Formal education aims to prepare students for their futures and pave the way for a better, more rewarding future. The idea is that if students are given a solid base in certain areas, they will learn how to go on and develop themselves and improve their communities.
However, it is common knowledge that struggling with this concept since its inception in the 19th century. There are problems such as uneven educational standards, skewed curriculums, and poor tackling of world problems, among other issues. They have led many people to abandon formal schooling altogether or question its purpose entirely.
Disadvantages of formal education
There is a growing voice of conviction that formal education is failing. It has failed to create the type of intelligent, curious, and imaginative minds it was purported to have been created to create in the first place. This idea has been gaining enormous traction and slowly starting to change the way people think about education.
It is evident that formal institutions only cater to those already developed or already there. Therefore, all students are being pressured to conform and be average by the time they reach their twentieth year at school. This means that students are being molded into average minds. Those cannot be innovative or creative which leaves them unable to solve real-life problems.
formal education
Further proof of this is the under-performance of graduates who leave their schools holding degrees they were supposed to have used to boost themselves and their communities. Instead, most end up living in poverty and unable to grasp basic concepts. This shows that education has failed in its mission to create innovators.
Why is formal education failing
The question of why this happens needs to be asked first before any resolutions can be proposed. If you look at formal institutions, it becomes apparent that they only seem interested in imparting information from a textbook. This happens without providing any perspective or application on what it all means for them as individuals or future leaders. This can be attributed as one of the big reasons why many young people leave formal education in pursuit of comfortable, everyday jobs. They are not being taught how to think and develop their minds.
Commonly students would leave formal education with a limitedly defined set of knowledge and money. But no focus or application on how to develop or use that knowledge. This leaves the individual in an agitated state, searching for a future beyond what is expected of them by society or the job market. The community could be described as “alive”. But all too “dead” at times.
Merely providing information from a textbook does not get students to develop. And build up patience, character, and ambition to achieve anything beyond society’s expectations. By the time they leave formal education, they have not been provided with the basic tools to think creatively, solve problems or harness their talent.
Low-level thinking
It is easy to see why formal education fails to create imaginative, curious minds that can change their world and communities when you look at it this way. This argument has been growing by leaps and bounds in the last century. But if we are honest with ourselves, we stumble upon proof of it every time we attempt to solve a complex problem. Because we use the same low-level thinking we were taught during our schooling years.
It is also important to make a distinction between school and formal institutions. Because some people tend to make them synonymous. It is possible to be at school and informal institutions without being a student. Politicians and corporate leaders are examples of people who are informal institutions but not necessarily students.
The danger with this mix-up is that it can lead some people to assume that school is the only way to gain literacy and intelligence when it has been proven otherwise. Thus, schools should aim to create imaginative, curious minds instead of focusing on the mere provision of information for their existing students.
It is also evident that this kind of mindset does nothing other than limit our potential as a nation and a human race. It is clear that schools are failing to provide a solid foundation of knowledge. And also skills to help students look toward the future; no wonder some people and institutions have labeled them as “fail” institutions.
should we let them t grow on their own?
Therefore, if schools do not help children develop in a way that allows them to think and grow on their own. It will be impossible for them to create leaders for themselves or other countries. It is obvious that this will lead kids with limited, fixed thinking into a world where they are unable to solve complex problems or make significant changes in their communities. This can only lead them down the path of mediocrity and failure as adults.
formal education
This is why it is important that schools adopt a different philosophy. Schools should focus on developing inventive and creative minds instead of mere information memorization. They should also teach students how to put all they have learned together to figure out relevant solutions that can be applied to their community. This will allow them to think in ways that are more practical and more productive. In this way, schools would play an effective role in the future of our economy, society, and communities as a whole.
Backward process in schools
The failure of formal education appears widespread throughout the country and calls for a change. This is for better or worse if we wish to survive as a nation, develop on our own terms, or create leaders for our people. It is clear that formal education as it stands right now is not working. And there are alternatives in the making.
There is a difference between learning and being schooled. Learning is what happens when you think as you go through life. School is what happens when someone else thinks for you.
In school, we learn facts and figures, history, science, and so on but is it all? The entire process of education by schools today is backward. It’s easy for us to learn information in school. Because we are told about it so often that our brains start recalling it for us as adults. However, that information is useless if we cannot apply it to real-world situations. This is why students should not only be learning information but become schooled instead of just being students.
Schooled in the process of thoughtfully picking up information, thinking about it, and using it to develop oneself or the community in which one lives. Learning is the ability to put knowledge into practice. As well as understand how knowledge can be used for everyday life. Learning lasts a lifetime, whereas schooling ends when you exit high school or college.
Schooled is about developing the mind and curiosity of students, not just their intellect. It is about teaching children how to think rather than what to think.
Learning:
When you learn, you are actively working on a subject given to you by a teacher or the books that you read. Learning helps us understand new concepts and ideas but often lacks practical applications for real-world situations.
When you learn, you are actively working on a subject given to you by a teacher or the books that you read. Learning helps us understand new concepts and ideas but often lacks practical applications for real-world situations.
formal education
Schooled:
When you are schooled, you use what you learned to make your own decisions. Schooled is about being able to think critically and make decisions that affect the way we live our lives. Schooled is about learning how to use knowledge and thought in real-world situations.
When we were in school, we usually only learned things on the test or important for us to know to get a good grade. We spent time studying things we did not care about or would not use later on in life. Because they were not required for a grade or on the test. We spent most of our time learning the required information from the school. But never developed a deeper knowledge of the subject.
Schooling and learning are two sides to humanity. That cannot be separated as facts or figures cannot be applied in real-world situations. Educated people can truly make a difference in how we live our lives and apply knowledge in ways that benefit society at large.
