Think about all the things we do on a regular basis. We wake up, get ready to go to school, and then we arrive at school, where we try our best to be attentive and learn. After school, most of us then proceed to play a sport, volunteer, work, etc. Most of us then come home to a pile of homework and are sometimes forced up to stay up way beyond a typical sleep time just to finish all of it. It's a cycle that seemingly never ends. But at what risk do we put ourselves in doing this? And what does this tell us about the way our educational system is structured?
Vicki Abeles, an independent filmmaker, explores this in her recent documentary,"Race to Nowhere", which investigates the consequences of this so called "resume building." A child psychologist in the film testified, “When success is defined by high grades, test scores, trophies, we know that we end up with unprepared, disengaged, exhausted and ultimately unhealthy kids.” One student in the film even claimed that she would borrow her friend's prescription for Adderal just to remain focused enough to keep up with being "the vice president of [her] class, play on the soccer team and do homework,”
The film argues that this creates a system in which cheating is rampant and students really aren't "learning." It was reported that half of the students attending schools in the University of California system were required to take remedial courses, despite their "stellar grades", because they were merely "spitting back, and not retaining the information” in high school. The film then goes onto to contend that this system "diminishes creativity and independent thinking", which promotes a lack of initiative in students.
To a large degree, I agree with the film. Too often, I find myself getting caught up in participating in extracurriculars and overfocusing on school. But in reality, will doing poorly on one test really matter on in the end? Most likely not... I do also want to say that I appreciate the attention that this film has garnered and the awareness it has promoted. In fact, our school district even screened this film one night to the public.
What do you guys think about this issue? Agree or disagree with the film? Have another take on it?
13 comments:
This is really interesting and I am glad that attention is being raised about the flaws in our education system. This is especially relevant to me as I am in the heart of my application process. In High School, there is so much pressure to do a million extracurriculars as well as get perfect grades in order to get into a good college. The stress level (especially around finals... which is now... aahhh!) is always extremely high as the pressure rises with the amount of work we have to do. All of this intense competition and rigorous school work has some serious trade offs. Students are all taught to think one way and definitely lose some of their creative thought. I personally discovered this when writing my college essay and realizing I had trouble writing in less than a formal tone. Also, when kids are faced with a huge work load, it is almost inevitable that some of them will turn to less than honest ways to achieve the grades they want. The solution to this? To be honest, I don't really know. On the one hand, a rigorous course load and extracurriculars can push a person to be the best that he can be. But on the other hand, too much work and pressure can leave to bad physical and mental health. I am leaning towards the side of reworking the school system to make it less about earning the grade and more about learning itself. Ideally, teachers would not need to give grades to make sure their students were learning the material, but this just isn't very realistic.
I agree with this video. School has made students follow a cycle full of stress that is effecting our overall health. The stress we endure from all the competition for college makes students want to cheat. I admit that I fall asleep in many of my classes because of late nights full of homework, especially during the beggining of the year when I had football where I would have to start my homework at 7pm because thats when I would get home. All this stress also leads to bad physical health, because we would have less time to do healthy things such as exercise or have fun and relieve stress. I've also heard that all this stress leads to drug use and in some cases suicide because the students can no longer handle all the stress. I think it is important for students to realize that school is not the most important thing in the world, and that we should take our time and be able to have fun occasionally.
Even though i have never seen the film, it unfotunately and accurately depicts what most teenagers are facing in today's society. Im actually tired of both the amount of work that I find myself facing down, and the way people are always complaining and talking about it. There are things that people will have to deal with if they live in a competitive area such as California, and it really is quite sad that the workload has become so burdening.
But like I said it will take somewhat of a major overhaul to change the status quo and I just dont see that happeneing.
Those who got the blinders on and see nothing but competition: Who are you trying to get to college, the guy you're competing with or YOURSELF? so why bother what he's doing.
Addressing academic competition-->What i hate the most is when people put a premium on the GPA. It's good ya'll got something working for yeah, but.... to the academically-oriented student body: they can do them, you can do you, and "ima do me".
No offense to those who do well (FYI, I really do prefer saying "do good")in school, but I do not believe that a GPA determines a person's value, capabilities or especially intellect. BUT the ugly truth is that in today's world, who has the time to sit down with an college or job applicant to truly get to know the person?.... Sure there are interviews, but those are interviews; it's not like they sitting down at a coffee shop or at a bar shooting the breeze and getting acquainted. All they usually see is what's on the paper--of course now adays they get a second look on Facebook.
This is where the i feel the pressure to look good on paper takes root.
What used to be a overachiever is now an average student. What used to be a "normal" kid is now a slacker. That's "evolution of the game". Love it or hate it.... BUT remember we're in America. I don't know about you, but i see the average student here is better off than the overachiever overseas.
We all trying to be happy--at least I think we all are.
You won't be happy without money in your pocket to live off of, but there is no guarantee all that money you earn from that degree from that fancy college can buy you happiness.
You're only young once in life. There's no repeating your childhood or teenage years once you in college so make sure you've enjoyed those years before you go on and start becoming an adult.
I've said this before in this blog before but "I work to live, not live to work"
I really didn't want to go all "Dr. Phil" status, but that what was on my mind.
