Pronunciation Challenge6 Problems with our School System

Hey hey, VoiceTubers! Another week has passed since my last Pronunciation Challenge. Isn’t time flying by so quickly? Especially, when we’re busy with school, work or taking care of things at home. Speaking of school, I think just about anyone can relate to today’s topic. Most of us have gone to school. Some a little longer than others, and some also enjoy it a bit more than others. That’s okay either way, but what if I told you that our schools, or the way, we’re being taught in school, is quite inefficient and perhaps even unpractical? This is what today’s video points out, so you should go take a look. But of course, we will also check out today’s featured sentence and some key vocab in 3, 2, 1…


Most of the learning that happens in schools today is not authentic, because it relies on memorization and rote learning.

Pronunciation tips:
in schools today (pause) is not…
relies on (‘re’ short ‘e’ sound)


authentic adj. ɔˈθen·tɪk

Something authentic is something real, actual, the way people say it is – nothing fake about it.

Example: Are you sure the signature is authentic? It doesn’t look like his usual handwriting.

Here, someone may have forged the signature. Meaning, some faked the signature. Which is, of course, illegal and can lead to some serious troubles down the road.

forge v. fɔːrdʒ


memorization n. ˌmem.ə.rɪˈzeɪ.ʃən
The act of learning something so you do not forget it.

Even though you’ve probably learned this word before, I think it’s important to review the pronunciation of ‘memorization’. Does that ‘i’ make a short sound or a long sound? Is it spelled with an ‘s’ or a ‘z’? To put it brief, the difference here is just American English and British English. In American English it’s common to spell it with a ‘z’ and we pronounce the ‘i’ with a short sound. “Memorization’. Whereas in British English it will be spelled with an ‘s’ and the ‘i’ makes a long sound.

Example: When we focus too much on memorization, we discourage our natural side to learn and understand.


rote (learning) n. roʊt

Focused on learning something to repeat it, but not necessarily understanding it.

Example: He learned multiplication by rote.

You may remember seeing a multiplication table, from one to a hundred, and instead of really understanding what, let’s say, seven times three is, you just remember that it’s 23. What? No, no I hope you caught that mistake there. Of course, it’s 21. But I’ll be honest, math was never my strong point in school.

Every country has its own system, and some are well-known for their outstanding performance in the field of education. Finland, for example, always seems to rank on top of the list with one of the best education systems in the world, and they’re known for getting rid of standardized tests. If you have a little extra time, you should look into what makes these systems different. Do you think your country’s education system needs to change or is it good the way it is? Let me know in the comments below along with your recording. On another note, this is my final episode here at VoiceTube today! Despite the short amount of time I spent working with the Pronunciation Challenge, I learned so much and had a lot of fun. I wish you guys all the best with your language learning journey! You’ll do great with VoiceTube on your side. Cheers!

Thanks, Adam. Have a great day, everyone.

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Most of the learning that happens in schools today is not authentic because rely song memorization and rote learning.