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Parents Must Ask: Why Is Education Important?Why is education important? Education is important formany reasons. Everyone agrees that a good education is important. Before we can ask the question, why is education important, we need to define education. So what is education? Simply put, education is what students learn in school. Specifically, education refers to the academic learning that occurs in the classroom. But what is this academic learning that happens in school? Much of education consists of children learning massive amounts of information by rote learning. It is learning just to pass the test where understanding of what is being learned is not emphasized, whereas learning test taking skills is. The answer to why is education important seems to be in order to pass the test. What's wrong with that? What does rote learning, the learning, in a machine-like fashion of large amounts of information, as fast as possible, to pass the test, do to a child? What does rote learning that lacks meaning and importance to the child's life or future cause the child to experience during his first years of education? It bores him. It dulls his brain. Furthermore, eventually, this rote learning, can cause the brain to become sluggish, or even shut down. The child's ability to learn slows. The child feels stressed and uncomfortable, so he may begin to dislike, or even avoid learning. The question, why is education important, led to the answer to pass tests. To pass those tests our children utilize rote learning to learn like a robot. Is this what we want for our children? This is why good parenting means asking the question, why is education important? Education is often rote learning that floods our children's brains, boring them, and, eventually, it can even cause the brain to slow. The child loses his natural interest in learning, begins to dislike school, and the road to that child's failure has been paved, not by asphalt, but boredom and other negative feelings. All learning has feelings associated with it. Furthermore, feelings mediate and influence all learning. Negative feelings decrease learning. Positive feelings increase learning. Since too much rote learning can create anxiety, it can decrease learning. In asking a different question, what is education, we arrive at another answer: Education is teaching that is facilitating learning. So, why would teachers allow so much emphasis on rote learning that leads to feelings of boredom and anxiety, which are feelings that interfere with learning and, therefore, teaching? In answering this question, it must be borne in mind that, due to the use of standardized tests in schools, as mandated by the "No Child Left Behind Act," for example, teachers have been forced to teach their students how to take and pass tests or face the financial consequences. This is why rote learning is emphasized. And this is why, when we asked the question, why is education important, the answer turned out to be to pass tests based on rote learning. In answering the question, what is education, we come to the conclusion that the emphasis on rote learning is not the teacher's fault. So don't blame your teacher. In fact, many teachers dislike this learning approach and have attempted to return to more interesting learning approaches. If we apply the question, why is education important, to certain special schools we get a different answer that includes, a type of general learning, I'll call natural learning or child led learning, which is based on interest, excitement and inspiration. It is in depth learning based on logic, experience and understanding. Natural learning invigorates the child and engenders interest in learning. Why is education important in these special schools? Because it maintains and engenders the child's inborn interest in learning and utilizes is as a too to help her learn more. The child develops a life long interest in learning that will motivate him to achieve success in his chosen field of interest. Again, why is education important? Unfortunately it's not important to our children when it involves rote learning to pass standardized tests. Presently too much of education is about passing standardized tests so the schools and their students do not lose money. Education is not all rote learning, but too much rote learning under stressful conditions that bores our children and turns them off to schooling. The answer to the question, why is education important, led to the answer to a second question: Why do so many children who are eager to learn when they first begin school become bored with school a few years later? The answer appears to be the over emphasis on rote learning. Research indicates that some students experience significant drops in IQ between the primary grades and the beginning of their teenage years. Why shouldn't their intelligence drop if they are bored by school and the stress involved in learning to attain high scores on these standardized tests? Education should not cause IQs to drop. So let's define education differently. Education is learning where the teacher utilizes the child's inborn interest and excitement in learning to facilitate the child's school success. Again, why is education important? To a certain extent it's not when it involves rote robotic learning to pass standardized tests because that's not education. Education is important when it utilizes the child's inborn interest and stimulates her to learn more. Despite the challenges of education, considering the question, why is education important, leads to the conclusion that parents will need to find ways to keep learning interesting for their children so they continue to enjoy learning and succeed in school.
One answer to the why is education important challenge is Summarizing, why is education important, we come to the
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