For me education is a big deal and I believe that schools have not been focusing on the right things for years. I can speak for hours on several topics regarding education but in order to save myself time and not give you the headache of reading my views I will say that critical thinking and comprehension are two very important things that should be taught at school.

I am not saying common sense is lacking amongst students but critical thinking involves writing, analysis, comparison, persuasion, debate, oration and a lot more essential life skills. Students should have clear thoughts and values when they graduate from school.

Comprehension is done through reading. These days reading has gone down even in adults, how do we expect students to read at a university level if they aren’t encouraged to read. Personally I have met students who would rather memorize all the answers and drop them on to the answer papers during an exam and walk away from school learning nothing. This encourages a lack of effort in understanding and in the long run it simply hurts the intelligence of these students. Comprehension is often overlooked and the results are tragic. Do we send students to get good grades or do we send them to learn? How do we know that good grades mean they have comprehended all that they have read at school? They must be taught how to be accountable for their own work and be held responsible for it.

I also think essential life skills life managing finances, learning how to file taxes, mandatory physical sports, swimming and other many such skills should be incorporated at schools. These are important in real life and must be taught. Some parents are not able to teach these lessons to kids and the schools must take responsibility of this in general.

That’s all I can say for now because it is a vast topic and very personal to me. Cheers!