Are we really learning anything in school? Is school just a waste of time? We have been in school for most of our lives, whether you are in 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade. As most of us thought, school was the greatest place to be because of learning, seeing your friends, and maybe seeing your favorite teachers. Well, I think school has just become a place where kids go to hang out with their friends and basically do nothing. But that’s not what school is about and ever since COVID-19, that all changed.

If you are a senior like myself, then you experienced the “2 weeks” off from school we were supposed to have during our freshmen year. Last year was the first time we all fully came back to school but wearing masks, which lasted half the school year.

All of that relates to us not learning in school. I believe this to be true because I have talked to some people and have researched online. Samira from Quora states, “We are taught to care more about our grades than our education. You always hear students saying, “will this be on the test?”, because that’s all we care about. We don’t care about our future, we only care about our grades now. We won’t remember anything that we’ve learned in the future and I can guarantee this because, if you go ask your parents what they learned in grade 12 Calculus, they won’t remember. Kids now don’t care about their education. Especially during the pandemic, students were cheating all the time.” School hasn’t taught a lesson that will be valuable for you in the long run. Take chemistry for example. I wouldn’t need to know what all those confusing equations are for if I’m not a scientist nor want to be one.

Talking with one of my fellow classmates, Kelsey states, “I think our getting all the information on all different subjects all in one day makes us forget most of the information we are taught. If we all  learned one subject a day or week I think that would improve on what we know and can remember in class. I believe they give us to much information on too many different things for us to remember and actually learn about the subject.”

Even though some kids don’t know what they want to do for a career, I think students who do know what they want to do should be allowed to only take classes they need for what they want they want to be when they graduate. For example, students in the CTA are taking those classes to get ready for their future. If they want to be welders all they really need is math, if they want to be a doctor, all they need is science to learn about the human body. Most of the classes we take are useless.

According to CBSPhiladelphia, “Survey says the average Americans use just 37% of the information they learn in school. The survey of 2,000 adults commissioned by H&R Block found that 84% of people learned things in school that they’ve never used after graduation.” Over half of the skills they use in the workforce were learned on the job, rather than in school.

To be truly effective, schools need to focus on what we need, not just what will help us pass the next test.