You say early schooling develops foundations, but outside of primary school, what foundations do you attain?. I'm failing to see any. Please, enlighten me.Like most people here have pointed out, and according to most of my teachers, school is more for emotional and character development than intellectual stimulation - you peek into what the real world, and once you discover yourself you can focus on more goals as an adult. Emotionally, you're out of the protective bubble that your carers shelter you with. You learn swear words. Have breakdowns. Meet friends. Academically, you realise what you like and what you don't. You wont get that much variety unless you're in some standardised system, and nobody is born knowing what they like. If you're at home left to your premises from the start, you wont get to know yourself. I agree that this system is not as differentiated as it could be, but it's not that bad either.
So called modern day "education“, though imo, is the biggest obstacle for students attaining intellectual independence and autonomy, let alone creativity. I would gladly spend my time developing myself intellectually, but so much of my time is drained in school and doing useless homework and worrying about grades and worrying about the future, stressing out. Is this really what education is?, it's pathetic. Education shouldn’t make us feel like this. In high school there is no intellectual exploration, or genuine creation, just mindless conformation to a bunch of brain numbing and draining material, and if you're very lucky, something mildly stimulating.Pretty sure if you don't like the whole VCE experience (given you've done Year 10) you could opt out and do something that drives you - such as an apprenticeship, take other pathways. VCE is just a standardised and shortcut to tertiary education, because it makes your resume palatable to universities - it's the pathway you've chosen for yourself and not all of "education".
I don't feel much more of a critical thinker than back in years 9-10, mindlessly doing AA essays.This specific example made me smile because I moved here from overseas a while back and there's no 'critical thinking' there - like you said it's this military like training to get into uni and practicing regurgitation of info - but AA certainly requires a lot of critical thinking. Understanding things like AA and experimental design allows us to see through the persuasive traps of capitalism and build on our critical thinking skills - we realise that all we see on the internet isn't something to be believed, we learn to detect manipulation and see through propaganda. School isn't all that useless afterall.
So called modern day "education“, though imo, is the biggest obstacle for students attaining intellectual independence and autonomy, let alone creativity. I would gladly spend my time developing myself intellectually, but so much of my time is drained in school and doing useless homework and worrying about grades and worrying about the future, stressing out. Is this really what education is?, it's pathetic. Education shouldn’t make us feel like this. In high school there is no intellectual exploration, or genuine creation, just mindless conformation to a bunch of brain numbing and draining material, and if you're very lucky, something mildly stimulating.I certainly agree that the VCE system and high school does not suit everyone, but calling it "pathetic" I think is probably a little bit harsh. First from a non-academic perspective...I can only speak from my own experience (I do understand that every school is different) but my school has honestly given me so much confidence, leadership skills, a community and a place where I feel like I belong. In my classes, especially in years 7-10, I've never felt like I've learnt off dot points or am learning for the sake of fulfilling a checklist. Instead we have been taught about different religions and cultures, a variety of historical events, Indigenous empowerment and their current struggles in our own country, the importance of mental health and supporting those who are struggling. Throughout the year we have many fundraisers and promote so many different positive initiatives throughout the school/local and wider community as well as have opportunities in all different areas (sport, music, arts, etc, etc). Without this education and without my school I don't think I would be as understanding of world events, compassionate for others or as confident in myself as I am today. I simply can't see how this is "pathetic." And just to be clear I'm not discounting your feelings or other students opinions towards the education system, maybe these opportunities weren't available to you and you did seriously feel that high school inhibited your freedom and creative independence, but what I am saying is there are absolutely high schools that don't do that and for many students including myself high school has been an incredible journey and an experience I am entirely grateful for. I admire you for putting your ideas out there but I do think there are flaws in your argument or perhaps a one-sided perspective going on.
This “education” that I have undergone really isn't something that I am grateful for. Sure, people in the third world would kill for this, but why? To dedicate their hours and years to useless military styled training, depriving them of their intellectual potential?. What are they going to do with this education?, tell me, in what way can they possibly support their country with a good western "education"?. Personally, I come from a third world country, one plagued with many problems, and I truly see no way I can help my country with this “education”. I would gladly help my country and try to solve them, but this system of education is not conducive of such a pursuit. I urge you to tell me why those would want to chain themselves to this system of education?.This part of your comment is naďve. Education is certainly one of the larger ways forward in overcoming poverty, gender inequality and more. There's a reason dictators burn books. And you're right, those in third world countries would kill for a good western "education" because spending 7 hours a day where you get to pick the subjects you want to pursue, make friends and be involved in a community is wonderful compared to poverty-stricken lives or slave labour.
