Have you ever wondered if the education system needs a reformation? Can whatever we learn on paper be applied in real life? There is a huge gap between education and career and it seems to be ignored in this society. Its somehow a step we are supposed to overcome on our own without any help. The transference of acquiring knowledge to application of knowledge is one area I’ve always found to be bothersome. Since kindergarten, we’ve been learning. It’s been a very long process. I’m currently in my third year of university and as far I can remember I’ve been acquiring knowledge throughout my life. Whether it be school, the extra tutoring classes, the books I’ve read, it’s always been a process of gathering information. Its never been about applying what I learnt to any real life situation. The derivatives I learned in Calculus in High school taught me nothing but after pain, comes some sweet relief, the statistics and Biology classes I took in my first year cost me lots of money and absolutely no interest.
I’ve always had a penchant for learning. I wasn’t the most studious student growing up but I learnt to love what I was studying. English and History used to be my favorite subjects in Elementary school. Reading novels was my saving grace through the ups and downs of childhood. From Enid Blyton, to Lois Duncan; from Nancy Drew to Jodi Picoult, mystery and adventure novels were all I craved. This habit of reading got me through middle school, helping me to build a desire for reading in order to grow to like to read my science and history textbooks. Eventually, I got to High school and then University with straight A’s because of my penchant for learning. I’ve taken several different courses like Mathematics, Science, History, Law, Business and even Economics courses in my life. I’ve had to get through strict professors, flaky professors, too-cool-for-school professors, boring classes, useless information and even more redundant knowledge, only to learn that none of these courses was ever going to prepare me for a career and for real life. If you think about it, have you ever had the pleasure of taking a class on getting a job, paying bills or dealing with a family? Has there ever been a class offered on dealing with stress, and how to cope?
The education system all over the world undoubtedly does a good job preparing students for academia. As much as it is true that it depends on the student to personally grow up and build their own career path, the overlap between college and career that the education system lacks, is widely noticeable. Whereas the education system is supposed to prepare students for the workplace and for life in general, many students come out having a basic college experience, debt and confusion. Even the subjects that’s supposed to give you some perception about real life, when reflected in real life decisions doesn’t necessarily translate well. Your notes on paper when applied to situations in life, doesn’t translate well because the truth is, situations in life are so much more complicated. For example, you may take a course in criminal law, and learn all about the justice system. However, if you were to get arrested, that criminal law course wouldn’t have prepared you to understand the arrest procedures, how to speak the police officer or even what to expect with everything. While you may have learnt that the Crown lawyer needs to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to convict the accused, the fact is that there are many criterions to that. The fact of the matter is; there is a huge overlap between the classroom and real life.