Schools Stifling Our Learning

    

In one of my high school English classes there was an individual who always seemed to draw the entire class. Every day without fail various students would chuckle at what look liked obvious discontent with whatever the teacher or his fellow students was saying. One day the kind-hearted teacher who truly only wanted the student to do well caught on to what was happening by observing the amusement of the other students and told him to take notes and to please pay attention to her. The whole class looked somewhat shocked when he politely and with a straight face told the teacher that this was exactly what he was doing.  When the teacher questioned him he showed her and the rest of the class his drawings, which were just illustrated notes. Every creative detail tied in to the lecture and he recalled it almost word for word. This teacher was as kind to her students as she was open minded, and was truly intrigued with how this student’s mind worked. What is not shown in this story is how many countless other teachers would have stopped this student’s method and forced him to take notes the conventional way. I think this directly relates to Isaac’s story in the fact that schools do not do a great job in helping their students learn. Our school systems focus on generic testing and methods which reflect the schools achievement, and though this is definitely a necessary evil, I think our education should try other methods that would make students want to learn in different ways and want to focus on things that interest them. While there will and should always be an implemented core curriculum, school systems should try their bests to not stifle the learning that they are meant to encourage and support