Time for a Change by Halli

Time for a Change by Halli - July 2022 Scholarship Essay

Life is constantly evolving. We read and hear about the many advancements in our society such as the evolution of automobiles, medicine, space exploration, and technology. However, the way we learn has actually not changed much at all since it first began and that would be our education system. The most recent change we have seen in over a hundred years would be implementing technology into our education systems mostly jumpstarted due to covid and the need to learn virtually. However, for the most part, we still teach children in classrooms, segregated by grade (age groups), with different classes for different subjects, and measured intelligence through standardized tests and quizzes.
I believe if we can create cars from carriages, land on the moon, and create robots that can operate like humans then we should be teaching our children how to learn more effectively. I personally have always done well in school but that doesn’t mean that school is easy for me, and now that I am in college the way that I used to get by in high school doesn’t work for me anymore. The majority of the students in grade school will usually memorize information for the tests and forget all of it right after. College is testing you on actually absorbing and knowing the information in a way high school never tested us on. This demonstrates that the way they teach us to learn in grade school is hardly an effective method at all.
Therefore, a change I hope to see in education would be a more effective way to learn. What I mean by this is to have a program that doesn’t segregate children by age groups but instead by their ability to absorb knowledge and learn. Then instead of introducing the definitions of the tools needed to solve problems such as defining what a wrench does and having to retain that information with no application, we should be approaching problems such as how to fix an engine and you start with the problem head-on and you will learn what a wrench is and how to use it because you will need one to fix an engine. We learn through application and repetition, we need to be curious and make our brains start thinking critically instead of just telling them to memorize definitions and other facts that we only remember short term and will forget in a week.
Overall, we need to learn how to learn and I think critical thinking is the key to being more successful and prepared for future jobs and potentially even new careers that may not even exist today, so here’s to the future and what it will bring!