The Learning Crisis

Starbucks Location: Off of Associated and Imperial Hwy - next to the Borders

In my previous post (The Pointless Existence of Finals) a reader posted a comment that I think brings up valid arguments about things that I said

For all the lazy readers who don't want to look through the comments here it is:

"Yes, it might lead to actual long term memorization, but isn't the point of finals to separate who gets the A and who gets the B? From a non-IB perspective, you have to come to learn not everybody is in IB and that finals aren't always a time to raise a grade. In most regular classes I have, I have observed that the finals separate the kids who are hard working from the slothful."

I understand this perspective, that the finals acts as the machine that divides the good from the bad. The ones who will strive to get the 'A' from the ones who don't care or are too lazy to act upon their thoughts. Yet, by stating this, it seems that the finals system is DESIGNED to act as a filter for the successful and unsuccessful. There are several problem with this way of thinking:

1. If the point of the education system was to weed out the dumb from the smart, the education system would be designed differently. If one looks carefully at the way that the current system is set in place, this is not the case. The teachers teach in order to ensure that the majority of the class understands the concepts being taught in class.
2. Although it does weed out the slothful by giving the determined better grades, finals still remains a form of testing that doesn't actually test true intelligence. In contrast, it tests rote memorization and the ability to regurgitate information that was processed several days before.
3. The finals is an accumulation of knowledge learned throughout the semester (if accumulative). To allow students to benefit from a test while failing tests in the previous chapter is pointless in itself.
   
4. The very fact that finals aren't viewed by non-honors non-IB as a chance to raise their grade is both a plus and negative. It is a plus because finals shouldn't be used as a last chance attempt to recieve a grade that one doesn't necessarily deserve. It is a minus because after the students don't use the finals as a grade-booster, they usually tend to not care about the final, which is both a negative to overall productivity of the student and the classroom.

Before I begin, I would like to state that I am writing from the perspective of a public high school student. Obviously, the topics and ideas that I bring up in my posts may not apply to private schools in general. However, I hope that there is enough crossover between public and private for people from both sides to understand the points that I bring up.

Due to popular request, this post will be divided into several different posts so that people are able to read it individually.

Thanks for understanding.

-Simon Rhee

The Pointless Existence of Finals

Starbucks Location: Off of Imperial Hwy and Associated

Finals weekend has arrived. Along with it comes the stress, last minute cramming, pointless studying of subjects and topics and chapters that will not remain in the REAL long term memory. The goal of most students at my school is that they will use this opportunity as a LAST chance to raise their grade, so that they can go to their pristine and wonderful, top university so that they can go make their six figure salaries. Supposedly, failing the final is death, as the A is the holy grail of all school existence.

Yet surprisingly, very few (if any) student use the finals as what I think it was meant to be: a checkpoint to see if the students are truly absorbing the information spit out by the teachers. The long drawls and talks and lectures must surmount to something, right? Yet, every one of my peers are studying by rote memorization. The purpose of finals is lost- both the teachers and the students know that a vast majority of the student don't care about the knowledge that they are learning and most of them resort to rote memorization in order to pass a test that is just an means to an end. The goal is an A and they will do whatever it is required to make that grade.

But am I the only student that sees the problem with this? Or am I just one of the thousand of students who think that the education system is being degraded, yet is unable to do anything or act upon these thoughts because the 'A' is to much of an important part of our lives and if actually CARING and LEARNING may result in an unsatisfactory grade than it is better to AVOID knowledge and the reason we have to take the finals in the first place.

In my opinion, we should just change the whole finals program. The teacher occupation is way to underrated. To change society we must increase the number of teachers in the United States. Instead of making teaching the job for failed lawyers and doctors, more resources must be placed into the teaching field. More teachers results in more focused classroom settings. Teachers will be able to teach better and provide more support and control to each individual student. Every student should be able to have access to a teacher who is willing to sit down and talk to each individual student and a teacher who has the TIME and resources to help each student do what they want. Each class should have different expectations for the day, rather than one curriculum that is universal. Students learn at different paces and the most intelligent will be able to go farther and achieve more while students with less intellectual capabilities will be able to learn at a more fitting pace. The current system doesn't aid the top 5% and the bottom 5% of the class, rather hindering both. Reform is necessary and must be immediate. To change is to make the society better and thus our focus should be in change.