Nur Hanisah Muhamad Fadzil
Sec 3/6
School, a once sought after golden ticket to success, has lost its lustre. As humanity advanced and became more competitive in almost every possible aspect, jobs and professions are becoming ever more demanding compared to the past. Schools however, barely changed their methods to provide success in jobs for students. Therefore, it is only reasonable for me to conclude that schools are unable to prepare students for their future.
To start off, most schools do not prepare students to work alongside electronics, including artificial intelligence (AI), which are becoming ever so prevalent in modern society’s professions. Schools largely focus on teaching compulsory subjects for examinations instead of focusing on adapting the education system to the changing demands of today’s and future professions. For example, secondary schools in Singapore mostly offer traditional academic subjects, like Mathematics and English, and rarely teach their students how to manage and work with technology and electronic systems. This example clearly demonstrates how schools would rather train students for good academic outcomes instead of for their future professions.
Furthermore, numerous schools often facilitate rote learning in schools instead of getting students to fully understand or master concepts. The majority of schools encourage memorizing answers and ways to answer questions instead of thoroughly learning about a subject. This could lead students to think in a more ‘concrete’ and ‘robotic’ way instead of thinking outside the box as they stop wondering about the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of everything around them, and instead, would rather absorb the ‘what’ information of everything around them as it is without questioning it. The lack of understanding and mastering of subjects may also hinder students’ critical thinking skills as they may be unable to think in depth or seek out the source of a problem. For example, most Mathematics teachers do not explain why theorems such as Pythagoras’ theorem makes sense and instead encourage students to remember it as a formula without any reasoning. This would lead to students being unable to hone thinking skills which are critical for the future.
However, some schools do provide opportunities for students to build soft skills – personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. The schools would allow students to work in groups for certain lessons. This would allow students to socialize, building on their communication skills and ability to work in a community. For example, schools allow teachers to hold lessons in class where students would have to work together. This would allow an exchange of ideas and the students would be able to learn how to respect one another’s views which is an important trait in modern society. As seen, there are occasions where schools do ready students for their future.
Overall, however, I do not agree that school are able to prepare students for what lies ahead. Though schools can boast about its focus and importance on academic domains, can they really say they prepare students for success in the future? As we continue our journey of life, everything around us would continue to change, and we would have to adapt to it. In this case, schools would have to review on what they have been teaching students in school as the job requirements are only becoming more demanding at an exponential rate. Only then would schools be the epitome of a success-making system and would be able to confidently say they prepare their students for their future.
Writers by the River 