Ever since I entered high school, I’ve been constantly questioning my education: Why do we go to school? How  effective is it? Are students missing the point? If so, why? 

Up to then, I simply accepted that I was forced to go to school because of the government. I was urged to work hard in order to be “successful.” In a time when recess was most important, it’s easy to see how a young student may have a difficult time wrapping their heads around the future. I spent many years trudging through assignment after assignment. Although I got high grades, I was left feeling oddly empty. Why?

School is just right around the corner, so it’s important that I share my take on the purpose of school as we approach this new year.

Sure, we have to go to school, but what is it that makes you get up in the morning?

It will be different for each person, but I go to school for three main reasons: to learn how to think, to pursue what interests me, and to enjoy myself.  Getting high marks is not one of the reasons I go to school.

School should be teaching us how not what to think. This means to become critical thinkers rather than regurgitating facts from a textbook. This means forming your own opinion and being able to defend it. This means reflecting on what you’re gaining from doing a particular assignment or project. Lots of information will be coming at us, so transform that into something applicable.

The material you discuss in a classroom is not limited to those four walls, it is in the real world. To this day, discussing current events in my social class were memorable times. It made me realize that the world is complex, constantly changing, but oddly compelling. School is a sheltered environment where we are being equipped with the necessary skills before we have to set off in the vast world on our own.

When you change the way you look at things, the way things look change. No longer is war simply a battle between “good” and “bad,” but something that actually has a lot of gray area as you begin to understand why they fight. Math is not simply memorizing formulas, but is essential to everything from our technology to our architecture. If I open my mind to the possibilities, then I find that I’m hungry to learn more.

You get to choose what you want to learn. Not everyone will love all the subjects, so thankfully you get to explore what gets you excited. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of doing what you love, because that pushes you harder to do well. There is no such thing as a “waste of time” if you truly enjoy that class. Who knows? It may end being one of your future jobs, but you won’t know unless you start walking down that path.

Enjoy yourself. Of course you’ll have to do work, but remember to balance your schedule. Have some quiet time for yourself. Hang out with friends. Join or even start a club if something interests you. Get involved with sports. Build connections with your teachers. Now is the time to be trying many things. School may seem long, but it’ll be a blink of an eye and you’ll be graduating already.

I’d be ignorant if I believed everyone loves to go to school. The truth is, even I have some pet peeves about things that could be improved. In my high school at least, it’s not uncommon to walk down the halls and see bullying. I venture outside and I see students have a smoke. I see rowdy behavior that presents a negative light on our youth – that we’re all immature, disrespectful and lazy. It’s up to you to decide if that’s true.

I can’t judge them though, because they all have their reasons for acting that way. School can be stressful on its own, and if you compound that with other issues they may be dealing with, that’s when it starts going downhill. For some students, their school experience is great, but for many others, it’s torture. I would like to see school being inclusive and effective for everyone. 

When I was transitioning from junior high to high school, “getting jumped” or “initiation” was something that was rumored about frequently. That’s usually paired with saying “That school is ghetto.” I’ll be straightforward, it’s stupid. Violence should never be a normal part of going to high school, especially for someone who’s going to be new there. Furthermore, a school may have a bad reputation, but it does not mean that every single student is going to fit that stereotype. I would argue that the “bad” students are a minority, not a majority.

School is a social environment. Although I don’t support it, popularity and social status is a real thing. People will form cliques, which means that other people will be excluded. Physical appearances are judged, even though how they act is more important. Race. Religion. Sexuality. Height. Weight. Drama happens. Relationships and breakups. Loneliness.

In midst of all this, I can only ask that you see each other as humans. We are not perfect. We make mistakes. We experience sad days and happy days. We get frustrated sometimes and we just need to vent. We worry about our future. We get scared. We compare ourselves to others. We build walls to mask our insecurities. Strive to take an empathetic approach rather than be ignorant of what someone may be going through.

I think many students may have not even questioned their education yet, as I didn’t until I reached high school. Why is education so coveted in developing nations, but we take it for granted? What am I working towards? How do I want to spend my time? 

Grades are only important to an extent. Numbers on a report card do not define who you are or what you can become. Perhaps you have something to prove or have to reach a certain standard. That’s great, but don’t let it cloud the true purpose of school.

It’s about learning to learn – learning the value of education and realizing that you’ll be a lifelong learner. School never really ends, even when you graduate. Your teachers may change and the classroom may look different, but you’re still be a student even when you’re old.

Don’t forget to respect your teachers. It’s certainly no easy task trying to teach in a way that reaches to all their students. That’s why I have such immense respect for what they do. They have as much if not more, homework than we do. They have to make teaching plans, mark your work, develop tests, be a role model and so much more. They’re as human as we are, they don’t live in the school, as our younger selves might have believed. In the end, they want to see you succeed.

School is just around the corner and I hope you take some time to reflect. 

DFTBA! (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome!)

Further Reading

Back to School Checkup Panel was broadcast on CBC. Their panel of health experts discuss student stress and how it can affect physical and mental health, as well as ways to cope with it.

Why I Hate School, But Love Education is a spoken word by Suli Breaks. It’s one take on education and some of the flaws in the system.

This Is What A Student-Designed School Looks Like is an article about how eight students were responsible for the majority of their own education, with help from teachers if needed. They would research their topics that interested them and present it to the group.

Crash Course: Entertaining educational videos is an article that I wrote about the YouTube channel, Crash Course. On there, you can choose to explore your subject of interest on your own time, including world history, psychology, chemistry and much more.