Education and Expectations

The recent class discussion about a reasonable life seemed to get focused on education for some time. This got me thinking about what some of the major problems that our education system is facing today. It seems that many people are unhappy in their current career and lives in general. I think a lot of the unhappiness is due to expectations. I also think that expectations play a major role in the success of an individual student.

Education is our first experience out in the world. Up until this point nothing much has been expected of us. Once we begin going to school our parents expect us to behave and get good grades. Obviously we do not all do well in school and live up to our parents expectations. While much of the reason for this is that some people just aren't as smart as others, another reason could be expectations. If a teacher thinks that a student is not very smart they will begin to expect less from this student. Since they are expecting less they will treat the student differently which will discourage the student. This is probably the reason that many students with troubled backgrounds or bad behavior do poorly. Teachers will automatically expect less and in turn the student will give less. I'm sure there are some students that will do poorly no matter how the teacher treats them, but others I'm sure have simply become discouraged by expectations.

Expectations also carry into our adult lives. I think a lot of the reason that some people go into the career fields they do is because they believe it is what is expected of them. Some of these expectations come from family while many others come from society as a whole. Society says that the proper way to navigate through life is to go to school, go to college, do well, get a good job, buy a house, have a family. This seems to be the stereotypical recipe for a happy life. From my experience having these things does not equal happiness. So many people are stuck in jobs that they hate simply for security. What about securing our happiness? I think a big key to happiness for everyone as a whole is if we all just stop judging each other. Many people do not pursue things that they love because of what people think. This is a really sad situation. In class I mentioned my brother who became a tattoo artist. He is a free spirit and while he does not always have his act together he is enjoying his life. He drives my parents crazy sometimes because he does not always act responsibly. He makes very good money and does not have a car. My parents are constantly yelling at him but he just doesn't care about having a car. He is perfectly happy taking the train everywhere. The class discussion about this opened my mind to new ideas about my life. I am beginning to think that I do not want to follow the mold because it does not seem to lead to a path of happiness. There is an interesting blog that touches on expectations in education and in life, the website is http://www.pacificviews.org/weblog/archives/001288.html