Must the schooling system be the shittiest system ever?

Undereducated people are easy to control.

Because it's an easy way for the government to save money right away, and let future generations bear the consequences. Actually, that's the way our whole civilisation is built - sustainability just isn't a concern.

It just gets you prepared for life after that.

Lotus blooms in mud.

Which schooling system? It's not like there only exists one in the universe.

You have a superior solution?

@theabbie well, there's definetly better ideas but the problem is that nobody listens to students.

Schooling is not too bad compared to healthcare systems - have not seen a single one of them that wouldn't run slow as turtle, have twenty bajilion of options in every single window, and crash every time Venus is in Capricorn.

I'd argue Windows is an even worse system 🤔

@theabbie Honestly? Do everything backwards from how the school system currently implements it.

Waking up super fucking early (as in fucking 4am) so the teachers can leave at 2pm? Terrible for the kids. School should start late and run late because teens’ natural sleep cycles shift much later, not earlier.

No time for lunch and socializing? Also terrible. Students need to eat. Waking up that early means skipping breakfast; little time for lunch means many students remain hungry. And teens need to socialize so they learn how.

Sit in a classroom for hours without moving or taking? People need oxygen and exercise to learn properly. Teach on your feet and encourage discussion of the topics at hand. Hands-on projects. Competition. Group or solo.

Extensive standardized testing? Not everyone learns the same way. Not everyone teaches in the same way. Not everyone wants to learn the same topics. The last point is partially a “who cares, learn it anyway” but: allow students to pick what they want to learn instead of forcing almost all boring things on them. Learning should be fun. Standardized teaching and testing make it miserable.

No gambling? This one is weird, but let students bet on their abilities if they desire. Competition breeds excellence.

Teach only vetted tech? The world changes fast enough that much of what schools teach is outdated. You know this first-hand @theabbie

Only hire teachers who went to school to learn how to teach? How about hiring professionals to teach about the industry they’re in. That way they have relevant, real world experience rather than just textbook knowledge.

Coddling? No. Don’t nurture and encourage thin skin.

One curriculum for everyone? Again, not everyone learns the same way or wants to learn the same things. Allow students to choose. The master/journeyman/apprentice system also works pretty well, especially for trade skills.

Homework should also be optional instead of extending the school day to 10 or 14 hours.

@Root Schools aren't so worse as it is described by you, atleast here, But yeah, fair points. Someone must try this on a small section of children and see if the results are any better.

@theabbie People have.

Robert Kiyosaki, Elon Musk, some others whose names I forget. Their schools have all worked out wonderfully, but they always get into legal trouble because they aren’t following the school guidelines — which was the entire point.

@Root To continue since I ran out of space:

Allow students to advance, don’t hold them back if they’re already ahead. This leads to:

Mixed ages. Allow students of varying ages to join a class. If they’re skilled enough and/or willing to learn and put in the effort, why stop them? This can produce some teaching challenges, but will better temper the students. This also leads to:

Low student:teacher ratios. I realize this is expensive, but we should be investing in our species’ future, not skimping on it. Fewer students to for a teacher to tend to will absolutely benefit their students in every way.

There are so many other things we could improve. Honestly, it’s far easier to list the things that schools do right. I’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader (since I have a demo to run to!)

@Root

I agree with most of your points, although I think "dumber people are easier to control" is a bit too much of a conspiracy -- that would suggest that there's some plan to decrease education quality.

I would blame ineptitude and apathy rather than some malevolent scheme.

Many politicians, teachers & parents really would like children to develop to their full potential, a higher educated population is great to increase financial, mental and physical wellbeing.

The reason almost all plans to improve education fail miserably is the same reason physical exercise and losing weight fails: The required actions take tremendous effort, and pay off in the long term -- while all our systems are created to reward short term payoffs.

So usually schools are filled with 10% teachers who are eager to reform and passionate to actually teach, and 90% teachers who were once like that, have practically drowned in bureaucracy, gave up and tell you to open your textbook at page <random>.

@Root

Regarding school systems: You can still have same-age students in one class for social reasons -- just vary the speed of the learning material.

The bane of education is the teacher as the source of information rather than as a coach.

Khanacademy actually figured this out pretty well: Throw a bunch of same-age kids in one classroom with a teacher for social purposes, then let the kids work through material at their own pace. Ideally, they also coach each other.

You only pass if you mastered a subject. Not a 6 or 7, because other subjects depend on a solid foundation.

Joining a Physics class with a 6 for Algebra isn't a great idea -- just take a bit longer to study Algebra and you might race through Physics at a later stage.

One issue is of course that you don't end up with easily identifiable "levels" of education -- But I think that is actually a benefit, especially for the job market and learning as an adult.

@Root This summarizes everything wrong with the Dutch educational system very well.

I remember high school. When the weekend came (time to relax and not be in school), there was extra much homework given on friday, so you'd spend half the saterday on it. Just one of the many counterintuitive ways things are done...

The homework during the weekdays was enough to spend the evening on. Sometimes it was too much to be done on an evening, but teachers saw that as irrelevant and not their problem, basically. And then complain about you always being tired 😅

@Root tgus is all fibe and well until you realize it does nothing for gen y and gen z which are essentially lost generations. also the west is in bad decline and assuming incompetence over malice is a mistake.

most of existing society was set up to fail at some point.

look at the middle class vs the stock market as just one such example.

god damn, butchered that comment. this tiny keyboard never spares an opportunity to ruin my comments.

Right after lobbying and the US political system, Yes!