is-the-education-system-broken-7077ee27e751

IrinaN·Dec 09, 2020

Posted in:Favors

Hello lovely ppl 💜 I started to develop a project to create an alternative education system. I used to hate school, I was trying hard to fit in and as a result I set aside my passions and natural way of learning just so I can substitute it with the expectations of my schools. I ended up dealing with a ton of anxiety, depression and low self-esteem because of that.For the longest time, I thought that I’m alone in this experience until I started sharing it and learned that I’m not the only one feeling like this, which was super liberating. Because of this, I’m creating a series on Instagram where I share stories of others around school and education. I’d love to include some of you in it if you feel like sharing.Let me know in the comments: (if you don’t feel comfortable sharing you can also pm me and I’ll share it anonymously)🎓 What was your experience of school like?🧠 How much of the knowledge that you use right now came out of school?🔮 Did you resonate with the future your school promised you'd have after graduating?Thank you for your support.🌟💜I wrote about my experience in the article below if you want to understand more about what I’m doing:https://medium.com/play-the-journey/is-the-education-system-broken-7077ee27e751

HannahBaldovino·Dec 09, 2020

Great questions, Irina and something we really need right now. Thanks for sharing.I can honestly say I don't remember much from my BA days, let alone high school and before. I studied Communications and Psychology. I took a lot away from my MS in Marriage Family Counseling but not in the way of theories and tactics but more in the way of growing in emotional IQ and self awareness. I grew up in a family that the only option after high school was to go to college and I felt a ton of pressure to go to a UC from my parents. My grades weren't amazing so I only applied to state schools in CA to which I can feel the disappointment and sort of embarrassment from my parents (they wanted bragging rights within their community) I don't regret my schooling but I do wish I explored more options.I don't know if I ever felt my school promised me anything more than I wish I had taken advantage of opportunities while I was there rather than partying or just getting by in a minimal way. Lastly, seeing how different the world looks now from even when I was in school, I won't be putting that much emphasis on school for my son so long as we continue conversations of other plans and options. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other additional questions.

IrinaN·Dec 10, 2020

Hey Hannah, thanks a lot for sharing. If you had the chance to look at other options, without the pressure from your family, what would you have explored?

Malorie23·Dec 09, 2020

Hi Irina, I'm always happy to hear the ways that people are innovating in the education space. I was a child who loved school and performed well. But I have since found that a lot of what motivated me was a feeling of achievement and making others (teachers, parents) proud. So grades were my focus, rather than learning. I so wish I could go back to my university days and tell myself to focus on learning rather than passing a test. I did "well" in university (got good grades) but I find that I didn't really learn the material deeply and hadn't learned HOW to learn. Now, when I am genuinely curious about a topic and want to truly learn, I find that I don't really know how to go about learning it.

IrinaN·Dec 10, 2020

Hi Malorie, thanks so much for sharing. I had the same experience, I only learned to pass my tests. I remember my friends and I constantly asking our teachers what will come on the test so we can know what not to learn. Have you tried some new things out that help you learn now? I'm super curious to know what has worked for you so far 😊

Iynna·Dec 09, 2020

Hi Irina! That sounds so interesting! I have spent some time in edtech so I am always excited about innovation around education. As far as I am concerned. I absolutely loved school! In fact I like telling people that at the end of the day I am just an African kid who loves to collect degrees (obviously this is a gross gross gross stereotype! hahah)🎓 What was your experience of school like?Seriously though, I loved school so much- partly because I was doing really well but also because I love learning new things! Additionally, I tend to be quite (overly) competitive so I loved the idea of pushing myself. 🧠 How much of the knowledge that you use right now came out of school?All of it ... I mean don't you have to use the formula of the area of a rhombus in your daily lives? :D Yeah no I definitely don't use it all, a lot of the obscure knowledge I sometimes get to pull it out and it just serves to enrich my conversations so I don't know how my life/my conversations would be without that type of knowledge?I came from a very French school system (focus on learning by heart, retaining information without necesarily questioning the very nature of these) and went into a British/Anglophone system which enphasised critical thinking- so that was a huge shock for me but learned SO much and ultimately all of this made me who I am!🔮 Did you resonate with the future your school promised you'd have after graduating?With this question do you mean did I work in my field of studies? Initially yes but as we all know life is not linear so I moved around a bit and ended up in smth completely different. However, my background certainly pushes me to perform above expectations.

IrinaN·Dec 10, 2020

Hi Iynna, thanks for sharing 😊 glad to hear you've enjoyed your time in school. I'm curious though, was there something that you didn't resonate with or you struggled with while you were in school?

Iynna·Dec 10, 2020

Not really. Were there classes I liked less than others? For sure and that’s normal. However I think of school as a holistic experience so to me there was value in the full package :)