The Ford Assembly Line was created and implemented in 1913 to increase production speed and lower automobile costs. The assembly line still exists today in car and industrial factories, but it has also snuck its way into schools.
If you walk into a Kindergarten classroom, you’re met with a bustling environment of kids, full of creativity, ideas, and questions about their world. However, if you walk into an 11th-grade classroom, what will you see? You will see students sitting in rows of desks, staring blankly at the paper in front of them, whether it’s full of calculus equations or a prompt for a structured essay they must write in 40 minutes.
Loss of creativity and passion for learning is what you will observe. Students have one goal from the paper, which is not to understand or learn but to just get the grade that benefits their GPA, that decides where they go to school and decides their future.
So what happens between Kindergarten and the final years of high school that wrecks the unique creativity we are all born with? That was a rhetorical question. I learned in AP Language that incorporating rhetorical questions in my writing will make it more effective. I learned this from a lecture that I was half asleep for and was tested on by writing a rushed essay in 40 minutes. Couldn’t I have learned more creatively? Been tested on it without the rush of the timer so I could do my best? See how those rhetorical questions made you think? I learned more from using them here creatively than I did from the timed essay.
The truth is that high school core classes are too structured, hindering any possible creativity in students. Senior Mckenna Kuppersmith said, “School limits my creativity because I’m not able to be in classes that use my creativity. Classes are too structured, which does not allow students to be creative.”
Not only are classes too structured but all material and learning is rushed. Schools prioritize pumping as much information into students as possible in the shortest amount of time. Seven classes a day, 45 minutes each, seven new concepts to learn and not enough time to understand it, enjoy it, and apply it. Junior Ruth Bayou said, “Everything is so rushed and students will prioritize their grades over actual understanding and interest in classes. Like AP Chemistry – I’ve always loved chemistry but now I can’t take the time to actually understand but instead, I rush just to memorize formulas and get good grades ruining any interest I have.”
This heavy workload and quick learning kills students’ creativity and interest. They just have one goal – to get that grade. Mental health issues such as anxiety and depression arise from the effects of school. Students base their worth on their grades, or their parents do, and punish them for failure.
So, what could schools do to fix this problem? According to junior Alina Parikh, “An Influential way of learning for students is to have more interactive opportunities. Working on collaborative projects and assignments helps link each student’s ideas together and create a better understanding. Additionally, outdoor breaks would help me enjoy school more. Of course, this would coincide with the weather, but sunlight allows me and many students to regenerate and have a more productive day.”
The school system is based on shaping a student, like a car, piece by piece, as fast and as quickly as possible. Quality doesn’t matter, just like it doesn’t matter to the school system if you enjoy your classes, if you are overwhelmed, or if the system is allowing you to use your creativity. They just want to see the product.
