Rough Draft/Start of Paper #3

School forces us to learn what we don't care about. Whether it be math, art, reading and writing complex pieces, science, music, history, or even something more hands on. People need certain skills like basic arithmetic, writing, and reading, but these are all things that we should be taught at a young age. Going into high school people should not be forced to take such a large range of subjects. By the age of a high school student, and even before then. we know what we are good at and what we enjoy doing, we may have figured it in class or after school, but we know. To force someone to do something they absolutely despise, barely tolerate, or is incredible difficult for them to understand, then tell them they need to work harder is torture. Students should be allowed to take more classes that they understand and enjoy.

Something can be incredibly easy for someone to do, but if it's not interesting they are most likely going to make it harder on themselves just to prove a point. It becomes harder and harder to concentrate on these subjects we don't like which let's us fall further and further behind, getting us stuck in this loop of not caring followed quickly by not understanding. So putting a student back in a class they failed isn't going to do them any good. They are just going to do what they can to not fail again so they can move on. Gatto says in his article "Against Schools: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why" that, "Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it." Learning should be fun, and it can be if the students being taught information find the information worth their time and interesting.

Some people just can't grasp some concepts. It could be how to read Shakespearean style poetry, the Pythagorean theorem, or a bunch of other things, but they just don't get it. It's not because they're stupid either. And often that's how they are seen. They just aren't wired to understand that type of information. When people are force to learn information that they can't understand it makes them feel stupid, which potentially could make them try less in subjects they are good at. It's a downward spiral. But they don't need that information, because who in their right mind will choose to do something in life that they don't understand and is a constant battle for them. And if they want to learn something difficult for them, good for them. But don't force someone into doing something they aren't able to do. It's not fair to them or their peers.