What I Would Change

When I was in Elementary School, my parents put me in a program called Spanish Immersion. All of my core classes were taught in Spanish. Although it was very cool, and I developed a deep fondness for the culture, learning math in a different language was a struggle. When I finally left the program for sixth grade, I was very behind in math. My teachers would tell my parents, "Emily is more artistic, she isn't good at math." This and other statements made by my teachers about my ability to learn math poisoned my mind and I soon decided that I wasn't good at math. It took until this semester for me to break that poisonous thinking. I have actually learned that I'm quite good at math. How can we stop smothering the confidence and creativity out of our children? School needs to be a fun, colorful wonderland where learning and play can take place. My education experience was not like that as a child, but I want it to be for my future children.

We've established that the education system is broken, but when it comes to finding a solution to fix the issue, there are varying ideas. I feel like discussing why the education system is broken could lead to some good areas to begin rebuilding a new system. 
People have been trained to think that if you go to an Ivy League University you are a smarter person. I think people need to realize that just because you have spent tens of thousands of dollars to go to a university, doesn't necessarily make you smart. (In fact, spending that much on anything is not smart when there are less expensive alternatives.)

The optimist in me wants to believe that change will happen organically because companies are needing more and more creative thinkers in their workforce. Individuality is praised today more than ever before. I would like to think that it will happen on it's own, but we will probably need to speed up the process.

I'm really fascinated with the idea that learning releases endorphins, which can eventually make learning a (good) addiction. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a study that proves this, but I know that personally when I learn how to do something on my own and get it right I feel satisfied and elated. I'm sure others are the same way. If we could build a system around the most basic human reward system, I feel like that would make school a better place to be. 

I think having students learn things for themselves is one of the best ways to do that. I agree with Sugata Mitra's idea and think that would be an amazing way to fix our education system.