Where we came from and where we are going with our educational institutions
By Aaron L. Pope
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." This quote by John Adams about what life and liberty were supposed to mean for future generations was, in this writers opinion, an inspiring and hopeful message meant to steer people in the direction of peace and prosperity.
But instead we have turned a vision for the future into a nightmare of unending war and poverty. John Adams was an intelligent man and from this quote it is obvious that he believed that one day we would put aside our primal instincts of aggression towards our neighbours and focus on the positive aspects of being human.
Education is the cornerstone of our civilization, it is the beginning and the end and everything in between; without it there is no medicine, there are no economies, no protection from nature. Education is what separates us from the rest of the animals on this planet, and it is what protects us from each other.
History shows us that it is the more advanced societies that cull the less developed, how embarrassing would it have been for the first European settlers to find a civilization of highly evolved people living in North America with cars and planes and all sorts of advanced scientific knowledge? My guess is that those settlers would not have lasted long. When education becomes a coveted prize that only a few lucky individuals have access to, life as we know it will come to a halt.
Past civilizations have actively kept knowledge from their people, and look where it got them. Case after case of once great nations crumbling into oblivion, for want of the knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic. If we haven't learned from the failures of past societies, if we hoard knowledge the way billionaires hoard money and privilege, then just as past nations have fallen from grace, so too shall we all.
We are living in an age of information. Lucky for us some of that information pertains to past methods of conveying education onto the young. We get to look back and say with complete confidence that some methods work wonderfully, and other methods are barbaric and should not ever be copied or giving credence.
It is logical to assume that the earliest human societies survived or perished on how well they educated their young. After the first child wandered out of the cave only to be eaten by a bear, the adults probably figured out that they should teach their children how to survive in the world.
There are theories about the earliest Egyptians being an incredibly advanced culture that rivals our own present day culture. The theory suggests that there was a school where people from all over the world would come to learn the secrets of the universe, but because that knowledge was so prized, only a few people were ever allowed access to it, and when the last holders of this knowledge died out there was no way of carrying on the legacy of knowledge.
This is a bit far out, but what if the guarding of knowledge was the eventual downfall of a great civilization? The last hundred years or so of western society have seen an increase in education on an unprecedented scale. Not to say that everything that was done in this time was correct, but the results speak for themselves. Access to education is widely available compared to the centuries past, and the breadth of knowledge has been increasing at an astronomical rate.
The introduction of computers, and the internet has meant that when new discoveries are made, when new math theorems are proved, and when new books are published, everyone on the planet with internet access can find out about it and incorporate it into their lesson plans.
Of course that means that schools will have to be able to keep up with the changing world. Along with the dramatic increases in knowledge and in technology, the cost of education seems to be speeding up as well. Just because education is widely available, does not mean that everyone gets to go to a post secondary school.
Sometimes it is about the smarts, but most of the time it is about the money, and the current thinking is that either you have it, or you don't. Of course the stress of having to make enough money to go to school is a leading cause of drop outs in college, and in today's economy even the educated are forced to take low paying jobs.
Tuition in post secondary is in a dangerous up trend, if you compare the trend lines of college tuition, the New York stock exchange, and the Canadian gross domestic product you would see that even as prices all over the world are rising and dropping, the only steady increase is in tuition. You don't have to be an economist to figure out that dramatic rise in price can create a bubble, and if these figures keep going up you won't be able to afford to become an economist.
I have to believe that this trend will eventually even out, because preparing our young for the future is the most important element of survival, even the cavemen knew that.
The headlines of today's newspapers are saturated with stories coming out of the middle east and Africa about governments being overthrown by people who are fed up with their protectionist policies and the governments constant censorship and monitoring of the internet and media in general.
That doesn't sum up all the reasons for these uprisings, but it does highlight the fact that when people today feel like they are being taken advantage of and lied to, they will demand change. Not a five year plan for change, not a ten year plan, they want change and they want it now.
The Canadian government should be looking at these events and wondering to themselves what it will take for uprisings like that to start happening here. Parents of university students and students themselves are feeling the pinch of an economy in recession and are having a hard enough time keeping food on the table and the lights on let alone trying to pay tuition.
