OceanAndSilence

i agree with this. many teachers (and sadly, parents) enforce attributes of themselves to their children, some inadvertently, some not. i remember talking to a stranger who believed that intelligence was hereditary, in a genetic fashion. i think it a ridiculous notion. people may argue nature vs. nurture, but i believe there is a place for both. it cannot be denied that each individual has natural talent, but those talents must be nurtured, and it takes great teachers to foster such talent.

the problem with schooling and strict education is that it has grown archaic, and is disregarding the main proponent for its cause: the people affected by the system.

my schooling experiences weren't terrible, but the one thing i do know for a fact is that the teachers had a massive impact upon my learning. in year 8, for example, i had an ineffective math teacher. he wasn't necessarily unqualified, he just had the social ability and interpersonal skills of an old shoe. he couldn't control the class. it badly affected all of our learning. he got fired the year after. now i cannot easily perform the simplest of maths. that one experience degraded my ability and interest in maths. i'm just lucky that i had good art and english teachers.

i'm actually glad i'm out of school now; i hated it. then i went to university to study music, where i thought i'd encounter like-minded individuals; i hated that too. the worst part of compulsory schooling is that many children don't necessarily need it. the best parts of school are the personal relationships that are formed... because i'd just appropriate my level of work to which subjects i like the most. by the end i had pretty much given up.