- #1
Nev
With regard to our 'hot-house' system of education in the UK, I would like to see homework made optional, so that children can socialise more and be under less pressure. We are only young once and not everyone is suited to the academic scene. Much of what we learn in school is in any case soon lost to memory, especially for those who are content to work in shops, stores or factories or as lorry-drivers or dustmen etc etc, without whom we would not survive. Furthermore, many children find homework difficult and extremely stressful, especially if there is conflict in the home, which is surely why 50,000 children skip school every day in the UK.
It is natural to have a thirst for knowledge and we all need to feel a sense of achievement, but I submit that many children must feel they are 'failures' under the present system, especially when they are faced with the cruel blackmail that they have only 'one chance' to 'succeed' and what we call 'a good job' is deemed to depend on academic 'success'. Perhaps that is why every day ten in their twenties take their own lives in the UK and one in four children suffer some form of mental complaint in later life. Success for me is to be happy and fulfilled and education is just a beginning and not an end in itself. Much more important is that I matter to somebody else and that they matter deeply to me.
It is natural to have a thirst for knowledge and we all need to feel a sense of achievement, but I submit that many children must feel they are 'failures' under the present system, especially when they are faced with the cruel blackmail that they have only 'one chance' to 'succeed' and what we call 'a good job' is deemed to depend on academic 'success'. Perhaps that is why every day ten in their twenties take their own lives in the UK and one in four children suffer some form of mental complaint in later life. Success for me is to be happy and fulfilled and education is just a beginning and not an end in itself. Much more important is that I matter to somebody else and that they matter deeply to me.