Flaws In The Education System #2

You Aren't Learning Anything Beneficial

Around 55 million kids in America are enrolled in elementary or secondary schools. Every day, approximately 55 MILLION American students sit in classrooms. Yet, according to Ecudemic, the United States isn't even one of the world's top 10 education systems. So what is everyone in our country doing? To sit in classrooms (1,680 hours each year, by the way)…does that even benefit us at all? Are we learning the wrong things?

Half the things you're taught in school don't help you succeed.

Everyone has wondered this. Everyone has sat in a classroom and groaned internally, knowing that this curriculum would never be used outside of the school walls. This is a question commonly asked by a confused math student: "When are we ever going to use any of this?"

Upon being asked this, I've found that most teachers respond with one of two things:

1. They'll list a specific job category that uses this curriculum (sometimes minimally), and often it's something that no one wants to grow up and pursue. For example, "Construction workers use this all the time!" or "My husband's sister's daughter majored in ophthalmology, and she uses this every day!"

2. Either that, or the teacher will sigh and make the student feel guilty for asking the question. I have a theory that this is just a ploy to get out of the situation without answering the question at all. They'll say something like, "This is the worst question. I hate this question, I absolutely hate it. I'm just…I'm going to pretend that you didn't just ask that. Wow…" Then they'll pause, let everyone wade in the uncomfortable silence, and say, "Alright then, let's get on with the lesson."

Teacher being a teacher
Photo Courtesy

But the thing is, school doesn't really teach you anything worth knowing.

We're not taught how to get to know people or how to make someone laugh. We're not taught how raise a dog or how much to tip the waiter at a restaurant. We're not taught how to manage 4 hours of homework after 5 hours of schoolwork, and we're not taught how to cope with the stress or the anxiety or the pressure. We're not even taught how to pay taxes. I have no idea what a mortgage is. Instead, we're taught the plot of Greek literature and the history of Israel's wars. We're taught how to formulate arithmetic sequences and how to label the protons and electrons of a Phosphate. We're taught such unnecessary things. And what do we learn? I don't know about everyone else, but so far I've mastered how to befriend teachers and how to bullshit three-page essays in under an hour.

School is supposed to be a privilege. Kids are supposed to wake up and want to learn things. Our education is being sucked out from under us, and now we are confused high schoolers with monotone answers to questions we don't care about.

Look at us. We're learning nothing useful. 

How Long Have You Actually Been Alive?

Please Note: Whether or not you believe in God, I'm going to pretend that there is a figure in charge of us up there (I'm not sure where "up there" is, but just go with it). In this post I will be referring to this figure as "The Person In Charge."

Technically, I am fifteen years old. Technically, I have been on Earth since August of 2000 and technically, my existence has gone on for a long while. I've experienced many things in my years and I remember a fair portion of those objectives. But the things I remember…what if they're just memories?

There's a theory that you've only existed for a few seconds. Possibly less.

Assume that The Person In Charge just put you here three minutes ago. You've been on the planet for precisely three minutes and haven't existed any longer than that. When The Person In Charge brought you here, you were given memories. 

You were given vague commemorations of your childhood, the years you spent growing up, and that one time you tripped walking up the stairs at school. Some things are emphasized more than others. There are parts of your life that you don't recall at all. The Person In Charge made it this way.

You were given memories of a life you actually haven't lived. You were given memories so explicit and beautiful that they feel real. Everything feels practical enough that you begin to live your life as if it started a long time ago; you begin to live your life as if you weren't just created.

This would mean that you haven't actually experienced anything before this moment. All the things you think you've done are simply memories you were given. Congratulations, you just took your first breath.

The View From Our Hotel In Seattle

My dad told me about this theory in Seattle, Washington. We were visiting colleges for my brother and staying at some random hotel near the University of WA. My dad wanted to see the movie The Martian (which was a really good movie, by the way) and the only showtimes were later at night. My family and I were sitting down in the restaurant aspect of our hotel, sipping ice water from those black straws that hotels have, while we waited.

I don't exactly remember how, but we started talking about all these crazy theories. This was one of them. After my dad explained it, I felt extremely uncomfortable throughout the remainder of the night.

We discussed other possibilities about the existence of humanity, which I will be posting about later during the evolution of my blog. If you're looking to read about any more of my theories, click here.

This is one that made my head spin. Sure, you may think you've been reading this blogpost for a few minutes, but maybe you haven't. It's possible that you were put on Earth a millisecond ago. So, that being said, welcome to the planet.

Aliens Exist

The universe is infinite. I'm not entirely sure how, but the science nerds over at NASA have proved this. When you look up into the sky, you're gazing into everlasting space. There is no "end" that has been discovered. The universe is infinite.

What most people envision
when they hear the word "alien"
Photo Courtesy

Knowing this, I don't understand how people don't believe in aliens.

For some reason, when the word "alien" is mentioned, people immediately think of little green guys with heads that are too big and two fingers. Often they look something like the image to the right.

When you think of it like this, it seems fairly improbable. I don't know where this idea came from but it's strange. Most people take aliens as a joke.

The reality is this: aliens exist.

Maybe you think I'm insane – a fifteen year old girl trying to tell you that there is life outside of Earth doesn't seem very convincing. But, as I said before, the universe is infinite. And if there are thousands of life-forms on Earth (our tiny planet within a solar system within a galaxy), there must be more out there.

Our solar system lives on the edge of the Milky Way, a long disk-shaped collection of millions of stars, planets, and other space things. Everything that you learn about in elementary school – from Mercury to Pluto – exists within our solar system.

This is an image of our sun in relativity to the Milky Way
Picture Courtesy

I've already posted about how huge the universe is (click here if you want to read it), so I'm not going to talk about that. Still, keeping in mind how massive everything is, do you seriously believe that our pathetic little planet is the only thing to contain life?

No, there has to be something more. The universe is too vast for us to be alone.

This proposes other questions: What kind of life is there? Why don't we know about them? Will we ever be able to contact other living things? Is there another Earth?

Maybe there's another planet identical to ours. Maybe it's just located on the complete opposite side of the galaxy. Maybe the galaxy is just a reflection of it's self; maybe the galaxy is symmetrical. Maybe there's another planet like ours, but backwards, called Htrae (that's "Earth" backwards). Maybe there's another version of you, but backwards. Maybe there's an abundance of other life in places that we didn't know about.

When you think about it this way, it feels pretty obvious. There is life somewhere that's not here.

Aliens exist.