Education and Epiphanies

In Response to "Education Epiphanies": I've been pondering whether I should post this or leave it for a couple days, so here it goes:

So today, I returned to work on my Rhyme Project after coming back from a week at Camp (Do I really need to learn what a rhyme is?). Feeling no longer in the mood, I naturally went onto twitter for some news updates. I somehow stumbled across the post above, and I ended up getting that epiphany moment again.

For the past few years now, I’ve been slowly piecing together my form of the perfect education system (I will write about it in future Posts). It all very much stemmed from a rather interesting series of events, beginning in Grade 5. Grade 5 was the perfect year. I had a great relationship with the teacher and Special needs teachers, knew every single peer in my class, and, at least from my opinion, there was no real peer pressure in the class. There weren’t really any cliques, Maybe it was because of a somewhat small class, in a small school. Grade 5 and years prior were learning and socializing years, where you had no worries, and enjoyed life to the fullest.

Grade 6 & 7, I got the same teacher for those 2 years. Yet other than the Ancient Egypt history, I can't remember a single thing I learnt. Like Grade 5, I had good relationships with every classmate, every teacher (in fact I knew every teacher in the school). I became more mature, and 'grew up'.

Transition to secondary. It was rough. The first six months didn’t really go “smoothly”, as I still hadn’t quite found my place in the school. I entered a school out of my Catchment, with nobody from my elementary.

It's true: that my school is the most 'friendly' school in Vancouver. There are few, very few cliques, if any, no groups, nobody and nothing 'in' or 'out'. A school where people respect you for who you are, and not who people think you should be.

Yet I struggled to 'fit in'.

Mini School is supposedly a "School within a School", where 30 students get to take core classes together, and are more tight. It is supposed to be an 'enriched program' for 'gifted students' who brace the accelerated learning together. The teachers are far better than 'regular teachers', as some 'regulars' say that 'Mini' is easier than 'regular school'.

So education, or schooling rather, comes down to two things: learning and socializing. I had just thrown away the latter. And you can quickly come to realize why I got obsessed with the former.

The middle of Grade 8 was my moment of Realization. It was the moment that I became 'mature' and had a deeper understanding of the world. Sadly, it seemed like I was the only one in my class to get an epiphany. No wonder why everyone grade seemed like childish, selfish, whining children.

By the time Grade 9 rolled around I was ready to try to find new mates. It didn’t work out unfortunately. It seemed whenever I found some new friends, they just weren’t who I was looking for; just not my type. So, I continued, eating lunch alone outdoors, reading my non-fiction novel in front of the speeding cars.

These thoughts led to me considering my options at the start of Grade 10 (I have still not made up my mind). 1) I tried to join social networking sites and become more social. 2) Forget about Socializing, and focus on the future and spend more time learning. The former didn't work out, as I couldn't see how humans could spend hours on end scrolling and commenting at facebook pictures.

And that leads to my two most recent epiphanies. One happened a few weeks ago, and the most recent this night. You see, a few weeks ago, I found that I was an INTJ and a planner. (BTW, I think Secondary Schools should give students the MBTI test). None of these call for close social relationships, so I gave up on that. I tried to find a more productive learning school. Maybe "online learning" suits me?

I made the conclusion that:
-All Students have different goals and learning styles.
-All Teachers have different goals and teaching styles.
-All Schools have  different niches and social styles.
Its time that Students get their appropriate Teachers at their best suited School.

And then today. Can I apply to University without a dogwood? Time for me to give up on English 12 and try to enter U a year early. I need choice. The choice to control my education, my future, my speed. Which is exactly what our education system lacks. Choice.

Education is a very difficult topic. It's the future of our society. It's where it all begins.

This post is meant to be a prerequisite to my series on education, of which the first part will be out by Friday. More to Come.

-Kyle - Aug 2011