Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • (Siren)

  • "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school" - Albert Einstein

  • You know, when one of the most intelligent

  • people to ever live on the planet

  • says something like this,

  • Then perhaps there is something horribly, horribly wrong

  • with the basics of education.

  • (Music plays)

  • School,

  • we all know it!

  • We spent a significant chunk of our lives

  • gradually ascending through the ranks

  • while hopefully picking up basic knowledge like

  • the alphabet, simple maths, and how to read.

  • Unfortunately, this idea is a lot more simple on paper

  • than it is to apply to the real world.

  • You know, to real humans

  • who all learn differently

  • and who are all individuals.

  • And here is where the essence of the problem of school in general lies:

  • the emphasis and obsession with academic ability through the use of rigorous testing,

  • reporting. More rigorous testing more reporting, and topped off with a tad

  • more rigorous testing and reporting, does nothing but prove how school is designed

  • around how it looks on paper.

  • I never personally had any real trouble in primary school, but I do specifically

  • remember infatuating myself with scores, grades and levels.

  • I wanted to have the highest level. Not because it was important to me to do well,

  • no primary school kid cares about that, but more because I just wanted a higher

  • score than my friends and colleagues. Like it was a game:

  • a leaderboard for judging and comparing my worth with everyone else's.

  • Of course I wasn't quite that self-aware and I was nine years old, or even thought

  • about it at all really,

  • but I still did it. The point is, school is not about learning for knowledge or intelligence,

  • it's about preparing and memorizing a bunch of useless facts for moronically

  • specific and closed-minded test, so we can dictate, predict and set stupid

  • targets for the sake of the school's name, and to appease the governing bodies

  • that settle the ludicrous rules for the poor teachers to enforce. In the UK, we

  • start school at four years old.

  • The mentality is that the earlier you start, the more you can cram into their

  • little brains to speed up the learning process.

  • This is probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

  • Do you remember what you cared about when you were four?

  • Me neither.

  • But it certainly wasn't how to read a clock with Roman numerals on it.

  • Of course so many kids are put off the idea of school.

  • We tried to teach children things they're not developmentally capable of doing.

  • What is the fucking point of teaching seven and eight years about the possessive

  • apostrophe or how to column subtract?

  • It's nothing but unnecessary stress for both the students and the

  • teachers, who have no choice but to enforce it. Speaking of the teachers, they

  • don't half have one of the most difficult and clusterfucked jobs in existence.

  • First off, they don't only have to work with virtually no resources or budget to

  • help them, but one teacher is expected to support and provide for upwards of 30

  • students for the course of one year. Not to mention the positive slant they have no

  • choice but to put on everything, which in turn unfairly doesn't apply to them as

  • well.

  • So an endless amount of teachers are stressed beyond belief. This even applies

  • if the kid is a fucking stupid idiot who doesn't care.

  • "Sorry Preston, you failed the test but don't worry, don't worry.

  • But please don't worry, you're super kind and not overweight!

  • you'll do better next time." Can you imagine having to write a positive

  • report about those kids who are the biggest shitheads in the world?

  • It's actually pretty backwards the way the troubled kids get more support in

  • the end, as in when they disrupt the class, cause commotion, or just generally

  • piss people off

  • they then get all the energy throwing their way just for the sake of shutting

  • them up, and your normal, thoughful, quiet, perfect student who listens and

  • does what you ask of them, takes a side seat to the fuckwit who won't stop

  • making fart noises with their mouth.

  • The urge for the teacher to say something like "Hey, listen, you little

  • fuck.

  • Can you do us all a favor and shut your mouth and pay attention please ?" Must be

  • unbelievable.

  • It's always super fair when the asshole kids get rewarded just for not being an

  • asshole, when all the non-asshole kids have to actually put effort and work

  • into being noticed. The middling kids who don't fit into any of the extremes and

  • are being invisible, and that sucks.

  • Do you remember how pathetic and muted everything potentially dangerous was

  • when the school was in charge?

  • "Hey kids, don't you even think about doing anything fun. Like climbing that

  • awesome looking tree over there, or even having a run on the grass because you

  • might fall over and your parents will sue us and we have no money as it is."

  • It's like we spent the first 10 years of their lives training and to be prissy

  • wimps,

  • then when they get to secondary school the entire script has flipped on its

  • head and everyone and everything is violent and twattish to you, as you get

  • a glimpse of the real world is like. I really love the first 16 years of your

  • life completely dictate the rest of it. You know, the years when you're the most

  • stupid and naive and don't care about anything.

  • Now, none of this is to say that school isn't important because it is

  • Kiteman: NYEEEH

  • I didn't go to school and look how I turned out! IHE: That isn't helpful to me at

  • all.

  • I just think the way we go about it is moronic and backwards and ultimately

  • completely unhelpful to a large portion of the kids who go. When one in five

  • adults can't even read or write,

  • doesn't that prove that the system has kind of fucked them just because they

  • might not respond to the Victorian idiotic way of teaching the basics to

  • kids?

  • There is a reason Steiner and Montessori schools are sought after and work.

  • I'm not knowledgeable enough myself to suggest ways to improve it, but there are

  • plenty of people out there who are. But if all of this is so transparent and

  • blatant to someone such as myself, then isn't that evidence enough that the

  • system needs some pretty drastic changes to make it not completely stupid?

  • You know what, education system? You let me down, you let the school down,

  • but worst of all, you let yourself down.

  • (Music plays)

  • So those are my filtered thoughts on the large complicated subject that is

  • schooling. Little bit more serious than my usual videos.

  • But it's actually about something important, so who cares?

  • So what do you think about

  • school? I know education is very different from country to country,

  • we all have our strengths and weaknesses and whatnot. So how was it for you? I'm

  • genuinely curious, tell me in the comments below. And as always, thanks for

  • watching all comments and ratings are very much appreciated!

  • Make sure you check out my second channel Jar Media for more laid-back

  • content driven by you,

  • the community. Anyway, I'll see you next time. Bye.

  • (FART NOISES)

(Siren)

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it