"Let Kids Rule the School"

The beginning of this passage talks about how school plans out student's day down to the minute and frowns upon social interaction at times... I agree with the stance which the writer takes on how that is a detriment to our psychological development. It seems as though schools are so concerned with trying to jam as much information into our brains as possible that they forget about a large aspect of our futures... cooperation. If we cant somehow connect social interaction with learning and if social interaction is frowned upon in the learning environment then how are educators helping us learn to cooperate and work well with others? The Independent Project's methods and the results which came from the experiment have made me realize a few things. For one, it has made me realize that the reason school is so unenjoyable (I think I just made that word up) is because teachers simply throw information at us on transparencies or (my favorite) powerpoints... After presenting us with the information on the powerpoint or transparency the teacher simply reads word for word exactly what it says on the screen... How do they expect to maintain a teenagers attention? How do they expect us to be excited about learning when it is just simply looking at words on a screen all day five days a week? Giving students freedom to learn on their own, with guidance from teachers, is how students really grasp the concepts in front of them... I understand that teachers have a curriculum which they must follow but this curriculum is almost preventing students from truly learning. It is not specifically the facts which we learn that make us intelligent but rather the connections we make with those facts and the deeper thinking that comes with making those connections. Being able to look at the bigger picture and work with other students and seeing their opinions and interpretations of information will give students a variety of ways to look at things... I myself can understand this... often times when im discussing with a friend something about school and they tell me their opinion i find myself thinking "wow i never thought of it that way".... i feel as though interaction with other students engages me in even further critical thinking.