On Contemporary Schooling and Standard Deviation

Emotion is rudimentary. I have learned to take no part in it. Every day is a carefree postmodernist approach to everything; complete disregard for socially-constructed normative rules accompanied by alcohol, like-minded individuals, films and TV shows (sadly holiday season means hiatus). Now that I have nothing else to watch, I figured I might as well write.

standard deviation formula
standard deviation

I remember an argument I had with a statistics professor in college. I proposed that I will jump off a building on the day that I use the standard deviation formula in my life. I was merely trying to point out, through a rational discussion, that her exam was only testing my memorization skills and not my intellect or understanding of the lesson. And my position remains true up to now. I have no direct use of the said formula that I could find beneficial in any way. No, I did not fail her class, I just voluntarily ignored it because I knew it was a waste of my time.

There are two obvious retorts to my position. The first, very common among mislead educators, is that this is a way to exercise your brain and therefore must be integral in schooling and your future. The second is assuming that it will be used in life eventually, no matter how indirectly, and this inevitability must be adressed through this course/subject that is mandatory else you are held back and not given your piece of paper that tells society you are equipped to be in the workplace.

But then that's the problem. No matter how backward or detrimental to actual learning and education the system is, one must compromise and play by the rules. First of all, no one was pointing a gun to my head forcing me to continuously enroll in their system. But I knew that such was the status quo. It's either you play by their rules or you're out of the game. Such is life in contemporary society. If anything, it was cowardly of me to not stand by my principles.

And the system seems to be producing results: doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. And I do appreciate it and society surely benefits from it, I do not deny that. The other day, an orthopedic surgeon fixed my friend's dislocated elbow. This laptop I am using in front of me is a product of the minds of programmers and engineers. I appreciate that. I appreciate people who use standard deviations and whatever else formulas they use to contribute to society. I appreciate the end but I just don't believe that it justifies the means.

I'm just really annoyed right now that this kind of mentality and policy is the same across the board; not just for schooling, I mean. Criticizing the system or challenging the status quo is always discouraged. When in fact, unraveling these flaws can make the system work better.

I was checking out this blog's stats and noticed that my posts where I criticize contemporary scholing always gets a lot of views. I guess many of my readers sympathize with my concerns. And so in spirit of giving my readers what they want in order to increase traffic I thought about writing this post.


if you liked this post then you might also like:
1. Math Teachers, Multimedia, and Classroom Innovation
2. Uniformity Destroys the Child's Imagination and Creativity
3. On Punishing Students

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