20 years ago...
During the mid eighties, the world was enamoured with the Japanese school system for producing scores of book smart straight-A students, the highest percentage of any school system in the world. This is before the costs of such a high pressure education system was made known; higher suicide rates, fustrations were taken out on other students, ostracism of those who couldn't fit in...
Now twenty years on, the students who had to attend schools whose educational programs were modeled after the original Japanese system are adults. Most of them are working, not all of them coping well. The scope of this rant doesn't extend to Japan nor beyond what I personally know on the subject.
Not everyone could cope under the education system in place at the time. There were those who could do well, even fantastically so. But what of those who could not. There is not much known about those who didn't do so well under the system. Oh there are newspaper article about those who failed in school yet were able to succeed in life. Usually through their own natural gifts. But what of those who have not? Those who never did all that well (or did just well enough) in school but haven't accomplished much since leaving school?
The school system of the time was just plain lousy. It forced slower students to try and catch up, sometimes beyond their ability to do so, and forced faster students to slow down, losing their natural pace of learning. Because of how the subjects were taught in school, rote learning was prized and actual thought and creativity was suppressed. Or ignored. This is not to say that those who succeeded in school and life were just memory masters. Frequenty, those who did well have the smarts and personality to back it up. They coped, and soared, some through hard work and some through their natural talents. But what about the flip side of the coin?
A generation of students who might have been great were railroaded into mediocrity. Just for results that looked good on paper. So what if some could not understand the more intangible points of mathematics? Or sciences of the physical, chemical or biological world? Life does not revolve around those twelve, twenty, thirty-thousand dollar pieces of paper that state how well you did in school.
In pushing for results, some were pushed to the ground. And they could not get up again because of the pressure they had to bear and because of the mass of the others who have had to pass over on top of them.
Yes, I'm bitter over the experiences I've had in school. And I feel that abilities I have and/or had were suppressed while schooling. What can I do? I try to move on, hope to improve myself. I'm not interested in 'making them pay' or revenge.
What I think are the results of the educational syllabus from those days? Things are just getting too competitive nowadays. Everyone wants 'The Best'. Far too little people are content with life by itself and far too many people are obsessed with wealth and status.
While I wouldn't mind being fabulously wealthy, I'd rather be able to live without worrying about 'improving' myself to government standards.
Now twenty years on, the students who had to attend schools whose educational programs were modeled after the original Japanese system are adults. Most of them are working, not all of them coping well. The scope of this rant doesn't extend to Japan nor beyond what I personally know on the subject.
Not everyone could cope under the education system in place at the time. There were those who could do well, even fantastically so. But what of those who could not. There is not much known about those who didn't do so well under the system. Oh there are newspaper article about those who failed in school yet were able to succeed in life. Usually through their own natural gifts. But what of those who have not? Those who never did all that well (or did just well enough) in school but haven't accomplished much since leaving school?
The school system of the time was just plain lousy. It forced slower students to try and catch up, sometimes beyond their ability to do so, and forced faster students to slow down, losing their natural pace of learning. Because of how the subjects were taught in school, rote learning was prized and actual thought and creativity was suppressed. Or ignored. This is not to say that those who succeeded in school and life were just memory masters. Frequenty, those who did well have the smarts and personality to back it up. They coped, and soared, some through hard work and some through their natural talents. But what about the flip side of the coin?
A generation of students who might have been great were railroaded into mediocrity. Just for results that looked good on paper. So what if some could not understand the more intangible points of mathematics? Or sciences of the physical, chemical or biological world? Life does not revolve around those twelve, twenty, thirty-thousand dollar pieces of paper that state how well you did in school.
In pushing for results, some were pushed to the ground. And they could not get up again because of the pressure they had to bear and because of the mass of the others who have had to pass over on top of them.
Yes, I'm bitter over the experiences I've had in school. And I feel that abilities I have and/or had were suppressed while schooling. What can I do? I try to move on, hope to improve myself. I'm not interested in 'making them pay' or revenge.
What I think are the results of the educational syllabus from those days? Things are just getting too competitive nowadays. Everyone wants 'The Best'. Far too little people are content with life by itself and far too many people are obsessed with wealth and status.
While I wouldn't mind being fabulously wealthy, I'd rather be able to live without worrying about 'improving' myself to government standards.
posted by Roderick at 8/20/2005 12:13:00 AM
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