To think that schooling is a lost case

[soraash1iru]

I come from Czechia where I was a regular student, worked really damn hard, studied on weekends & holidays, following a typical A-grader lifestyle.

Then I went to Japan as an exchange student and seeing all the people the system is producing there really made me rethink my efforts to get perfect grades and worry over nothing - Everyone there was pretty much the same, working extremely long hours at a job they hate, to come home and watch TV to kill the rest of the day. Everyone dresses the same, has pretty much the same hairstyle, and they are afraid to stand out.

You might think that this doesn't reflect the title, but well, I realized that most of this was the fault of the schooling system. Students in my class were punished over everything they did differently - they were even punished if their tie was loose - and the teachers were making their self-esteem plummet.

And although Japan is an extreme example of a flawed schooling system, I don't think it's much different in the rest of the world, Japanese schools are making students insecure about how to dress, look and behave but in the rest of the world, the schooling systems mould students to fit societal expectations, punish eccentricity and by no means help them grow as a person.

Am I the only one to think that it's pretty damn unfair that students have only one option when it comes to education - the schooling system? I'm not talking about education models, but the whole system and its ideology - what students learn & for what purpose

It's a new world and we only have a system from the 18th century

I don't recognise what you describe by my experiences of the U.K. education system.

Anyway, parents have the option to homeschool or choose alternatives types of school here.

I don't recognise what you describe either, from my experience of the school system in the UK or Japan.

What’s a lost case? Do you mean lost cause?

I do agree with some your points.
Uniform in particular is bugbear of mine - I've worked in primary schools with a very formal uniform policy ( proper school jumpers with logos, formal trousers or skirts, formal black shoes) ; in some with a casual policy - school sweatshirts with logo/no logo , joggers, black or any trainers; and in a few with no uniform policy at all. I can tell you that there is absolutely no difference in terms of bullying over clothes, school cohesion and identity, or general behaviour no matter what clothes are worn. I do not understand the push to conform in areas where there is no benefit to the children or the running of the school, and why so much time is wasted enforcing petty rules. Is it to get them used to a lifetime of being told what to do and how to do it?
We need to be educating for a different world, it's not the 1950s any more.

Don't worry OP, there won't be a need for education soon. Well spend our days on exercise bikes to generate power aka brave new world/black mirror.

As an aside 2 of my dc go to a school with no requested uniform. The kids have over time, created their own though, a sort of posh, unwashed 'uniform' of sorts. It's perfectly easy to still stand out from the crowd there.

Looking the same, does not mean people are the same inside, often the complete opposite is the case. And I'm not saying that as an argument in favor of school uniform.

Some of the most interesting and unusual people I have ever known are Japanese.

Maybe you need to look at your motives for being so studious? Was it because you found the subjects interesting or because of your parents ambitions?

I agree, there are too many silly rules. The focus should be on safety. A guide to appropriate dress is needed perhaps.

You only have a choice of schools if you have money.

I never really understood the argument that uniform reduces bullying. There was still.pkenty of picking on people for their shoe style, trousers too short, wrong style of bag etc. In any case shouldn't the focus be on teaching kids to accept differences and not bully each other, rather than just trying to unsuccessfully level the playing field - which doesn't in any way reflect real life and the kids know it!

The education system is not fit for purpose. Most teachers hate their jobs and are looking to jump ship, most pupils are bored to tears and unable to see the relevance of what they are being taught in today's world.
Learning doesn't only ever happen between four walls of a classroom, infact that way of teaching is extremely limited. But nothing will change because "That's the way we've always done it" and "It worked ok for me" will be rolled out and nobody has the inclination or imagination to try anything else.
Why we are still sending teenagers to school with the technology they have to hand is a mystery. It's just holding them back from allowing them the responsibility to self manage and motivate themselves. Two important life skills especially now with so many WFH. My parents generation had all finished school by age 14, we keep students confined in school way too long.

@Coyoacan Absolutely not ! During my stay, my classmates gave me a little get-to-know-me notebook where I got to find out all their dreams and aspirations, of course they are different inside, but 7 out of 30 also wrote that they don't have any strong points and that they are sore losers - that's the problem, not only that the schooling system is by no means helping them achieve their dreams, it's also making them insecure about them.

And I didn't mean to say that there is a problem with uniforms in particular, it's that even when the student wears the uniform they will get shouted at even when their tie is loose, I just wanted to give you a better picture of the problem and what homogenous generation the system is creating, not only in Japan.

In other countries students are compared for getting a worse grade than their classmates, there is no consideration for what they actually want to do in life and what makes them happy and they are being judged for things they don't even want to be good at. Not once have I or my classmates been asked if we're happy, what our dreams are or why are we even there.

Japan for me was simply an eye-opening experience that made me realise where this generation is going

@Poopoopoo Yes but that might not solve even half of the issue, a different school or even education model as someone mentioned may change the way the subjects are taught and put some ease on the student's mental health but no one gets to choose a different system yet, children are still going to learn the same crap to pass standardized tests and then get a paper to prove to someone that they are good for something.