When the Educational System Fails

After a few years of teaching, I began this semester with a little excitement: I had a Japanese Indonesian in my studio. The first one I had. But apart from this identity, he would probably not had attracted my attention further was it not for what he said during the first lecture I gave.

I was talking about the importance of being creative, of having ideas rather than simply knowledge. Right after I said that, he raised his hand and said something along this line: “I disagree with you. In my opinion, there are no more new ideas.” And he mentioned the development of telephone technology, which to him was a matter of adding (new) and/or combining (old) features. I said that he was indeed right. I quoted James Webb Young who said that ideas are no more than combination of old elements.

I found his comment unusual because most of my students would not start a statement with the words “menurut saya” (in my opinion), they would not say they disagree with me (it’s almost sacrilegious in this culture), and very few of them would have made critical observations about the world.

As the semester went however, he rarely showed up in class. When he did, he brought projects which, although very interesting in their ideas, were not finished. By the mid term he had used up all allowable absences he could take in the whole semester. When he showed up again after a prolonged absence, I told him that he could no longer follow the studio because of his absences. He understood, apologized, and asked if I would still allow him to present what he had made for the day. I did, and I was impressed by what he thought about and explored and how he made and presented his ideas.

What I realized then was that he probably lacked organizational skill with his time, and would have benefit from flexibility to work on a project with self-directed schedule, so he could develop fully what he had in mind. So I asked to meet with him the following week, which was yesterday, to offer him another chance. An independent study would probably be the best setting for a student like him, but unfortunately such an option was not available at the university. And he had decided to drop out of the university, which was not the first time either, so he could go to Japan and pursue a more practical training there.

I told him that his decision might suit him better, as a person like him would fare much better learning from real life, rather than from school. He admitted he didn’t learn much from school, which was probably because he already had his own ideas and was very specific about what he wanted to learn. He would be better off conducting self-directed studies, and discuss them with people who could help him push his thinking. I wish he would eventually find his path in life, through what Greg Mankiw suggested in Education beyond the Classroom.

Meanwhile, here are some quotes about how many great people see schools. Not too happy about them obviously. And here I am in a dilemma of losing belief in the educational system when I myself am looking into further education.