School One of the Principle

¶ … School

One of the principle problems I had with my particular experience in the educational system and at school was that there always seemed to be a greater emphasis on the recitation of facts other than making profound inquiries and backing them up with solid exploration (Lane, 2007). This experience plagued me throughout my secondary and undergraduate school years, and even exists at the graduate level as well. Verily, at the graduate level there is a greater emphasis on inquiry and the requisite exploration needed to make any significant inquiry some sort of didactic meaning. However, the very system of school itself, from the time an individual is elementary school onwards, has always seemed to me to be largely based on knowing what some "right" answer was, which somehow never seems to magically appear in actual, everyday life.

Subsequently, I would certainly say that I experienced the recitation of facts substantially more than I participated in educational programs that were more concerned with actually fostering inquiry -- and, by extension, true, creative, thought. I actually believe that this experience of mine is shared by most people, and that it does not take place by accident. People are more prone to appearances and to surfaces rather than substance. It matters little what a person knows in today's society -- the emphasis is on status, rank, wealth, etc.… all things that are attained by looking the part and simply regurgitating confirmed facts at the appropriate time to pass some sort of examination to make an individual think and do what the vast majority of individuals have thought and done in this society for quite some time: which largely amounts to nothing.

I certainly believe that my curriculum could have better prepared me for experiences in life better by taking a different approach and employing different strategies. The principle methodology found in the classroom by me, at whatever level I was in at the time, is to play along, follow orders, repeat when necessary, and to adopt this same stance throughout life. Such an approach may be effective in the classroom or in situations in which there are clearly defined outcomes (which are usually polarized). But true life does not function in such a neatly stratified way. There are always proverbial gray areas, as well as aspects of a choice or a decision that do not neatly align with a determined objective.

I believe that my curriculum could have better taught me to deal with life by emphasizing a more collaborative approach. I believe that people are one of the greatest resources on the planet, yet collaboration was rarely utilized in my educational experience. I believe the sort of collaboration in which everyone are equals (without the authority figure of a teacher or a manager) is the most beneficial for real life experiences -- especially with group projects (Markham, 2013) -- because that effectively prepares individuals for networking and exploring various aspects of different problems as opposed to assuming that one can depend on a single, authoritative source.