It can be frustrating watching the government throwing good money after bad at a failed financial sector while at the same time withholding funding from colleges and universities.
As long as we can manage to keep our children in school, there are some wonderful benefits to the education sector to look forward to.
Advances in technology are adding many benefits to the classroom. Imagine a class on forensic anthropology where the professor is in the field on a dig and is connected to a classroom live via the internet. She could explain what she is doing while answering questions from students right there. How about a paperless classroom where every student has a computer and can download the newest textbooks available. The limits of the imagination are the only real limits when it comes to technology in the classroom. This means that parents, teachers, and adult learners might be behind the curve and need to do some serious studying in order to keep up with their kids.
Deciding to go to a post secondary school is going to mean that life is going to change in a few ways for me. For starters, as an adult learner I know that I will be behind my classmates in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to social media and how that stuff works. Facebooking, twitering, I.M-ing, are all things that come very naturally to the younger generation, and knowing that schools are incorporating that stuff into the curriculum is going to be difficult to deal with.
I am very lucky in that money is not going to be an issue for me, however, anyone going to school is going to suffer financially, they are going to suffer for a long time. Not just during school, but after as well when they have to start dodging their student loans.
For so many students in the secondary school system, high school will be the last time they enter a classroom setting. For those that continue on to post secondary, high schools are well prepared to help out with college preparation. Advanced classes in math, science, and English exist for the academically minded and no doubt do a lot to prepare some students for their academic future.
For those that reach the end of the road at graduation, or slightly before, will find that almost none of what they learned in their years of careful matriculation will be of any use what so ever in the working world.
Unfortunately for our over worked and underpaid teachers, there is not a whole lot that they can do on their own. It is a bit perplexing that one institution is supposed to fit all types, and are supposed to prepare people for all eventualities. This is simply unrealistic. Schools should be much better funded, with more staff and a lot more flexibility on the courses they offer. Focusing on academic courses for the few that can use them is leaving out a huge percentage of students that could do more with programs in the arts and in athletics than they can today. Widening the curriculum and funding would do wonders with students who are never going to be doctors or lawyers, and because high schools are for all types of people, not just certain types, but all people, there should be a curriculum for everyone.
Post secondary schools are the dividing line between the future leaders of tomorrow, and those that will be cleaning their houses. College students learn that in order to succeed in the world, they need to be better, stronger, and smarter than all those around them.
They should be cut throat, and they should sacrifice basic human dignity for the brass ring of success, this is just wrong.
Colleges should be the place in the world where any and all can come to learn, to expand their thinking and learn how to contribute to society, not just take from it. Am I mistaken? I don't think so. While classroom work is setting them up for success, they are learning something completely different from the "grown up" world around them.
They are forced to take giant loans, pay all sorts of fee's that come out of nowhere, and work low paying jobs mortgaging off precious studying hours in order to pay these vampires. This is sending out a message, a message that has a detrimental effect on these students futures. Students for the last 50 years have been getting the message loud and clear, get yours at any cost. The ones who grew up in this system have caused massive financial ruin all over the world in their efforts to die with the most toys.
This philosophy of suffering to succeed is insane, it is rampant group think that has sunk our society into this depraved greedy state of being. Colleges should be one hundred percent subsidized by the country, not only that, but students should be rewarded for advancing in academics, not penalized.
Money is flowing in the wrong direction, and that this is not of huge concern for all citizens is insanity. The smarter our children are, the smarter their children will be, and that is the way we ensure our continued existence on this planet. Why don't we want to leave this planet and it's precious minds in the best situation when we draw our last breath?
The greatest protection that we can leave future generations is education. Stab the monster, stoke the fire, and improve on your forefathers work is what is important to ensure our continued existence in the universe. Teachers should be paid as well as hockey players, and should be the gold standard of education, as impartial as judges when deciding on a curriculum and as supportive of their students as a new mother to her baby. The future of education should be the main concern of every parent, politician, and human being that enjoys a sunny day. For this and many other reasons education is of utmost importance.
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