Public Schools Are Wasting Time

Have your parents ever gone into a long story about their childhood? If they have, you know that it takes a while for them to stop recalling their days in school. My parents have an idea of what school is supposed to be like, and when they heard about my school's teaching techniques, they were baffled. Now, I am curious if I can baffle my fellow readers and convince them that school has changed in a downhill manner.

The truth is, schools earlier never did useless projects. They focused on learning and only did relevant activities. I believe that schools should focus more on education than on wasting time on projects that don't teach anything. Before, students only went to school till 10th grade, and they started learning at a later age. One of the reasons why learning everything took less time was because schools didn't spend time on unnecessary activities.

First, I am going to give an example of something that shocked my parents, and even me. In my public school, during 7th grade, I was learning about Egypt's culture. As part of the lesson, we read about mummifying. Instead of continuing our learning, students were given raw chickens. Spices and salt were handed out and the teachers announced that we would be mummifying the chickens. Of course, everyone was excited because we wouldn't have to learn anything new while we were busy with this project, yet later we all realized what a waste it really was. The smell, first of all, was horrendous! We added salt to the chickens everyday, and throughout the week, the smell of them increased. As soon as the students walked into the class, they ran outside holding their noses. It was not a pleasant smell. Also, Egyptians didn't mummify chickens, so this project was quite useless. Students began to point out that it was a waste of good chicken, that could have been donated to hungry children, not played with by students. I agreed with them, and so did my parents. This is just one example of how schools are going off track with the lessons.

Also, I am going to discuss math. It is true that math is an important subject to learn, but the techniques used are unreasonable. For example, while I was learning algebra, my group had to make posters describing a math superhero. We would make up a name like Positive Poppy. Next, we had to describe her super powers, like being able to turn any negative number into a positive number. Lastly, we had to create an adversary such as Negative Nicholas. We would draw and write all of the above information on a poster, color it, and that was submitted for a grade. How did this relate to algebra? I have no clue.

To conclude, schools need to stop spending precious time on peripheral assignments, and instead focus on learning the material. Students will learn faster and more efficiently if schools focus on teaching. As an alternative to the useless projects, I suggest doing projects that apply to what the student is learning. Students will be more confident using the skills or information they learned after they completed a project about it. Also, the projects can be a way to teach new material instead of restating it.

You know that school is adequate, but could use some improvements. What's next? It is time for the students and parents to speak up. Nothing changes if no one tries. If you want school to use time wisely and change its education techniques, talk to your principal or email the school district. Spread the word, and all together, parents and students, will make a long lasting change.