I have just watched the trailer after writing this comment. "Yessir"
-Raymond Lim
As everyone else also said before me, I agree with this video. Especially since I've experienced this first-hand. Sometimes I would have to balance going to work, house chores, and schoolwork. On average, I don't get home until after 6pm. When I get home I help cook dinner, after dinner I would have to do the dishes. I have so many non-school things I have to take care of, that school tends to become less of the priority. And I often sleep at 12 or later. During the school day, I literally feel like a zombie. I want to fall asleep in all of my classes. I'm quite positive that this trend is really unhealthy, but to be honest, nothing is going to lighten the weight.
All this stress allows me to get sick a lot. And I come to school even when I have a cold. And when I'm stressing and lacking sleep, I tend to have a much more negative outlook on things and get kind of depressed. Personally, I think it's not worth it. A grade in school does not definitely determine your personality, how hardworking you are, or how successful you will be in life. But the "outside world" (colleges, businesses.. etc)thinks so. The system is flawed, but as long as the "outside world" sets these expectations, there's nothing to be done. Schools will continue to have its students meet these expectations.
Reminded me of this: http://blog.swiftkickonline.com/2010/07/valedictorian-speaks-out-against-schooling-in-graduation-speech.html
While I agree that there is a problem, it's not the fault of the system. It's the mentality of the students and the way they buy into the system.
I think that if you just breathe, find things you love and pursue them, there is a lot to gain from our schooling.
I think this quote from MIT Admissions blog (Chris Peterson, "Applying Sideways") kind of sums up my idea of the right mentality:
"Applying sideways, as a mantra, means don't do things because you think they will help you get into MIT (or Harvard, or CalTech, or anywhere). Instead, you should study hard, be nice, and pursue your passion, because then you will have spent high school doing all the rights things, and, as a complete side effect, you'll be cast in the best light possible for competitive college admissions."
I have to agree with this video because school is very stressful.As for myself, and a lot of my friends, we have tendency to stay up past midnight alone just for home. This doesnt include to study for test the next day. if you throw that factor in, you just might pull and all nighter. Overall i have to agree that school is very stressful and not fun what so ever.
I must agree with the film. G.P.A and test scores are only one part of it; you may be one of the "smartest" book smart people in the world but if you don't know how to apply that knowledge in a technical way then it becomes obsolete. And most of the people forget all of the information that they "learned" in high school because it wasn't taught in a constructive way. If the public system looked more at students as "humans" and not robots that just do work and have no lives then maybe students wouldn't be so stressed about getting good grades.
Although I don't see the status quo being drastically changed any time soon, I LOVE the recognition that this film is getting. Especially in the Bay Area, competition within schools has fostered a rampant social change, where in this day and age children feel that test scores and GPA's determine their worth. This is honestly very sad, and neither a test nor a year of classes where all you do is remember formulas will turn you into the person you are meant to be. We are told that test scores and prestige determine which colleges are the best. Your education is what you make it. Many students need to learn to think for themselves. I feel that personally, even in English class we are stifled, and even in Art we are reigned in! I think that administrators across the United States could learn a lot from taking a peek at this movie.
This movie raises some excellent concerns about the inherent flaws in our competitive society. In school, students face countless tests and essays, immediately followed by hours of practice or rehearsal. In addition to the grueling schedule, students frequently stay up well past midnight to finish the homework load. This is the sad reality of our current society.
As problematic as this is, however, I see little we can do. Natural evolution results in an increasingly competitive world. Schools and classes are only going to get more vigorous as more and more students strive to get into top-notch colleges. This pattern will continue because we automatically associate success with happiness.
While I'm glad that the film addressed some really important concerns that many students have, I disagree with the ultimate conclusion it makes. It seemed to claim (based on the synopsis you provided, and only that) that student are stuck in this endless cycle of expectations and "resume building." And while I think that is all well and good, I don't think we have to be, and here's why. Having no life is a choice of the student. I disagree that in order to be successful in life, you HAVE to go through the conventional steps of success, i.e. join ever club on campus, have a 4.0 GPA, volunteer at every hospital possible and every other cliche thing. I think when it comes down to it, employers are concerned with one thing, and one thing alone when hiring: Can you, or can you not do your job well? The answer to that question is not found in joining every club. I personally have a lot more respect for people who follow their passion in high school and don't be a BSer by doing the things that they think colleges tell them to. I think that the stress that we're all put under is self-induced. We all need to take a breather and just enjoy life. Is this the generation that we're going to become? A bunch of yuppie brown nosers who never live a day in their lives? Come on people. We are all better than "the system" and can beat it if you just remember what is truly important in life. So basically, my advice in a nutshell: Calm the #$^% down. That being said, that doesn't mean slack off, it mans do the work, but keep your head out of the water.
<3 j
Oh and by the way, even if this film were to be true, nothing would come out of it. The School District doesn't give a crap about our mental wellbeings. They only care about getting high API scores and even higher funding. If that sacrifices our mental health in the process, then so be it. Such is the nature of our BUREAUCRACY SYSTEM. We need to throw out our school board members and replace them with ones who actually care about the students. Sadly, that, too, will never happen while we're in school, so that, too, is irrelevant.
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