Something that bothers me quite a bit is when somebody acts as if I’m not able to do something when I know that I am capable. I like to take on new challenges. I think that a person learns the most when they are overcoming obstacles. This can apply to anyone in anything that they are doing, from sports to music, social situations to math. What doesn’t help learning is having the pureed knowledge spoon-fed to you in fear that you will choke when you are able to hold the utensils and digest solid information on your own. This only encourages people to give up without trying when they come across a small lump, an unfamiliar situation.
In our English language arts classes, we are expected to have insightful ideas and perceptive interpretations that are well-communicated through our writing. I often end up wondering if I am looking too deeply into whatever text we are reading. However, in French language arts classes, this standard of insight is greatly lowered. While it’s true that most of the students in the classes have been studying French for only 4-10 years and English for their whole lives, it doesn’t seem right that it’s as if we are not as smart when communicating in another language. The ideas that we can produce should still be of the same quality. Furthermore, we should be taking steps forward, not back. There is no point in writing an essay with a partner in order to understand what the structure of an essay is supposed to look like when that same essay structure should have already been mastered. It is a waste of time to relearn things again and again when they should have been understood long ago.
Maybe one of the problems with school is that we are taught what we are supposed to learn, but many of us don’t know why we are learning it or how we are supposed to learn it. This leads to a disinterest in the subject, then the loss of the desire to persevere when faced with obstacles. This in turn is misinterpreted as a lack of understanding, causing the repetition of the material, which leads to a stronger disinterest. It is a vicious cycle. Since students do not have much choice in what they want to learn in school and how they can learn it, there is not much that can be done about breaking the cycle. The best thing that you can do to avoid it is to enrich your learning on your own time, from joining different extracurricular activities to doing your own research on the topic of your choice. Maybe then the love of learning can be saved.
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