Can the Traditional Schooling Prepare Students for the future?

any schools are still running in the same way they were a century or more ago. Teachers provide one single lesson, and every student is expected to perform at the same level as their colleagues, learning at the same speed and in the same manner.

The old educational system is incapable of meeting the needs of the present generation, let alone those of the future. According to research, today's youngsters will need to cooperate to solve issues and employ creative ideas and analysis to compete in the future workforce. They'll also need to engage in self-directed learning to keep acquiring new abilities.

How will the old ways of running schools benefit the kids of today?

Long hours of school– We have spent a major chunk of our lives in school, sometimes I feel it wasn’t worth spending the entire day in school left with few hours in the evenings to finish our homework. The school has limited options to engage a child in extracurricular activities leaving no choice for kids to explore and learn anything beyond academics.

Even now that many schools do offer extra activities, they are mostly after school. There is no choice to opt out of any of the academic classes and pursue something that the child is passionate about for eg. a child might like to pursue any form of art for the major part of the day and would like to learn his/her chosen subjects in their leisure time but no school gives that option.

The limited capacity of the school to cater to all students– It's difficult for schools to arrange experts from different fields. For example the same sports coach to conduct all different games in the school will have limited capacity to cater to different needs of the students so either the child chooses to play what is offered or opt-out of it. If parents have enough time and money left after spending a lot on the school fees they can afford to register the kids in after-school activities. Mostly many skills are not included in the curriculum that a student might like to explore like skating, swimming, web – designing just to name a few.

Forced to follow the rigid curriculum- The school curriculum does not meet the current demands of the jobs that are required today, students are required to focus mainly on science, maths, and English. A child is hardly left with any time to go beyond these subjects. Mostly, even after school, the kids are required to go to extra classes to keep up with the rest students in the class no matter if it falls to their liking or not.

Teaching computer science and technology has been incorporated into the curriculum but the school needs to go beyond using Excel, paint, and saving folders. Computer science is also about computational thinking, interface design, data analysis, machine learning, cybersecurity, etc.

Life skills are not taken into consideration- The skills that students learn just one year of struggling their way in college are never talked about or discussed in the classrooms. The schools hardly teach kids about finance, handling relationships, and emotions, conversation skills, how to deal with failures, and health and diet. Many students are on social media for most of their time but schools want to stay in denial and they do not accept this enough to talk about it.

Are schools teaching kids to handle themselves in emergencies like a fire, or accidents? Are those one-day fire drills and a session on first aid enough?

Self-defense is a skill all kids should be taught but it's not. Are we talking about time management in school apart from punishing them for coming late to class? Cooking is something kids should learn and it will teach them the importance of food, sharing responsibilities at home, and getting to respect what is served on their plates. Many kids are victims of racism and body-shaming, many schools have committees that talk about these issues but many schools are still not discussing it openly.

Do children with exceptional abilities get bored in the classrooms? Some students might be exceptional in debate, chess, badminton, and dance but they are forced to attend academic sessions back to back in school as the subjects are always a priority over every other activity. We only grow up to hear that we should pursue our passions but in childhood, everything is already decided by adults- the things they should do now to become someone they have no idea after 10- 15 years, and in the process, they are completely lost.

Parents see their kid's passion in certain activities but they choose to go with academics because the scores on the report cards matter most.

A study in the UK found that more than 90 percent of surveyed children reported being bullied or seeing someone being bullied because of their intelligence or talent, and nearly half of those surveyed (49.5 percent) “played down a talent for fear of being bullied.”

Career talks in schools-

Many students give up in school when they don’t do well in particular subjects and there are instances where kids who were not fitting well according to the school standards have made big in real life. Students need more opportunities in schools to understand how the world is changing, what skills will be trending to help them earn their living, and what areas they need to focus on. They should get to hear stories of start-ups, innovators, problem solvers, volunteers, and change-makers.

They should be involved in discussions where they are free to give their opinion, the environment in schools should help kids to develop critical thinking and encourage teamwork and collaboration. “Do your own work” kind of statements in schools should go obsolete.

Children are expected to drop all extra activities before exams as they are expected to score well as the test scores matter more than anything. Schools make it clear that anything other than learning academics is a break from learning.

To stay up with the abilities required to solve issues, innovate, and prosper, we must redefine the core education. Are we failing as a society to meet that challenge, and as a result, the next generation is not adequately prepared for the future.

"In settings, where students direct their learning, each person has his or her unique interests and sets of skills and weaknesses. There is no uniform scale on which to rank some as better or worse than others. That kind of school is much more like the real world than is the standard school that we have been talking about here. In the real world we need all kinds of people, all kinds of unique talents and personalities, to make things work and to make life fun"- Peter Gray

‍