Recently, I've began to like school less and less. I understand that this isn't a revolutionary thought or feeling but regardless it's unique for me. I've had a bit of a falling out with my motivation and then with my grades. It's not that I'm challenged, but just the opposite, as I've previously blogged about. It's simply that nothing interests me nearly as much as it did when I was younger. In elementary school, we did so many more fun activities. Watch here as I explain.
First of all, the things we did weren't always even that monumental but they made class more fun in the simplest ways. Take for example anti-cheating folders. During tests in elementary school everybody would pick two or three folders to set up around their test. Now, in high school, we've since abandoned this practice and so cheating infects our class rooms like a parasite. Well maybe that's extreme, but I bet it's a heck of a lot more prominent than it was when we were five and fittingly enough the stakes are even higher now that we allow cheating. The anti-cheating folders were a fun, practical way to discourage wandering eyes. Sometimes I would make a little fort out of mine by putting an additional folder on top and the fun was never ending.
Nap time. Enough said. Although it may be the so highly regarded today by teens, back when we had it we never appreciated it. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy it. For thirty minutes a day, we brought in our towels from home and would lay down next to our pals to talk in hushed tones about Pokemon on dinosaurs, the usual topics of a five year old. My friend Jack and I would always bring in cool things like pop up books and calculators that took things to different powers, of all the crazy things, to play with during nap time. Now, there is nothing that even remotely compares to nap time. And that saddens me.
Finally, in elementary school we always got candy. We got candy for doing well on tests, for answering questions, sometimes I'd just get candy and have no idea why it was being given to me, but that was what made learning so fun! With the promise of candy around every corner, why wouldn't you want to come to school everyday to learn more?? Sure, some may argue that we need to be intrinsically motivated and do things for ourselves and not flavored sugar but I say that's bullshit because sugar was a great motivator.
Honestly, I could keep going on and on about the many fond memories I have of elementary school, but the fact is it's over and nothing will be like it ever again. Sure, it had it's faults and I always dreamt of the day that I would be right down 42nd street at Kennedy, but the funny thing is, now that I've made it here, I want to go back. I guess somethings are in the past, and they'll just have to remain there for us to remember and hold onto. Except for candy. We still have candy and yet I never see it in high school classrooms.
First of all, the things we did weren't always even that monumental but they made class more fun in the simplest ways. Take for example anti-cheating folders. During tests in elementary school everybody would pick two or three folders to set up around their test. Now, in high school, we've since abandoned this practice and so cheating infects our class rooms like a parasite. Well maybe that's extreme, but I bet it's a heck of a lot more prominent than it was when we were five and fittingly enough the stakes are even higher now that we allow cheating. The anti-cheating folders were a fun, practical way to discourage wandering eyes. Sometimes I would make a little fort out of mine by putting an additional folder on top and the fun was never ending.
Nap time. Enough said. Although it may be the so highly regarded today by teens, back when we had it we never appreciated it. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy it. For thirty minutes a day, we brought in our towels from home and would lay down next to our pals to talk in hushed tones about Pokemon on dinosaurs, the usual topics of a five year old. My friend Jack and I would always bring in cool things like pop up books and calculators that took things to different powers, of all the crazy things, to play with during nap time. Now, there is nothing that even remotely compares to nap time. And that saddens me.
Finally, in elementary school we always got candy. We got candy for doing well on tests, for answering questions, sometimes I'd just get candy and have no idea why it was being given to me, but that was what made learning so fun! With the promise of candy around every corner, why wouldn't you want to come to school everyday to learn more?? Sure, some may argue that we need to be intrinsically motivated and do things for ourselves and not flavored sugar but I say that's bullshit because sugar was a great motivator.
Honestly, I could keep going on and on about the many fond memories I have of elementary school, but the fact is it's over and nothing will be like it ever again. Sure, it had it's faults and I always dreamt of the day that I would be right down 42nd street at Kennedy, but the funny thing is, now that I've made it here, I want to go back. I guess somethings are in the past, and they'll just have to remain there for us to remember and hold onto. Except for candy. We still have candy and yet I never see it in high school classrooms.
No comments:
Post a Comment