Maybe, we should abolish formal education
What’s the point of education? Well, it depends on who you ask.
If you ask people like me, we would say the purpose is to expand our horizons by gaining as much knowledge as possible and learning to think critically and scientifically for ourselves. I also go further by believing that it can be used to preserve our ancestral heritage; you don’t have to fully love it, you just need to be familiar with it.
Obviously, that does not make us workplace-ready; we still need to learn practical skills, whether by taking classes or go straight to work. But, I do think the horizon expansion and arguably arbitrary things like heritage preservation are worthwhile.
The former ensures we achieve a balance between open-mindedness and skepticism. The latter ensures we won’t collectively drown amidst the tides of globalised changes; we won’t end up as carbon copies of other, more culturally-dominant societies.
Unfortunately, many people have more shallow idea of education. Some believe the only purpose of education — literally the only purpose — is creating students who are 100% workplace-ready by the time of graduation. Others believe the point of education is fame and fortune, to prepare students for socially prestigious occupations with high salaries.
Even more shallow and stupid, some believe kids and teens should go to schools….. because it is their duty to do so, because going to schools has always been the norm. Basically, going to schools just for the sake of it.
So….. why bother?
Why bother teaching languages when students still have poor reading and listening comprehensions and cannot utter basic sentences in foreign languages?
Why bother teaching math when students still struggle with basic calculations and worse, end up hating math?
Why bother teaching history when students still end up repeating their ancestors’ mistakes?
Why bother teaching sports when students still end up unfit and worse, end up hating sports??
Why bother teaching natural and social sciences when students still don’t know how to properly enquire and what the word “theory” means?
Why bother teaching knowledge when you never try to make students have a basic grasp it, let alone actually appreciating it?
Why don’t we just replace schools we know with training programs and apprenticeships and immediately prepare students as young as six for the workforce? Why don’t we reserve STEM classes for students who want to be engineers and medical professionals? Why don’t we reserve arts classes for those who want to work in showbiz?
No, I don’t think my reaction is excessive.
Those aforementioned three groups of people have something in common: they couldn’t give less damn about knowledge and critical thinking skills, let alone arguably arbitrary benefits like heritage preservation. It is obvious their idea of “learning” only include memorising texts, doing homework and passing the grades.
Considering their mindsets dominate the world we live in, entrenched in virtually every country’s education system, I genuinely don’t see the purpose of maintaining schools. At least, the schools most of us have known for our entire lives.
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