Introduction
The current system of education is very different from the ancient system, because unlike the ancient one, it does not give school children the opportunity to develop hobbies. As such, it is normally referred to as a bad system of education. A child learns best by exploration and this is the best kind of learning.
When a child finds something fascinating, he or she will explore it systematically until all the mysteries are solved (Gyasto). If the child does not come up with a clear understanding of the subject matter, he will definitely ask an adult about it. By so doing, it means that the child is quite interested in the matter and this leads to development of hobbies. If the current system of education does not help children develop their hobbies, then it is bad for them.
In school, children are not allowed to learn through their mistakes. Remember the saying that goes ‘experience is the best teacher’. Everything is taught by the teacher and the children become lazy hence they do not develop their hobbies (Gyasto). The child gets to understand that the teacher does not accept wrong answers and develops mechanisms of getting the right answers.
This makes the teacher believe that the child knows what he does not know. Children get to learn the first language mainly by their own; they do not sit in class to be taught. They too learn many complicated things before going to school and by the time they do, they have already started developing hobbies (Holt). The moment they join school, they sit on their talents and hobbies because they do not have the time for them.
Discussion
When a child is taken to school, he or she is introduced to a new environment with so many kids unknown to him or her. Having come from different backgrounds, kids can be very cunning.
They will exhibit different social standards and a child will find it difficult to learn much because he or she will be more concerned with the social standards that have been set by other kids. This will make them spend most of the time worrying about if they will be able to fit or risk being rejected. When a child is not able to fit into the social standards set by the other children, cases of bullying arise.
A kid will only bully a kid who is below his or her social standards and this is great torture. As a result, a child can suffer depression and be completely withdrawn. A good learning environment should not endanger the lives of children but should be able to help them get to learn that which will help them in future , what they will enjoy doing and what will be of much benefit to them(Gyasto). Disciplined children cannot bully or kill, but will work have in school to realize their dreams.
Schools do not teach what the children want to know. That is why many children dread going to school. There is nothing as boring as being taught something that you are not interested in especially mathematics (Holt). Sitting in a class the whole day listening to a boring class does not make sense at all because the child ends up getting nothing out of it and is equally or less the same as the one who did not attend the lesson.
It would be better to stay home and explore situations and by the end of the day get to learn something. When a child is confined in a school five or six days in a week, his or her ability to learn through exploration is limited and hence the child ends up not developing his hobbies fully but then the child gets to learn through the other children.
Those who prosper in school or higher learning institutions do it because they have found something interesting in what they are studying (Holt). For example, those who excel to become doctors and lawyers do that because they have a passion for it. Unfortunately, it is not a large number of students that end up taking the courses that they have liked since childhood.
The reason being that, their grades in high school do not permit them to do what they like. I take a very good example of my sister’s very own experience. She grew up wanting to become a nurse by profession but her grades failed her and she ended up taking a teaching course.
In her childhood, she liked acting ‘the nurse’, for example, she would make a symbol of a syringe and pretend to give us injections. For this and more, her dream was quit clear to everybody but it was never achieved. Perhaps she could be let to stay in a hospital rather than waste more than a decade in school; she would have acquired a lot of knowledge on what she liked. Then, how can one become what he or she wants without going to school? This will be difficult.
Children do not have the time to be kids anymore because they are so bogged down. They are given a lot of homework, which leaves them with no time for play and exploration even after a long day in school (Gyasto).
They are given a lot of homework to such extend that some cannot make it for dinner and this greatly affects the family life because it reduces the level of interaction between the child and the other family members. Many of the assignments they are given are simply busywork, therefore making learning a chore rather than a positive, constructive experience like a hobby.
They spent most of their free time after school doing assignment from all the teachers. When a child is kept that busy, he has no time to develop his or her hobbies because for one, the child does not like what he or she is doing and as a result, the child starts to hate school. A child cannot hate school if the child likes what he or she does there.
To reverse the situation, if at all the schooling system cannot be fully abolished, parents should talk to teachers and more so the head teachers about the matter. The other option is to bring together all the other parents and approach the school board. It is possible and it can be done if only there is cooperation among the parents.
When this is done, at least the children will have moved a few steps ahead in developing their hobbies. Remember that the school is good because it offers a variety of activities that can lead to development of hobbies. If the heads of the schools see the importance of the matter and reduce the amount of homework given to children, it will create time for the children to explore, and above all develop their hobbies.
In school, the children learn many things. Although they learn some positive values and gain education, on the other end acquire other negative ones, which have a great impact on their life after. The teachers may not be aware what negative things the children are getting because it can take place unconsiously.
The children gets to learn that he or she should be right at all times since the teacher does not want them to get anything wrong at any particular time. As a result, the children learn how to cheat in order to get the right answers while in the real sense, they do not know anything. The greatest message that is passed on in school life is the fact that the teacher is the one who knows everything.
Therefore, the children learn not to ask questions where they feel that the teacher is not right and thus their curiosity is not satisfied. They also get to know how to read only when the teacher is looking and vice versa and to dodge and fake things none of which are good (Holt). Before going to school, a child is able to do a lot of work by his or her own without being supervised but on getting to school the situation changes. With all that, they can never develop their hobbies.
School is not good for children because they are so stressed up with the amount of work they do. They do not have enough time to release that tension and they end up projecting it to others. People may wonder why children especially in high school exhibit queer behaviors like bullying, and even killing. It is not one or two times that, cases of school riots have been reported, with the more serious ones resulting to burning of school’s facilities.
To make it worse, some of them have died in the infernos. There have been also cases of certain kids killing others, and to bring the point out clearly, why would a school going kid commit suicide? There is only one good answer to this question, the accumulated stress from schoolwork (Gyasto). On the contrary, stress can be relieved through clubs, games and sporting activities offered by the school. This way the school becomes good because it gets the children recreational activities that can develop their hobbies.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the negative effects of school out weigh the positive ones; therefore, school is generally bad for children. After looking at how the current system of education affects children negatively, it would be wise to start thinking of a different way in which knowledge can be impacted on children (Gyasto).
A learning experience that will allow them to learn at their own pace what they are interested in would be the best. Being confined in a classroom the whole day comes with its bad effects and results to problems that are more serious. To reverse the situation, the government should think of a better way to make learning more interesting.
Works Cited
Gyasto, Tenzin. Our faith of Science. The Blair Reader. 7th ed. Ed. p527-529
Holt, John. School is Bad for Children. The Blair Reader. 7th Ed. p64-68.