Question:
Why are we supposed to go to school?
– Bored With School
Answer:
Hi Bored With School!
You bring up a good question. The intention of school is to teach students skills that
will serve them in the workforce.
Here’s the deal, long ago in Western society, virtually only the rich went to school, and thus, only the rich would know how to read, write, count, and so on. Reading, writing, history, and geography helped them rule nations and maintain diplomatic relations. Math helped them count all the money and stuff they owned. Medicine was used by doctors. Other science was mostly just for fun until people started to invent cool machines with science that helped them make even more money. Literature? Eh. I guess it was to make you a “more moral person”.
Almost everyone else was a farmer. As you can imagine, farming does not require many of the skills one learns in school, besides some basic counting.
Now, you might be thinking, how much of what I learn in school is actually going to help me in my job? And this gets us to the real reason schools were invented: parents don’t have time to watch their kids all day anymore. On a farm, you could just follow your parents around and help with chores all day. In a factory or in an office? A kid would definitely get in the way. They can’t let their kids run around unsupervised either. Kids do dangerous stuff unsupervised! Parents need a place to send children to during work hours, and schools are that place. Not everything in school needs to be useful or even fun for each student, as long as it fills up time. If some of the stuff those kids learn in school will be useful to their jobs, that’s even better. It’s like a daycare that increases your kids’ income.
So, the next time you complain about being in school, think of the alternatives. Would you rather sit all day next to your parent’s office chair and have to listen to their boring boss instead of your boring teacher? Or would you want your parents to hire an 8-hour-a-day nanny/tutor who will only teach you things related to the job you actually want to have, but who will absolutely drain your parents’ wallet, not to mention
be extremely hard to find and hire? Or, would you like to run around free on the streets and be attacked by gangsters/get run over by a car/swim in a polluted pond? Or, would you like to sit around at home all day playing video games until your brain dies, becoming so incompetent you have to live in your parents’ basement your whole life?
Consider too that some of us, no matter how unfathomable it may seem to you, actually like school. It’s a much easier way to meet friends than knocking on doors along the street to try and find people your age. Not to mention that learning is fun for
some people. To other people, one subject is fun, and they would never have been introduced to that subject if they hadn’t gone to school. Maybe, maybe, that makes school worth it. That and the increased income after graduating high school.
Best,
Dr. Ask
(Disclaimer: This advice was given by a Belmont High School student and does not represent the advice given by Belmont High School. If you have any further questions, email ourbelmonthighpoint@gmail.com.)