Do You Believe That School Damages Kids?

So, you only have to go to Google and type in: 'School makes me feel...' to see how many searches have been performed by teens or children in the education system, stating that school makes them feel depressed, worthless, frustrated, suicidal, sad, anxious... etc. The list goes on.

A recent study has shown that school damages the creativity and self-esteem of children/teenagers. After having been through the schooling system myself, I could have told scientists that lol.

I do believe that school damages children, for sure. What do you think?

 

This is a complex question. I think that a lot of times, kids don't get the support and emotional stability at home they need to become confident, happy, healthy kids. Then they go to school, and they don't have the social skills necessary to deal with things like peer pressure, bullying, self-esteem issues. School can be hell for them.

But other kids have a good home life and they're raised in such a way that they learn self-confidence and develop good self-esteem. These kids are able to deal with the pressures of school. And they thrive.

Since we've seen the decline in community, more and more kids aren't getting the support they need at home. And school is not set up to nurture them.

 

I love your answer, and you are correct when you say that I had posed a complex question. The reason that it is complex is because - as you already mentioned, in so many words - every child is different. I sort of see the schooling system as this device with a square cut out of it. Children come in all shapes, and only the ones who happen to fit into this schooling device with the square indention in it, are the ones the flourish. Other shapes may just manage to get through, but not without difficulty, you know?

If only we could make the system more flexible, so that more archetypes of children were getting what they needed, rather than the system molding everyone into zombies, essentially.

 

I do believe that the children in the schools have influence on each other. Schools do not damage our kids. A mandate from beyond the school systems, have truly changed things; test! School is no longer fun. I feel college is more fun than school. In college yes, there are classes but, there is more to get involved in. Your life starts once in college. In Lower grades teachers and kids are all tested out! teachers want a change. More pressure and less money is put on kids. Kids don;t find school exciting anymore, less field trips and more tests to pass

 

We have our own opinion about that matter. As for me, i do believe that Education is the key to the progress of the future. Education is the bridge of innocent mind to a powerful Einstein brain and i live with that belief. Education is the key to achieve a higher level of IQ and there are lots of heroes and successful person on this planet saying that Education is precious. Without education, we would be just like a thin air passing by.

Education is being nurtured and nourished in school. We should not have this belief that school destroys the mind of the people. Of course we have heard of news of students becoming insane because of school but those issues have roots and its not mainly in school. It's illogical to say that school is a terrible place. Without school , we are just fool.

We must not also forget the value of life especially after getting a greater IQ. We should not take this for granted to take the lives of others at the base of our feet. As Maya Angelou said, "My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors."

Going back to the topic, i would love to share the very own words or Martin Luther King II and it goes this way
"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."

Regards,
Stephen

 

To some degree. It helps with what's suppose to be the American dream. It programs them to work. They go to school for 8 hours and when they get home they have more work. Me personally I hate it. I would home school. I don't think a child should be stressed about test and, not being able to do what children should because they have tons of work.

 

School is a way to program our childs at an early age. They don't get to express their creativity as much as they should be able to. I understand that they need mental curriculum but they also need more creative curriculum besides one day a week going to art class then one day music class. We should also be teaching our children how to meditate to be stress free. Instead they are crammed with minimal concepts of science and history which does not relay absolute truth. Math is the most important focus curriculum but yet these schools manage to make even that subject more difficult that it has to be. You should see the work my son brings home! They make simple equations so much more then what they are. No wonder these child don't get. But then the teachers put so much stress on the children when its the way they are teaching the children which is the problem. And god forbid you have a child diagnosed with "ADHD" a made up condition to throw children on meds that they don't need. If I didn't have an only child who needs social interaction due to his aspergers, I'd definitely home school him.

 

The current worldwide education system, excepting probably Finland, is not preparing the current generations for the future. They are not taught to adapt to society, they are not learnt to use the current technology. They are required to learn trivial information which can be as well found on the Internet without a hassle. We don't promote real values. We create close-minded robots, which will follow the same daily routine as their parents.
This thing though doesn't happen in private education systems, which once again states that only those who have got money succeed in life, unfortunately. Talk about fairness...

 

This debate sure can swing many ways but I need to look at myself to be able to give my take on this. Looking back at my school days they were mostly fun and yet more strict than what kids see in schools today. The school was able to actually punish us by giving us a good smack when we needed it. This was done by means of a caning by the principle or designated teaches. These day this is a huge no no as it might just damage the feelings of our poor kids and make them dysfunctional.

Now if I look at my generation today most of them seem to be doing very well with good social skills and great jobs. None of them even when you speak to them now feel that caning was a bad thing and damaged them but rather made them stronger people today. It actually taught us that there are repercussions to ones actions and respect was the order of the day.

So with respect being out the window these days I am not surprised that kids are what they are today. If you cannot respect others then how do you respect yourself? Without respect for yourself then you end up feeling you worthless and this is where all the issues start.

 

Very interesting and important topic! I was bullied in school because I defended another child who was being bullied on my first day at a new school. The teachers and principal did nothing to remedy the situation and I have always resented it. I was too ashamed to go home and tell my parents that I was the target of a click of kids who enjoyed bullying.

When my kids were in school I was was extremely watchful of them to be sure they did not suffer the same fate, and with my youngest on the autism spectrum I was particularly careful. I made a point of talking with the teachers and principal before allowing my daughter into the mainstream system. Also introduced my child to the class after talking to them about diversity. She grew up without incident.