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1/8/2013 8:09:36 AM
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Does this generation value education enough?
Now, call me old-fashioned, but I was raised to believe school was important. My parents were serious about homework and assignments, and expected good grades from me even in subjects for which I didn't particularly care that much. Ever since I was a little kid, I've known that school was an important thing to be treated seriously.
That's not to say I didn't goof off in class sometimes - I mean, I was a kid, not a robot - but at the end of the day, I always knew it was important to do well, turn my assignments in on time, treat my teachers with respect and be grateful for the opportunities my education offered me. But sadly, it seems like this is an attitude that's less and less common these days. The social aspect of school was always something I saw as a bit of a bonus, but these days, the students at the school where I work seem to see it as nothing more than an excuse to hang out with friends - and what's worse their parents think of it as a free babysitting service that's responsible for raising their kids for them (which doesn't stop them from reacting with outrage when schools try to enforce a little discipline on their precious angels, of course).
What's happened, Flood? It seems so bizarre to me that this much could have changed in the eighteen-odd years since I started my pre-tertiary education. Sometimes I find myself wondering if this attitude has been prevalent for a long time and I was just sheltered from it because my parents sent me to small private schools for my whole school life - but I don't think that's it, because I've seen private school kids display this kind of attitude more and more as well, which is really disappointing.
It makes me sad, because with the benefit of hindsight, I know that my education set me up really well for the rest of my life - it got me into a good college, it made me more socially adept, it taught me manners and discipline (though my parents did most of that), it made me more aware of the world around me and my responsibilities towards other people, and it unlocked potential in me that I may never even have realised was there if it hadn't been brought out by excellent teachers who wanted me to succeed. And yet, plenty of parents seem not to think this, because if they did, they'd be teaching their kids to value their educations, and fewer and fewer parents seem to be doing so.
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School isn't important, where does it get you?
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I don't think so. I think it rarely has been in the past while.
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Well, it just proves idiocracy is coming true. Go away Im baitin!
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No, they don't. It's not entirely their fault, though; America has an anti-intellectual culture.
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Of course not. Why get an education when we live in a society that celebrates mediocrity and hands you everything on a silver platter?
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] NewRadical12 No, they don't. It's not entirely their fault, though; America has an anti-intellectual culture. [/quote]
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Americans don't value education anymore because they are bound to be shot at some point while attending school.
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As kids get older, we kids become far more independent and social. They start forming relationships and taking responsibilities independently of their parents. Kids become way, way more social as they grow older. We start caring very much about our friends and relationships, and the older established meanings of school might become slightly less important. [Edited on 01.08.2013 12:16 AM PST]
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] oaklandp8ntbalr As kids get older, we kids become far more independent and social. They start forming relationships and taking responsibilities independently of their parents. Kids become way, way more social as they grow older. We start caring very much about our friends and relationships, and the older established meanings of school might become slightly less important.[/quote]That would explain things if the problem was just that older high school kids care about school less than younger high school kids, but that isn't it. The problem is that as time passes, society [i]as a whole[/i] seems to be placing less and less value on education, despite the fact that it's an important socio-economic determinant and people who take their educations seriously do tend to do well in life (which is something you'd think we'd care a lot about, given how competitive the job market is right now).
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Um, what? Maybe it's not well displayed in the social media, but there are huge pressures on students to do well in school. Every student knows how competitive it is to even just get into college, and every student is even more aware of how tight the job market will be when they get there. The people who matter in life, such as your employers, certainly value education higher than other time in history. You don't see value for education in Pop culture because it's meant to be an entertainment industry, and academics don't entertain. [Edited on 01.08.2013 12:24 AM PST]
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I think there's still lots of pressure to do well. It's just that the pressure to party, do exciting and expensive things, and have more of a "social presence" has increased tremendously, and at younger and younger ages.
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How are we supposed to raise our kids to think that school is important when the people that run our country don't think so?
