Education and schools

I have studied a lot thorough my life with very different results and feelings. The kindergarden was nice, I liked it and enjoyed it, but then in the primary school I had a hard time. I wasn’t interested at all in the studies and I just did the minimum to pass. After that, I enjoyed university, where I found interesting teachers and topics. Actually, I liked the university so much that I did a second degree and then started a PhD. Eventually, I left the PhD because the salary in the university was abusively low.

The other day we were talking about schools for children. I don’t have children right now, but I would find it particularly difficult to choose a school for them. Here in Spain the differences between private and public school are not clear, because most of the private schools also receive money from the government. In principle, you expect to have a better treatment in private schools, in the sense that the students needs are approached in a more individualised way. Regarding the level of the education, you can’t say which is better.

If you ask me, the main problem of sending your children to school is that I don’t have faith in the education system. I think in let’s say two years you can teach someone the same things that this person will learn from the age of 4 to 18. Why I say so? Because we start to teach abstract concepts to children at too young an age in what is a training for the future.

The education system program is full of contents. I am not saying you can learn all that in just two years, what I am saying is that from all those contents, the contents that the average student will actually learn can be absorbed in just two.

If you go to a university and give a simple exam to all the students in their first year of university studies you will see most of them write very badly with important orthography and grammar issues. They do not know much about history, literature or art and they are not able to read with a good understanding.

Sadly, we can say that they just know how to do basic maths and in some cases, this is expanded to derivatives.

 If you take an intensive approach and are able to keep the student engaged, you can teach them a lot of things in two years. Actually, if it didn't mean a lot of time and effort and a lack in social skills, I would say that I would prefer to teach my own children. At least I would be sure that they would be able to know basic history, language and maths and that they would evenb be able to write and read (I know I am ambitious).

The problem is in school you learn to adapt yourself to society… you have to learn that if the teacher says you have to use a blue pencil, you cant use a black one, and mainly you have to learn that you are not expected to think but to obey (something the guidelines of any education system won't recognise but it is the sad truth).

I agree with the need of learning to obey. Without it, society would be in kaos. My issue comes when you have to obey stupidities. For example, when you need to make a custome for your children to appear in a theater for the Christmas play. Think about it, with a four year old, don’t you think children would enjoy it the same with a role playing without customes? Children do not need a custom for playing, because that is the point of children, they have a great imagination and skills for fantasy.

And you can say, well that is good because they get used to being in front of an audience since they are young. Fair enough, a pity that then you spend from the age of 11 or12 years old to the age of 18 without speaking in public, ever!

In other words, we miss the objectives and waste a lot of time and money in trivial things.