Interesting thread. Sorry I came late.

To me, school is a place where we are conditioned to conform. To standardize behaviours, thoughts, speech and expectations so we could fit into society. It softens the blow of interacting and competing with others so its not altogether a bad thing.

To conform you have to give up something. I may want to be creative with my hair but they won't allow it. If I give a creative answer to a question they will think I'm trying to be smart. Not to say you cannot be creative in school. You can, but within the box you are put in. Otherwise negative conditioning comes in. Punishment.

I saw some responses that say its how they do it that's wrong. I agree but I also think its more than that. Anywhere in the world and in any system, education expects conformity first and foremost - play by the rules (even getting phd have rules), and that means you have to put freedom of creativity in a box.

Yes, being different is not encouraged, especially when it interferes with the standards set by the rest. It encourages mediocrity than creativity.

It reminds me of the situation where people with Masters degrees are outperformed by people with ordinary diplomas, the latter ignorant of structured methodologies & simply "hantam" but got to the finish line first. Sobering, altho to be fair, in a structured environment the opposite can happen.

Some ppl are born more creative than others so u could see schooling in its current form as the lesser of two evils. Its a system designed for the masses, not creative geniuses. Its not designed to handle different learning curves. End up wasting creative talent. Geniuses that get into the system have 3 choices: conform to average standards, get whacked with punishments or go elsewhere for an education.

There are elite private schools for this but while it solves one problem, it creates new ones but that's for other discussions.



This post has been edited by Beastboy: May 9 2010, 09:08 AM