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If this wasn't the Flood I'd write out a lengthy and detailed opinion. DAMMIT JAY
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I'm not sure kids see the point, i mean i'm in the top area of all of my classes and quite frankly, i don't see how a lot of what we're taught will ever help most of my classmates; for example, why is economics, a class that teaches skills that are vital for survival in our society an optional class, and yet we're forced to learn science, something that is useless for a lot of careers? If anything, it seems like the schools just don't know what to teach, and the kids have realized that and are acting accordingly. [Edited on 01.08.2013 12:41 AM PST]
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] oaklandp8ntbalr Um, what? Maybe it's not well displayed in the social media, but there are huge pressures on students to do well in school. Every student knows how competitive it is to even just get into college, and every student is even more aware of how tight the job market will be when they get there. The people who matter in life, such as your employers, certainly value education higher than other time in history. You don't see value for education in Pop culture because it's meant to be an entertainment industry, and academics don't entertain.[/quote]Like I said, I work at a school and have friends who work at schools. I'm not getting this information second-hand. :P
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Personally, I think education's often valued for the wrong reasons. But I suppose that's just how I live my life and if a lot of people saw it as not a means to an end or whatever, per se, I doubt society'd be productive. [Edited on 01.08.2013 12:44 AM PST]
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No. And that's not because this generation is lazy or that there's this anti-intellectual culture or the lack of education support on the part of the government. Education isn't valued like it once was because it's not as valuable. It is more accessible than it has ever been. Historically having an education meant you were part of the aristocracy of society. Basically you were made. Value is all relative.
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I disagree that there's an anti-intellectual culture. I just think it's capitalism at its finest. Take [url=http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1999/360_einsteincover991231.jpg]this magazine.[/url] And then take [url=http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/2012_swimsuit/images/cover.jpg]this magazine.[/url] Now take an average human male. Which one is he going to be more inclined to read? The one with the pretty lady of course; it warrants a primal -blam!- desire. You can count of human nature to act upon it's emotional desires almost 100% of the time. Now apply this to everything about consumerism. Our capitalist industry, in its pure interest of maximizing sales, has simply recognized this and used it to maximize sales. That's why sex, drugs, and rock n roll are everywhere. They satisfy those emotional desires. That's why you see such emphasis on beauty and not much emphasis on intelligence; because Einstein doesn't sell quite the same as a nice pair of boobs does. Basically I don't think people are anti-intellectual. People are just, well, following human nature and being more attracted to boobs than Einstein. [Edited on 01.08.2013 12:58 AM PST]
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Vgnut117 No. And that's not because this generation is lazy or that there's this anti-intellectual culture or the lack of education support on the part of the government. Education isn't valued like it once was because it's not as valuable. It is more accessible than it has ever been. Historically having an education meant you were part of the aristocracy of society. Basically you were made. Value is all relative. [/quote] This we are now taking education more for granted.
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Vgnut117 Education isn't valued like it once was because it's not as valuable. It is more accessible than it has ever been. Historically having an education meant you were part of the aristocracy of society. Basically you were made. Value is all relative. [/quote]That's actually a very salient point.
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[url=http://p.twimg.com/A0Z1p1cCQAAGUxy.jpg:large]This should answer the OP's question.[/url]
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Because kids believe SWAG is more important then education. #YOLO
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Vgnut117 No. And that's not because this generation is lazy or that there's this anti-intellectual culture or the lack of education support on the part of the government. Education isn't valued like it once was because it's not as valuable. It is more accessible than it has ever been. Historically having an education meant you were part of the aristocracy of society. Basically you were made. Value is all relative. [/quote]Even in first world countries, education is still largely a privilege of the middle and upper classes, and is one of the only ways to be socially mobile if you aren't wealthy. It still has plenty of value. People with professional degrees from good universities still have more opportunities than people who don't have those things, and people get into professional programs at said universities by doing well at school, if they can't get in using influential connections. (When I say "professional degrees", I mean degrees that enable you to enter highly paid speciality fields, such as medicine, types of engineering and the like.)
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] The Ruckus 2010 Of course not. Why get an education when we live in a society that celebrates mediocrity and hands you everything on a silver platter?[/quote] This. Society and media glorify and idolize delinquents, criminals, airhead celebrities, and otherwise uneducated people. Why bother going to school?
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I don't think anything has changed, there have always been kids who push themselves with their education and there have always been kids who simply don't. It's not like the discrepancy between these two groups has suddenly exploded in the last decade or so, if anything the opportunity to attain a higher education has simply become easier in the last few decades as society has moved forwards.
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It seems like this line of thought is always spurred from looking back with a bit more wisdom than you had when you were back in school. Especially if you were a high-performer. When in school as a high performer you tend to forget about people who you never see in classes (the ones that take low level math, english, no science classes), but when you view the whole grade as a whole your perspective is soured a lot. It really has always been this way (okay, not forever but definitely for decades), it's just that nobody notices until they get out of it.
