“It’s not all about education”-Nimanjeet, Guru Nanak Sikh Academy

I don’t fully aim to criticise schools as let’s not forget that throughout a period of 16 years in a classroom, we do really develop some but not all essential life skills. Let’s not forget that schools play a vital role in expanding a student’s ability. A first-hand experience was the GCSE English speaking exam that I did a few days ago. I was dreading it myself and it was the last thing that I wanted to do but after completing it, I put all the negativity aside and looked at it in the way that it was helping me build confidence and public speaking skills. However, this is just a part of the curriculum and I think that schools should be playing more of an active role by making the littlest changes such as showing the correlation between the content they are taught and how it benefits them in the “real world”.

As technology is rapidly advancing as are people’s tastes in fashion, I think that in Maths students should be taught how to spend, save and deal with money wisely rather than unnecessary content such as circle theorems, the quadratic formula, and whatnot. Essentially Education is a lot more than going through a system of memorising word to word from a textbook, getting good GCSE grades, good A levels, etc. The prioritisation of academics in my opinion is neglecting the fact that this world constantly revolves around money and being able to cook, communicate and take care of yourself is important because no one will do it for you.

Attitudes of the young generation today are also a reason because believe it or not, kids want everything to be at their feet and are becoming reliant and dependent on parents. From taxes to car insurance, there is a lot to know out there, and when you move out to universities, for example, you are going to have to know how the “real world” works. 

Remember it’s not all about the constant academic focus, it’s also about the experiences that you gain from life and school that make a person successful.