Why Education Is Useless

If you were to ask a high school student today if they enjoyed school, you would most likely be met with a dramatically negative response. Few outliers might say that they like school because they get to see their friends every day or because they have fun at sports games, but almost never because they are so captivated or inspired by what they are learning. More students today claim their educations are pointless, and that nothing they learn in school will ever help them in the future.

In addition, students blame schools for causing them immense stress and depression, ruining their desire to learn, and ultimately erasing any trace of ambition they may have once possessed. All these statements, while true in many cases, directly contradict the entire purpose of the school system. Hefty homework schedules, stressful Advanced Placement classes, high stakes standardized tests, constant pressures to get into a good college These are only a few items on the seemingly endless list of challenges that the American education system places upon teens today.

The common theme between each of these matters is that they are all geared toward the specific goal of preparing students for college.

Putting so much stress on getting into college is form of what is most commonly referred to as applied learning, because it focuses on how students will make use of what they learn in class once they graduate. For those who have never heard the term before, applied learning may seem like an airtight plan for education.

Get quality help now

Writer Lyla

Verified

Proficient in: Education

5 (876)

“ Have been using her for a while and please believe when I tell you, she never fail. Thanks Writer Lyla you are indeed awesome ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

However, the education system today uses the applied learning technique in the all the wrong ways, placing far too much emphasis on college, and not enough on preparing our youth for the treacherous stages of adulthood that come afterward. While the concept was initially integrated to benefit students and their development, it has repeatedly proven to do more damage than virtue. Society must move away from encouraging the college-centric approach to education and push to integrate more of what is called pure learning. Most commonly referred to as learning for the sole purpose of acquiring knowledge, pure learning advances fundamental knowledge about the nature of the material world, and introduces new theories, ideas, and principals as well as new ways of thinking; driven by curiosity, intuition, and interest, and is more exploratory in nature (The Right Hon. Lord Rothschild).

Educators fail to recognize that students obsession with getting to the next step attending a top university impedes with their opportunity to learn about the world as it is, explore it, and eventually lead independent lives. While pure learning often lacks direction, it is a necessary buffer to balance out students constant focus on how their performance in high school will make or break their futures. Without it, students tend to lose sight of their own personal desires which prompts them to either slowly stop trying in school or push themselves even harder to achieve a goal that may not even be in their best interest.