Education..... Is it up to us?

I recently saw a movie trailer about the failing education system in the United States. From trailer (in which you can see below), concerns are raised about the future of our country if our school systems are allowed to wallow and deteriorate. The reason for my fascination with the school system is because like the most of us, we were all part of this big epic school failure (private schools aside). How many of us have been bored to death or uninterested in school because it didn't apply to our daily lives? How many of us have had dreams or aspirations shut in our faces because we didn't get into our dream school to further our passions?

Well, I was/am still relegated to the limitations and barriers that I got from my education system. That is not to say that I'm blaming it all on the schools, part of it is family upbringing and personal motivation. I believe that everyone has to have a fair shot at living out our dreams. Those who live in inner city communities and poor areas of the country have very little real chance of getting out of their situation. (I am generalizing, of course there are many exceptions) But, good teachers tend to want to teach better and safer neighborhoods, leaving the the poor/bad teachers to educate the rest. 

I think that the way schools are pushed to "study for the test" is a incomplete way to learn. One cannot study and memorize facts without significant context to support it. The material is much more personal if it can be related to something in our lives no matter how inconsequential it is. For example, learning about physics can enlighten one's views about the world that they live in, how the motion of the planets can effect the climate and seasons. Or history, studying that the world has been conquered over and over and that it might happen again if we aren't to careful of who we chose to power.

School is to promote ideas, foster minds, and generate creativity, but it seems the complete opposite in reality. How many of us fell asleep during school? I'll have more later on, as this is a topic is close to my heart. Watch the movie and be scared of what might happen to our youth.