When I think of elementary school, my mind lingers on a time when going to school was fun. Waking up early to go to class was exciting and learning was genuinely enjoyable. I look at my relationship with school now and can’t help but wonder, what changed? How did a young girl who couldn’t wait to work on a school project the moment she got home turn into a teenager who absolutely dreads being assigned even one page of homework?
Historically, school has been depicted and perceived as a privilege. Now, at least here in Rochester Hills, receiving an education is accessible to every child. After all, students are the future of humanity and school is the first and most major step on the ladder to becoming a successful contributor to the lives of billions. With this in mind, it’s a shame that these years of a student’s life are at any point intertwined and associated with feelings of frustration and boredom.
Junior Kayla Condon explains that when it comes to how school can become more appealing to students, she wishes it was “more focused on each individual student, because some students don’t necessarily learn the same way that everybody else does.” She says, “I feel like there’s so much of an emphasis on core classes. I feel like schools need to understand that some students just aren’t good at those things. There’s other things they’d do better in, like arts.”
When someone is forced into learning a topic, it does tend to take the joy out of the experience, especially with the knowledge that you’ll be assessed on it later on. Core classes are important, but it is often unclear as to why. Sophomore Sakura Paris says, “I think [teachers] should do more of not just teaching but also explaining why it’s important to learn something and how it can be used in your later life.”
Another reason for the shift in students’ perception of schooling comes with the transition of how classes are taught throughout kindergarten to senior year of high school. School’s very purpose shifts from elementary to high school. Senior Mitchell Gora says, “In elementary school, it was a lot more social. I didn’t really care about school, well I did, but I didn’t think about it as learning.”
Now, with a lot of students singularly focused on grades, the process of learning becomes a chore- a method to achieve. It is not about the learning itself, but the significance of a letter that represents accomplishment. Shouldn’t we try to find joy in the experience of taking in new knowledge? Junior Ivy Galens shares, “It makes me feel better when I’m actually understanding things. if I was just thrown into something and teachers were like okay just answer the question, it makes me feel better when I can actually know what I’m talking about.”
Undeniably, most students genuinely do enjoy learning, but the pressure of a grade sparks fear of failure. Without even attempting to challenge or question ideas because of how it may affect a grade, learning is no longer looked upon as a path to better the individual’s mind but the key to be successful in the future. Students would be better suited if both topics were placed on a scale of equal importance, but balance is hard to accomplish.
There are a multitude of reasons as to why students have lost interest in education, but one of the reasons that seems to be at the forefront of disinterest is, unsurprisingly, social media. When we consistently consume content that tells us that school is bad or boring, it’s only natural that we’ll start to believe it. Paris explains, “I feel like social media is really imposing on a lot of kids today. I see so many kids just on their phone in school and not listening to a teacher. I think it’s more about convenience. They don’t want to think, they want to scroll.”
Distractions are definitely a lot more prevalent with apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. I know for certain that I’ve been affected by this in the past. Condon has had a similar experience; “With social media, people are like, ‘Oh yes, this sucks. It’s not fun. We have to do these tests.’”
When students are receiving all of these like-minded opinions, holding onto their own beliefs and perception of school becomes apparently difficult. This doesn’t have to be the case though. As students, the ability to find a purpose has never been more important. When we can find a reason to cling to the love of learning that so many of us have grown out of, our personal relationships with school will improve. There’s joy in the discovery of knowledge, as long as we are willing to search for it. It can be as simple as taking a moment to zoom out to the bigger picture of how we want to look back on our time in school. Whether this is through a positive or negative lens is entirely up to us and the choices we make to perceive learning for ourselves every day.