The society I am very lucky to find myself in and also grew up in has some kind of definition for certain things other than what was accepted to be normal nowadays. In as much as I am not old, as a young guy, I have seen things in both the way they should and otherwise. One of the major aspects of our society that possesses these so-called things is the education sector.
Basically, what we grew up to know was a rigid educational lifestyle that entails going to school - graduating with good grades -getting a job - getting married - having children, and dying..! These all boil down to the belief that the only way is to be in the four corners of a school. But in recent years, we have now begun to see these things as rigid and we stepped on to a higher scope. Education is more than school!
Now, I must say that I strongly disagree with the notion that “going to school and getting good grades is a measure of intelligence”. No, they are not. Personally, I attribute the word “intelligence” to “seeing things outside of scope logically”. For example, being able to apply what was thought in class and cross-reference it to perhaps a seemingly unrelated thing, which is how innovation rises. Mind you, if this were about one or two decades ago, I would have agreed with that notion above.
For me, I believe the only stage of schooling that is needed and compulsory is that of elementary school (which is what is referred to locally as nursery and primary schools). At a very young stage, a child’s mind greatly needs to be shaped on the right basic foundation. This is because even the Holy Bible says in the book of Psalms 11:3 - “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”. So once the correct basic mindset – including writing, speaking, etc. - is handled, we are good (basically)!
To corroborate my stand as stated earlier on, it is worthy to note that our default education system of today hampers true intelligence. I may have to use examples to elucidate some points. The basic system we have entails a teacher teaching a certain topic according to his/her knowledge, right?, and at the end of the semester (or term) sets an exam concerning what has been taught. This is such a boring thing to do today. Even in the course of teaching, homework or assignment is given, which is mostly concerned with just the course content. And some of these course outlines have not been updated for years despite global exponential technological advancements.
One of the ways you’d know these things is the fact that you will see that some students may never do well in certain courses in school. But when it reaches another course, they tend to be more active and enjoy it than others. Now, in an intelligence-driven school, such a child should be monitored. And perhaps doing what he enjoys the most relative to the other things could end up being brighter than ever.
In the same way, you’d see some people with good grades in a particular subject or course of study and when a time comes to discuss a topic there, they flop. Why? Mainly because we have been accustomed to making sure we pass an exam whether we understand it or not. In the same vein, when you meet people who enjoy studying or researching what he/she likes, they tend to be able to say more than what may have been taught to others in the school.
Moreover, I believe everyone is born intelligent. It just needs to grow as a normal human being does. It is actually the atmosphere under which the basic foundation is set that either improves or adversely affects it. So, I don’t think we need to go to school to be intelligent naturally. But what going to school or educational institutes does is to develop and build upon that intelligence – stretch it more to accommodate the growing knowledge of life.
That is the reason why we can not completely rule out school except that the system should be upgraded. You know, education itself does not start or just exist within the four corners of a school. So, even if one says he does not want to attend a physical school, the virtual one is still run by humans probably. Meaning that in the long run, different approaches produce different results.
In as much as the school in itself will always exist, there should be an avenue to explore the outside world. And no man is an island so there will always be one person who we go to ask questions. So, teachers are to be trained, guardians, mentors, or anyone in an administrative capacity should encourage their students to take what they have learned to the outside world and try to match them to whatsoever they think. This will further broaden their horizon and gives them the confidence to be able to question the norm. Then, when they come back, the teacher or guardian can put them through what is what. This is how true creativity and innovation grow!
Gracias!
The image above was designed by me with Canva.
