools. For the most part, formal religious education has no part in preparing a student to face the real world.

On the other hand, it is almost critical that at some point, a child needs to have a basic understandint of comparative religion, since so much of current events is based on MISunderstandings of the world's major religions. However, that is only one subject of many covered in the K through 12 grades.

My grandchildren ARE learning computer skill. The oldest, entering 3rd grade has a basic understanding of both savings and checking accounts. Her classmates, boys and girls are learning how to cook. Automotive repair might still be beyond their abilities, but I might atribute much of that to the lack of funding and facilities to do such class work in most elemetary schools.

It's not the system that is old fashioned. Old fashioned meant that everything was learned by rote, with no discussion of issues and reasons. It meant that the teacher was the ultimate font of unlimited knowledge, with no reason existing for a child to do his or her own research from the school or public library.

What is old fashioned is how public schools are funded, with more money routed to select schools, and not enough meted out to the rest. Our prioities are such that private physical trainers for children are paid more that the child's primary educators.

Answer 10

I would say the way of teaching is old fashioned. To some extend even what is taught is also old fashioned. For example we study the human reproduction system in science. But in many places and school this chapter is taught by a male teacher to boys and a female teacher to girls in separate classrooms. Then what is the use of these AIDS talk if is is dealt differently for boys and girls. The society is still very close on things like this . And to some extend I feel that education is forced on children . For exampe even if one is interested in commerce he/she is forced to take science because every parent want their child to be a doctor or engineer. Is not not the in thing to become a painter or a carpenter . These kinds of careers are looked down. Thier is no dignity of labour

Answer 11

No... It is very up to date. Obviously you did not pay very much attention during school to take away any knowledge from it.

Math, English and computer skill's are a big part of the school system.

I have never heard of a public school having religious education. In fact that is against the rules. If someone chooses to send their child to a private religious school. Then Religious ed is a part of their education. Which should be. So many children grow up with no rule's and no meaning in life. A basic knowledge of God and Jesus give children respect for others and a higher purpose.