Why I love Education But Hate School

Before I delve into my argument, I will post two definitions. School: An institution for educating children. Schooling: Education or training received, especially at school. Education: The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. Schooling and education are distinct concepts, and not explicitly congruent, but very closely related. Based on the definitions posted above, education may or may not take place in a school setting, but schools are intended to be places of education. Education may not explicitly mean that every human must "go to school" in order to be successful, but school is arguably the best source for education. Public schools provide education in language arts, mathematics, sciences, social studies, and arts. This is a tremendous resource in education that is far more accessible than attempting to find these lessons in the real world. Outside of school, you are typically forced to focus on job-specific learning, rather than true, mind expanding education. To suggest that education is nothing more than a reference of trivial facts is to confuse education with some sort of memory game. For example, keeping with Pro's Twain reference: if I ask you "what does The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn mean to you?" First, if you are not in a school program, this book will likely be unfamiliar. The only people who will have interest in this book are those who have specifically been introduced to it at some point. Second, if education is to be an "encyclopedia of dry facts," then you may as well look up the book's meaning on Google and repeat it as your own. However, being that this is not what the book means to you, the response is dishonest and void. Education is about understanding, rather than simply remembering. Being that I do not know which particular period of school Pro intends to be debating, I will focus on both high school and college education. According to the National Dropout Prevention Center, high school dropouts face exponentially more adversity than those who finish their high school education. High school dropouts are four times as likely to be unemployed as those who have completed four or more years of college. Alternatively, graduates earn $143 more per week than high school dropouts. Dropouts are also more likely to be dependent on public assistance than graduates of high school. Finally, about 75% of America's State prison inmates, almost 59% of Federal inmates, and 69% of local jail inmates did not complete high school (Harlow, 2003). All of this, in addition to having less opportunity to pursue legitimate and meaningful education. Finally, a survey was taken by an organization known as Career Connections. This survey revealed that 74 percent of high school dropouts wish they would have stayed in school, and 76 percent admit that they would happily re-enroll if they were able. Moving on to the college level, I first am compelled to tell you that, if you are hoping for real mind expanding education, then college is far more interesting than high school. College allows you to pursue your interests and choose classes that you will genuinely enjoy. However, in order to reach college education, you have to make it through high school so that you can earn the opportunity to attend. That being said, entering the job market without a wealth of experience or a college degree is simply suicidal in this current economy. Employers are only looking for the best candidates for each position, and the employee market has already saturated most positions with applicant after applicant. Because of this, college degrees, especially reputable degrees, are absolutely critical to being successful in the current economy, and to suggest otherwise is deeply misleading to future generations; this misleading concept has arguably ruined millions of potentially successful lives. This isn't difficult to believe when we consider that college graduates earn $336 more per week than high school graduates ($479 more per week than high school dropouts), totaling a difference of $17,472 per year. If the average person works from age 24/25 until retirement at this steady pay rate, then you will make roughly $700,000 dollars more in a lifetime than someone who did not attend college. School may not always be the most effective form of education, but I refuse to believe that school is a factory of facts, as you portray it to be. A school's intent should be to encourage education and productive discussion, not to cater to every interest. If your "thinking outside of the box" has legitimate educational merit, and is beneficial to the group as a whole, then teachers generally will accept and encourage it. If it is disruptive or disrespectful, then teachers have cause to shy away from it. With a group setting, and the high regulations that force schools to cram more and more into each lessons plan, school classes have little time to explore unnecessary matters. And at the end of the day, unless "thinking outside of the box" is a revolutionary approach to a tired concept, than it is unnecessary. School isn't trying to make you "just good enough for the next level." Schools attempt to provide you with a rounded base so that you are not at any disadvantage once you reach the next level. If I may ask a rhetorical question: when is the last time that you fell asleep in class? The followup that I will ask is whether this is because of the teacher, or your own lack of attention. The statistic that you posted about a student dropping out every 9 seconds is actually every 29 seconds according to Do Something. You suggest that this is because students find school irrelevant and uninteresting. I would argue that this is just as much the fault of the student as it is the teacher's. Teachers have anywhere from 20 to 400 students at any given time, and schools do not have the luxury of tailoring their lessons to each students. If teachers have a responsibility to provide students with real educational content, than students have an equal responsibility to respond with both attention and enthusiasm. Real teachers, will always attempt to engage their students in discussion, and many of those students do not lose interest, either because they make a sincere effort, or because they have no interest in the first place. Some students fail to engage themselves in any substantial learning or thought, because they do not want to have to put effort into understanding text, or precedent, or the intricacies of a subject. Rather than force themselves to participate in a class that seems difficult or uninteresting, these students would rather blame the school for not holding their interest. It is an unfortunate reality, but hard-effort is necessary in school and exponentially more-so in unschooled education. If Pro truly loves education, then my only resolution can be to endure school. The junior and senior years are both educationally and socially fulfilling, and then college is a unique educational experience altogether. If Pro's response is that education can be obtained outside of school settings, then I propose that unschooled education is exponentially more difficult and less profitable than schooled education. Finally, if Pro's position is that school is irrelevant, uninteresting, and, for lack of a better word, boring; then I will close with a few quotes which I hope will accentuate my points. He who opens a school door, closes a prison. - Victor Hugo A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. - President Theodore Roosevelt I look forward to Pro's rebuttal.