How the Educational Process Puts Pressure on Students

Education is a wonderfuld and valuable experience for everyone. Life itself is an educational experience whether we are aware of it or not. From the day we are born we begin the process of learning to walk, talk, communicate, feed ourselves and so on. The necessities or living and staying alive force us to learn without our even being aware it is happening.

Then, somewhere around the age of five or six, society decides that our continuing education process must become more formalized. Under the more rigid structure of a classroom we learn to read, write and perform mathematical functions. All of this is good and necessary and helps us to function intelligently in our world.

One of the mistakes of formal education is that, before very long, some students are singled out as being "superior" or "geniuses" or "over-acheivers". Others are singled out as being "dumb", "slow-learners", or "backward learners". From that moment on the pressure mounts.

Slower students are pressured to catch up. The more advanced learner is expected to enroll in advanced placement courses, apply to Ivy League Universities, and prepare for a career as a doctor or lawyer, regardless of what their true interests or career aspriations may be.

We have a society of people who live their lives doing what is expected of them because they were pressured by the educational system to achieve goals that were established by others. Who among us hasn't taken one (or more) of those career preference tests that determined that we should be an accountant because of our math skills instead of pursuing our true vocation to become a social worker? Who hasn't been nudged into entering college as a "pre-med" student because we aced biology when our real interest was in becoming a curator at the zoo?

Money and income levels play too great a role in how we value members of society. The pursuit of higher income levels filters down to all levels of education. Students are pressured to study more, learn more, do better on tests in order to get into top schools and high paying jobs. Some exclusive kindergarten programs even have waiting lists for the "top" students to prepare them for life on the road to high pressure, cut-throat careers.

Education for the sake of learning is a rare and exceptional experience. Whenever a student is pursuing their passion, regardless of the monetary value that may or may not come from it, the true process of education is taking place.