School Is Bad For Children And What True Education Should Do

The authors of both articles School is bad for children and What True Education Should Do, John Holt and Sydney j. Harris both addresses education and the school system, Holt suggests that we should abolish compulsory attendance. With harris stating that Children are stuffed with useless information, and they both agree that the fixed system of education prevents the children express their creativity, Teachers don't satisfy children's curiosities and they are left unanswered.

In his essay School is Bad for Children, Harris claims that instead of supporting our children in expressing their individuality, we suffocate their imagination and stuff their minds with useless knowledge and Another important concept holt addresses is that not attending school does not mean we are failures since education can be obtained at any time and from any place. 

I fully agree that not attending school does not imply that we are failures; however, I disagree slightly with his assumption that everyone in school plays a role; indeed, we are unable to fully express ourselves in school, but that does not imply that we, or anyone else, are pretenders.

We are studying a fixed curriculum in which little individuality is reflected, and often students feel they are failures because they did not do well in school. However, failing to do well in school despite your best efforts does not mean you are a failure; it just means you can focus more on your learning with enthusiasm rather than hate it even then, it's challenging when schools have fixed systems and programs that don't generally promote individual inspiration, they choose to concentrate on teaching the lesson and completing the book before the end of the year rather than supporting the students, we should help students appreciate what they're learning and have fun when doing it, so they can come up with their own ideas and become more involved in learning rather than giving them more work or placing more pressure on them, which takes away their joy in learning. 

Schools discourage students from pursuing their ambitions and hence compel them to become robots Instead of showing their individuality, they are supposed to comply with the teacher, who instructs them on how to do things in the manner that they feel is right.

For example, we had to complete a basic biology project in science class, and I filled it out exactly as the teacher instructed, with a twist of my own imagination, and she didn't give me a full mark because it wasn't the  "standard" way of doing it.

And Since we don't give them what they want, our students are afraid or intimidated to ask questions, so they avoid asking questions and only listen to their teachers, suppressing their curiosity, When our students view themselves in a unique manner, we automatically criticize and punish them for being unique and acting through their imagination. We incorporate in them the illusion that being unique is a negative thing and that they will be criticized. 

We teach them all, including when and why they are wrong and right; they never chose if they are wrong or right; we do. This not only makes them reliant on other people, but it also teaches them not to recognize when they are making a mistake until an adult points it out, another important topic both holt and harris discussed was what we teach in our classrooms are important that is common knowledge, but what we learn from the textbook is not going to be used in our daily life, so we need teachers to be more engaging with the children, to not depend on our full knowledge on the textbooks and experience living as a whole.

The articles especially (What True Education Should Do) led me to think about how I felt in the situations Holt mentioned, The concepts Holt addressed were valid, and they relate to every school system in the world, In addition to representing problems, Holt also offered solutions, He told us about the common problems that students face.

Holt should have considered not being too harsh in some parts of the text to make it stronger and more effective, because he came across as very defensive in some places, and Harris’s essay was very brief and included only quotes from other people.

Finally, rather than supporting and empowering our students to express their individuality, we tell them that we know everything and that they should listen to us. We also tell them to be indifferent and blend in, and that if they don't go to school, they will most likely fail, which is not the best way to approach children; instead, we should build a trusting relationship with them and encourage them.