This “education” that I have undergone really isn't something that I am grateful for. Sure, people in the third world would kill for this, but why? To dedicate their hours and years to useless military styled training, depriving them of their intellectual potential?. What are they going to do with this education?, tell me, in what way can they possibly support their country with a good western "education"?. Personally, I come from a third world country, one plagued with many problems, and I truly see no way I can help my country with this “education”. I would gladly help my country and try to solve them, but this system of education is not conducive of such a pursuit. I urge you to tell me why those would want to chain themselves to this system of education?.Like chocolatemilkshake said this comment is a bit naďve as when you're living a life without ownership of your body or in poverty or in hunger the opportunity to even be free is a boon itself. Freedom itself seems unattainable for many. Education is another world. I also come from a third world country and the education system in my country is so rigid the Australian schooling system would seem like jelly. And regarding your argument that you would gladly help your country to solve problems and the country's education preventing you, there are so so many people who have grown up here and are solving global issues. Take covid for example- so many researchers who have studied here in this country in our schools who are trying to save lives in the millions using the education they received here. Also, it's very unlikely anyone no matter which country they are in will be able to solve global issues during VCE. There's a reason so many high-level occupations require some form of tertiary education degree. You need the education and exposure to the real world that Australian education gives you, so you can make educated and well-informed decisions when you grow up, not just personally but occupation-wise too. How useful your education here is is dependent on you!
We need to be critical thinkers, VCE doesn't train us to be such thinkers, it trains us to be conformists. Why do you think Hitler could muster up a whole generation of genocidal Germans, or Mussolini a whole nation of fascists?. It all starts from the classroom.You argue that VCE as a system forces you to conform but there's no reason for you not to challenge points given. Some subjects like Methods and LOTE are objective because they are formulaic subjects. However, with English or History you can challenge all you want. With your Hitler comparison, you've actually pointed out the very reason we need education. Education is required for society to progress and Hitler used it in a bad way. However, the Australian schooling system is pushing us to be positive and objective thinkers. We're exposed to so many different subjects in an objective manner so we can form our own opinions.
At the end of the day, most are going to go through this intellectual deprivation to make it to the next step, not for genuine intellectual nourishment or development. Then after this VCE, most will make it into uni, graduate with a piece of paper only to then try to desperately rent themselves to low-mid level corporations. This pretty much seems to me the reality of the majority, I mean just look.I think it's a bit unfair to make a generalised opinion of the whole cohort. Most of us do have big dreams and that 'piece of paper' is a ticket to the next step to reaching that dream. There are so many people out there in other countries who dream of working at our 'low-mid level corporations.'
Methods and LOTE are objective because they are formulaic subjects.Definitely agree with homeworkisapotato! Just to add (sorry this is a little sidetracked) but I probably wouldn't call LOTE an objective subject (and definitely not formulaic). Learning a language has really opened up my perspective to an entire new culture as I've gained knowledge about a large range of world-wide issues ;D There is a lot of creative freedom in LOTE subjects (probably the most out of all my subjects) to explore the topics you enjoy (after all, all you have to do it listen or read about these subjects in a different language).
There's more learning in life than VCE and VCE is just a stepping stone to the real world :)
Definitely agree with homeworkisapotato! Just to add (sorry this is a little sidetracked) but I probably wouldn't call LOTE an objective subject (and definitely not formulaic). Learning a language has really opened up my perspective to an entire new culture as I've gained knowledge about a large range of world-wide issues ;D There is a lot of creative freedom in LOTE subjects (probably the most out of all my subjects) to explore the topics you enjoy (after all, all you have to do it listen or read about these subjects in a different language).Oh, that's so true!!! I should have specified that I was mainly referring to the theoretical remembering all the noun and verb endings and sentence structure (so sorry for sounding like I was belittling LOTE). I agree with you that there is a lot of creative freedom, so much that you can create so many types of art just by learning VCE LOTE! That perspective is very very enlightening Choco!!
You say early schooling develops foundations, but outside of primary school, what foundations do you attain?. I'm failing to see any. Please, enlighten me. I have posted here because I am actually genuinely curious as to what there is to salvage from this system because, reflecting over my years in VCE and hs in general, I haven't found any. What I have found out though, is that most of the skills and content I have learned in hs could have been learned by my year 6/7 self, probably more earlier if the system was more efficient.I mean, I certainly learnt how to express myself in English, and definitely don't think 12-13 year old me had the capacity to express what 18 year old me could (plus, at that early age you're lacking maturity and life experience - important stuff that plays into how you express yourself), and I also learnt how to challenge ideas and reason things out.
The impossibility of enhancing GCA by training does not imply that human cognition is not malleable to training (see Outstanding Questions). Rather, it must be acknowledged that the benefits associated with training are limited to the trained tasks and, sometimes, similar tasks. Our conviction is that cognitive-training programs should not be utterly abandoned, as long as the claims and expectations about the benefits do not go beyond what has been empirically verified.