Kids don’t like to go to school because they love freedom and in schools they are not free.
There is a popular book from a cognitive scientist named Daniel T. Willingham aimed towards the teachers of grades K through 12. On the book titled “Why Don’t Students Like School,” Willingham says….
students don’t like school because their teachers don’t have a full understanding of certain cognitive principles and therefore don’t teach as well as they could. They don’t present material in ways that appeal best to students’ minds.
Based on what Willingham has said, if the teachers understand the mind of kids and use teaching materials that appeal to the kids, students would love school.
The reason “why kids don’t like school” is not just because teachers do not understand students and they do not offer interesting materials. There is more to this.
Schools Are Prison
Yes, schools are prison. If you don’t believe me you can ask any school going child and he/she will tell you he/she does not like school because school is a prison. Well, the kids may not use the same word to describe the school because they might have been conditioned to believe that schools are good for them or they are too polite to use the word prison for school where they are supposed to acquire knowledge and wisdom. However, whatever answer you get from the kids, it refers to the school being prison.
The word prison might sound too harsh for some of you. However, you can think about your own school days. We might avoid using the word “prison” however, we surely believe that schools were prison and they still are prison.
The only difference between a real prison and school is you go to the real prison because you committed crime and you go to school because you are between the ages of 2-18. Just like in the prison, in the school you are told what you have to do and you are punished if you do not perform what you were asked to do. Just like in prison, you are stripped from your freedom in school.
Schools Are Not Free
If you have listened to “Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd, you will exactly understand what schools are doing to the kids and why kids don’t like school. Well, the time when “Another Brick in the Wall” was released has certainly changed and a lot of changes have occurred in the education system, however, schools are more or less the same. Schools are not free and kids do not like to be placed in “prison-like” environment.
Since school is the only place where kids get introduced to formal education, we avoid saying “schools are not free.” We don’t like to sound mean. This is like avoiding the elephant in the room. We pretend not to see this elephant. Instead, we preach on why we should we be sending kids to the school.
Have you ever though on why home school is getting popular these days. Some parents prefer not to send their kids to school and teach their kids in the home environment.
Kids Love Freedom
Everyone of us love freedom, and this is even more true for kids because kids are free spirit. They love to do whatever they want, they don’t want to be restricted, they don’t want to be stopped. Sadly, school is an institution that tries to make children follow the rules, tries to restrict them by making them follow certain patterns.
Freedom is something that we cherish a lot. However, we should never interpret freedom in an extreme way. Freedom should always be interpreted in the context of low and social norms. Therefore, even though we know kids love freedom and schools put kids in restrictive environment we are happy to send our kids to the school.
Schools are prison for sure, however, sending kids to school is must because schools are the best places to learn. Kids do not like to go to school just because schools are prison but because the wardens (teachers) are not kind and amusing, or do know how how to make the kids happy. The teachers do not know how to keep the children’s mind occupied with fun activities. Schools should provide an environment where kids explore their creativity freely and learn things so that they can survive in the real world.