Think Deeper by Abigail

Think Deeper by Abigail - July 2022 Scholarship Essay

Over the past 100 years, nearly all aspects of life have changed and evolved. We have replaced landline phones with smartphones, notebooks with the MacBook, and horse-drawn carriages with automatic motor vehicles. However, in this century full of change, there has been disproportionately little progress in providing sufficient support to equip students for the workforce. While changes have been made to the education system, such as the incorporation of technology to facilitate learning, the educational methodology used in schools has not satisfactorily matched up to the demands of our global market. The new global demands for innovation and social fluency have created a need for students to acquire knowledge in multiple ways, rather than simply memorizing information and perfecting their note-taking skills. The mindless philosophy of rote memorization that plagues the United States public education system has prevented teachers from implementing tactics that would encourage a more in-depth and analytical approach to learning. Worse, this faulty educational model has also prevented students from reaching their full potential, as they are not trained to explore course material in ways that they may individually process information and apply it in the real world. The changes that I hope to see over the next ten years in the American education system is that students do not suffer from a lack of critical spirit and in-depth understanding caused by inadequate teaching methods.

Anachronistic methods of instruction do a disservice to students. Traditional classroom teaching nearly exclusively consists of visual information and auditory instruction. However, research shows that most people do not perform to the best of their ability with visual and auditory learning tactics. A research questionnaire conducted by VARK between May and August 2020 demonstrated that those who single-handedly preferred visual learning tactics comprised 1.9% of participants, compared to 5.1% aural learners, 4.2% reading or writing inclined learners, and a whopping 22.8% kinesthetic or “hands-on” learners. These numbers show that most participants learn best when they can apply knowledge tangibly. In light of this knowledge, Scandinavian schools have applied this concept to enhance students’ learning experience. In countries such as Finland and Sweden, students do not take formal evaluations until the age of 16. Children start school at the age of 7 and, rather than learning facts from textbooks, they go out on excursions to explore the day-to-day applications of intellectual concepts. Kyle Wagner highlights in his article The 3 Secrets to Scandinavian Innovation in Education that, in contrast to the United States, Scandinavian teachers do not utilize the government curriculum as a checklist for their classes’ lessons. Rather, they use the nationalized curriculum as a guide, which “creates a culture centered around growth rather than measurement”. In fact, in Finland, “​​the average teacher spends only four hours a day in the classroom while the other hours are given to hone and refine their craft, ” which gives students the opportunity to meditate on and personally apply what they were taught in class. However, on the other side of the world, the United States still requires students to fill out question-answer worksheets, which does not help students learn anything of value in the long term. This suggests that, similarly to the Scandinavian education system, the American education system should be reformed in such a way that it can be well navigated by all sorts of learners, so that they may comprehend what they are taught and become more informed about the world around them. Regrettably, at the moment, we are training young people to memorize mostly useless facts and acquire test-taking skills that are not particularly beneficial to them once they reach adulthood.

By the year 2032, I hope that those in positions of power will address the rote memorization epidemic in American public schools. By the year 2032, I hope that kinesthetic learners will be able to succeed in an AP Calculus class just as easily as visual learners. By the year 2032, I hope that each and every student can be recognized as an individual learner and be taught in a way that capitalizes on their natural talents. Ten years from now, in 2032, I hope to send my children to a school in which students will be taught to think critically and be solution-oriented in order to help us overcome the increasingly complex challenges that mankind will need to solve in the next century.