Reflection

             In my mother's household, education comes first. However, she has a saying, " Why do something if you will not have fun doing it?" She understood  that in order for my siblings and I to strive to do our best in school, we had to think of it as a form of recreation. Many people won't understand what I mean when I say school was a form of recreation for my siblings and I because most student's did experience school the way Peter Gray described it. They saw school as a form of work with no fun incorporated into it, and fun was something to be had outside the school campus.
            Will Richardson made good points about children being held back by the curriculum and student's succeeding because they have chosen to take initiative on their lives. I've had teachers who made me HATE going to school, but those few teachers did not compare to the one's who made me want to do more and get better. There are only a handful of my teachers who supported my mother's idea about school being a place of recreation; those teachers left great impressions in my life. I do believe that school is fun. Here are a few things you can do to have fun while in school;  join organizations,  keep your chin up, etc...  Following these few things will help. I had a lot of fun in my primary and secondary school days.                                    
        However, not many students are able to experience what I did. Most students don't have parents or mentors who are willing to go out of their way to make a student's formal education a fun and memorable one. Sir Ken Robinson, a leading expert in the development of education,  makes a good point when he says that we are being taught the same things that were taught a long time ago. He is right to say that we are still being taught in the same manner that our great grandparents were taught. Student's today need a better way of learning. Memorization of all text is no longer required, given all the technology we now have. What students of today need is a way to stay motivated. They need challenging problems that will catch and hold their attentions because simple problems can now be solved through a smart phone. Student's need something that would stimulate their brains.        
        The article and the two videos all mentioned the structure of the education system. Richardson  spoke of his daughters progress in her piano lessons and the way the teacher did not want her to move on until the teacher thought it was the right time to do so.  Robinson spoke about the ways schools put students of the same age into one category regardless of their ability to comprehend the subject matter. Peter Gray showed that we are still doing the same things that were done years ago.  These three videos and article have shown that the way the curriculum is today can be holding students back instead of allowing them to progress. However, until our school leaders understand what is happening, we have to try and do our part. We can make the best out of a terrible situation. If we can't change the leaders' perspective, we can change our. We can look at school as a place of structured fun learning and extend that learning any which way we want to. The way that Richardson's daughter did. She enjoyed her piano lessons and expanded her horizon on her own terms.

*This article may not have much to do with what I wrote but you should read it :http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200909/why-don-t-students-school-well-duhhhh

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=youtu.be
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200808/brief-history-education?page=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni75vIE4vdk&feature=youtu.be

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