Jaime Richards: Accidental education
Posted: 01/02/2010 12:00:00 AM PST
IN A PERFECT world, school curriculum would include interesting, relevant and useful lessons that would inspire students to learn, develop and seek more education.
But, alas, we live on Earth, where perfection exists only in our imagination. As anyone who has ever been to school knows, a lot of what's taught there is boring, irrelevant and useless.
The result? Kids hate school. They hate it so much they quit.
In the United States, 7,000 kids drop out of school each day. That's one every 9 seconds. One out of four American high school freshmen won't graduate with his or her class.
When you consider their frustration with our flawed educational system, it's understandable.
Understandable but still regrettable. Because as twisted and irrational as school can be, it's still good. It's still important. It's still valuable. Getting a diploma and getting a degree always will be better than not getting it.
The reason, although easy to understand, is just not communicated to kids as much as it should be — that battling their way through our imperfect schools inadvertently prepares them to battle their way around our imperfect planet.
Obviously, schools won't promote this. "As bad as we may be, stick it out because we're preparing you for reality." Yet it's true.