I found this great video on the net:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7379357000737674731
Education and apathy have always made me curious. It always amazed how apathetic students could be in the school that I went to (Julie, take note!). Why? I asked myself - People are paying money to be educated, and given the circumstances; the education wasn't all that "substantial" (Please forgive me on this comment Julie, but what I mean is that it wasn't like we had the UCLA's art or philosophy program to complement our more 'technical' classes at the Ai). Yet, even considering the 'easiness' of our programs (and also the fact that they were very entertaining and mind-stimulating) a lot of people would act as if they were doing the school a favor for being there. In some classes, I think there were some people that never participated and when they did it was almost because they were obligated to do so.
Even though I was very motivated and happy to be in school in my 20's, I am guilty of having been very apathetic in my high-school years. And this is a question that I've asked myself many times and I try to analyze the circumstances that led to my apathy:
School's Fault:
-Droning classes (memorize, memorize, memorize)
-Too many 'perfect answer' classes (there is a lot more you can do for a physics or chemistry class)
My Fault:
-Other things seemed a lot more important in my life at the time.
-School seemed like a menial pointless task.
-Having too much fun with friends. Non-school life much more satisfying.
-Passions somewhere else.
-I couldn't find room for my creative expression or express critical thinking ideas in most of the school's classes.
Because I believe that the reasons for my own apathy stemmed from the school not being able to 'grab' my attention - I think that such is the case with most other teenagers apathetic about school. If only that 'passion for education' had been awakened in me earlier - perhaps I would've done a lot better in high school. What awakened that passion for education that I experienced after finishing high-school? Looking back I believe that it is when you finally begin to find GENUINE interest in the world and it's history and it's inner workings. Genuine interest comes when you do your own research to read about the things 'you learned back in school' - and no one is telling you to do that. So the biggest challenge that educators face in my opinion, is developing that genuine interest in students to be passionate about knowledge. Maybe it's the way the classes are given - maybe adding a bit of pop culture references to a history class might do the trick - maybe explaining the workings of the US Military arsenal in a physics class might awaken interest in video-game heads; something! The video clearly shows that there's a problem with pop media taking up about 90% of youngster's minds - maybe education needs a bit of "if you can't fight them, join them" approach - utilize some of the tactics pop media uses to lure young kids in. Education has to become appealing again - and appealing to young people that most of the time don't want to be in a classroom. Huge challenge.
