Why do people go to school? What is the purpose? Nominally, it is for the student to learn certain things, as defined by the objectives of the course. When I was a student in public school, I found the actual learning process to be boring. I would seldom do homework, and I usually put my head down and slept in class. Yet with all of that, at exam time, I would get A’s. Students and teachers alike would complain that I wasn’t doing the work. I pointed out that the point of the class was not to do homework, but to master the course objectives, which I had done, as evidenced by the fact that I had passed the exam.
So teachers began making the completion of homework a substantial portion of the course grade. One of the things that I remember from a 7th grade world history class was that we were given assignments every day, and we were required to complete these assignments and place them in a notebook. This notebook would be collected at the end of the semester, and would be graded. The grade for this notebook would be 60% of the overall grade for the course. I remember one of those assignments. It was a line drawing of a Roman Gladiator, and the assignment was to color in the picture. I felt it was a waste of time, and I didn’t do it. I scored 90% plus on every exam, and I failed the class. The girl who sat next to me failed every exam, turned in a stellar coloring book, and got an A in the class.
This is why we are turning out educated idiots. The focus in school is on obedience, not education. That is why I don’t criticize this mom, who is under fire because her daughter didn’t turn in her homework.
If I had to do it all over again, I would drop out of school as soon as I was able, and take the GED. Then I could attend a community college for an associate’s degree. Public school is a waste of time.