There’s a big problem that we never really paid attention to while in school and I really don’t think there can be a patch done by the school to solve this except we restructure the curriculum.
This is the problem:
Jack, Jill and Peter are different students in the same class. Jack loves mathematics but he takes time to grasp what he’s taught. Jill doesn’t love mathematics at all but he can memorize every equation in his note in the shortest time possible.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
Peter doesn’t love mathematics and he doesn’t understand on time. Four weeks after lectures, a test is conducted based on what has been taught from first week to fourth week. Jack has only understood perfectly what he was taught in the first two weeks so he writes the test and scores 70.
Jill doesn’t love mathematics and it gives him a headache but he memorizes everything in his note in one night and gets 95. Peter who neither loves mathematics nor understands better gets 50. The truth is that nothing changes, they will move on to the next class.
Let’s assume there’s always room for the teacher to write the correct answer, he however doesn’t have anything to keep track if they learned it or not. So the three young lads enter the next class with 95, 70 and 50 in their mathematics.
There are many loopholes in the school system on this and I’ll just explain one. Firstly, Jill may graduate to be a mathematics teacher who doesn’t have a passion for mathematics, hence would not be able to impart younger kids with the proper knowledge of mathematics.
More so, he was never a good mathematical student, he only knew how to memorize yet the school would award him as the best mathematical student because he had 95.
Jack who really loves mathematics would not be given any job because he had 70 so he’d end up going to work in a bank and not be of contribution to the bank except to follow the instructions he was given. Jack would not be fulfilled.
Let’s forget about Peter. He is at a disadvantage on both ends so Peter has no future.
Well as funny as this may sound, this is the real scenario of what’s going on in the school system and this is the reason the society cannot succeed. because it thrives on certificates rather than on brains / intelligence.
The major thing to consider is that even Jill who had 95 did not understand 100% of the course outline. So he goes to the next class with another 5% less knowledge of what he is actually supposed to know that would apply in the next class.
Jack doesn’t know 30% and he also gets to the next class with 30% less knowledge of the syllabus that is actually needed to understand what is next. This keeps repeating itself in each class and they keep getting lesser knowledge as they grow and progress.
This explains just one thing:
THE SCHOOL SYSTEM WAS ACTUALLY DESIGNED TO TEST HOW WELL YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU WERE TAUGHT RATHER THAN HOW WELL YOU LEARNT WHAT YOU WERE TAUGHT.
Did you get this analogy?
Now to you who is a student out there. If you really want to contribute to society based on your course of study, you have to know that there’s a difference between learning and memorizing.
You have to expand your knowledge as the school curriculum would limit you. You would only come out to be a product of your syllabus and not a product of learning.