Saturday, 7 June 2014

The Education System

Nowadays, people don’t seem to acknowledge the importance of the education system. As an agency of secondary socialisation; the education system is socialising us into society, by transmitting the norms and values of the wider society onto us. It is setting us up for the world of work in the only way that we know how – through school. Exam after exam, essay after essay, revision session after revision session; but it works does it not?

Although it regularly makes people upset, angry and frustrated; the education system is fantastically complex – it attempts to create equality, equality of opportunity and a sense of meritocracy; it allows people to perform deferred gratification for the greater good – by providing us with a goal, a goal that we will forever aspire to. A goal that will motivate us through the darkest of times, and out the other side again. A goal that makes us who we are today! Yes, it has its faults; but, what/who doesn’t? It’s a colossal agency that provides almost every child/adolescent with a sense of being worthy - unfortunately though, it isn’t exactly omnibenevolent.
Some people might say that the education system isn’t as glamorous as it seems. Students are exploited by the government; the very people that are supposed to be preparing them for the unpredictable world of work. They are regularly discouraged from studying certain subjects, because they are ‘stupid’ or the ‘wrong gender.’
Personally, I think that we, as students, should have a choice in what we do – we already have a limited say in the education system; so it’s about time we actually had our voices heard by authority.
We should have a say in the way that schools are run, what subjects we study and how we study them. The government are clueless, they are ‘children of their time;’ and cannot possibly relate to the 2014 education system, from the perspective of a student – whereas, we can!
Although, the government are doing something right; students are given opportunities, it’s whether they grasp them or not that creates the individual differences. Which is why certain students will stay at home for months on end, doing work – instead of having a ‘social life;’ they will pull ‘all-nighters’ in order to finish some coursework, or revise for an exam. They do it because they want to succeed; they want to obtain a high-quality job; a job that they will enjoy doing, day-in and day-out.
Whereas, some students don’t care; they’ll stroll into lesson half an hour late, with McDonalds in one hand, and their phone in the other – only to sit there, and complain about having to attend school; whilst having a chat about irrelevant ‘gossip’ and distract others from learning. They will get drunk every weekend and answer back to their teachers – and why? Because they have no motivation. They don’t see the point in attending school.
Although, at the end of the day, what they don’t realise is that learning ‘pointless’ information could get you straight As; which could then get you into a decent university; therefore, lead you on the right track to obtain your ‘dream job,’ earn a high wage and live financially stable life; a life in which you would be happy to raise a child or two, or more... a life where you are happy, and most of all - a life in which you look back and have no regrets. It is like a domino effect; the more you defer your gratification, the more you will be rewarded – it is meritocratic!
However, the unmotivated ones – they will look back and feel full of regret; whilst they are perched on their reclining armchair, in a council flat, living off of the state and working in a factory on the nightshift, as well as being a so-called ‘member’ or the ‘urban underclass’ – they will wish that they had tried harder in education when they had the chance.
Therefore, the education system is successful; although it has flaws, it does provide us with amazing opportunities to change our lives for the better, both short and long-term. This is why I am ‘Pro-Education.’

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