Going Back to the Basics

Going Back to the Basics

Education is a very sensitive topic to discuss among adults. Many adults want the education to be based on a system of ideas that is progressive (which is a system high in the aspect of individuality), some want perennialism (which is the teaching of philosophies that have stood the test of time over hundreds of years), and some, like myself, want to take it back to the way it used to be (essentialism). Education as defined by Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary is “the action or process of education or being educated.” I believe that the way education was presented in the past worked well and that education should remain to be taught the same.

For education to be taught the same as it were in the past, many things have to change. There are too many electives being taught in public schools today, there is too much acceptance on certain things like tardiness, absences, and behavior, there are not severe enough punishments for students who break the rules, and the curricula is too easy. To chance this we need to put a strong work ethic into the children and to do that you need a tough and challenging schedule throughout the schooling process. As a physical educator I would do this by not just rolling out a ball and telling the students to “play”, but by teaching them certain skills it takes to become a physically fit person. In making a person physically fit, you need to teach them the factors of being fit like: how to eat a healthy diet, how to exercise properly, proper hygiene, and how much sleep to get.

I think that the only thing that you get out of education, is what you put in it. To become a smart, balanced, and intelligent person you must put forth all effort in getting an education. To the layperson, education is merely something that needs to be done to get through life and “to get a good job”, but to me education is making yourself into a better person, and a person who knows what they want out of life. I believe that you need not learn all this extra curricula that is being taught in many of today’s schools like philosophy of ideas, mythology, media, and classes like the printing press.