Elephants in the (Class)Room

Are we really preparing our children for their futures? Are our children really learning worthwhile material while in school? Do their educations even apply to the career field in which they so choose?

There are a ton of questions that surface when it comes to our nation’s education system. These questions even tend to unsettle me a bit as a student who is planning on becoming a teacher in the near future.

Whilst reading through some articles on education, innovation, and unlearning, one really caught my eye. The title of that article is, “9 Elephants in the (Class)Room That Should “Unsettle” Us.” As the title explains, it gives nine ideas on education that should be taken into serious consideration. There were two specific “elephants” that particularly “unsettled” me.

The first of the elephants I would like to touch on is the material that the students actually “learn.” A man from UCLA named Matthew Lieberman, mentions that, “For more than seventy-five years, studies have consistently found that only a small fraction of what is learned in the classroom is retained even a year after learning.” This unsettles me. If what we are teaching our students doesn’t even stick, then what is the point of teaching it to them? As an educational system, we need to find ways to teach information to our students so that they can actually learn it and apply it to their everyday lives! Acknowledging that true learning is unforgettable and shifting our content to portray this should be a high priority!

The second elephant that I would like to elaborate on has to do with grades. Are our students, or even parents, more concerned about getting a high quality education, or about the marks that come on a report card at the end of the year? In my experience as a student, we prioritized good grades over actually taking the time to learn new ideas. Too much rides on good grades and high test scores to abandon them and actually make the most out of our education. We learn to earn high marks, then tend to forget what we learned a week later because there is another assignment or assessment coming up that takes the forefront of our minds. It’s a vicious cycle. Putting more emphasis on learning valuable material that will help us in our futures is something that needs to be done!

As a future educator, the articles given this week has really opened my eyes. They unsettled me, but also opened my mind to new ideas as to what type of teacher I want to be down the road. Teaching our students information that interest them, will help them, and impact their future should be of high importance. Our educational system needs some changes. Change can start right here, right now, with one person. You!

Here is the article:

View at Medium.com