Things Change

Valedictorian speaks out against Education in Graduation Speech

YouTube Video of the Speech

I want to meet this girl. Not only is she speaking the unabashed truth, she had the courage to do so in one of the most influential yet controversial positions. The country is formed based on outdated ideals. It shows through the educational and governmental systems, because they are the bedrock of the society. Both schools and government take forever to change things within themselves.

The government supposed to be a representative of the people, yet its composition does not come close to resembling the populace. The government itself does not have anyone remotely young among its ranks. How are the "young" supposed to represent their interests, much less races and gender? I thought the country was founded on fighting the tyranny of not being represented in the body of governance creating the laws that govern them. Yet the cross-section of people in the government creating the laws is not even close to resembling the population. History repeats itself, eh?

This is relevant to the educational system because the needs of education change rapidly, yet the laws and the educational system are formed by people several generations removed from the current environment. It isn't the same world now as it was 10 years ago, much less 30 or 40. Yet the pace of change within the two most fundamental parts of society take so long to change that there are still blue laws that serve no purpose from 150 years ago on the books. An extreme example, but it stands to show that if the extreme exists, imagine what else does.

The schooling system is still based on creating model employees for an industrial society. That time is long past, yet we still continue to train people for a world gone by the wayside. How do you expect people to succeed in their lives when they are taught to succeed in a world that doesn't exist anymore?