Our Education System Isn’t Working. It’s Time for a New Approach

There is a growing feeling these days that there is something wrong with our system of education. But what is it? We send our children to school to prepare them for the real world which is changing and becoming more competitive with each passing day. But our education system hasn’t changed much in hundreds of years. In fact, the current system of education was designed in the industrial age, for the sole purpose of producing factory workers. This industrial age mentality of mass production and mass control still runs deep in schools.

What needs to change in our education system?

Students nowadays are rewarded in schools for following instructions and doing exactly what they’re told to do. Our students lack autonomy and control in their classrooms. They have little ability to organize their time and make decisions on their own since they have to follow what is laid out for them most of the time. The system defines a generic set of knowledge all students must know and measure how much has been retained by administering exams every few months.

The consequences of outdated teaching methods:

In such circumstances, why wouldn’t the children feel bored and demotivated by their school? The extremely standardized education system has created a very unhealthy culture for students, teachers, and parents. As a result, education is on the brink of a major revamp.

A new approach:

If education becomes all about getting the best grade instead of learning, this is a clear indication that our education system is failing.  Today's world has an increasing demand for skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and creativity in all kinds of occupations. These are skills that are current education system is severely lacking in as it is based on Industrial Age values. Education should be more about teaching students how to communicate and engage effectively and how to think of creative solutions. Policymakers should realize that teaching a child geometric proofs and almost anything about the periodic table will not help him or her tackle the challenges of the new industrial-technological revolution. It is the time we teach our children contextualized mathematics instead of theorems and calculus that they might never find useful in real life. We need schools that emphasize speaking the same way as writing and reading so that young people can become more eloquent and confident. We need to incorporate engaged education in our schools so that they may never seem small in ambition or scope.

Our education system will automatically evolve the moment our schools become a hub of innovation and inspiration instead of exam factories. It will be more beneficial if we focus on skills instead of scores.