When we leave school we have one big choice to make: what we do next. If you’re going to university then that means choosing a subject or two. If you’re going to work then that means choosing a job.
In both these cases we can fall back on a number of subjects on which to make our decision: family recommendations, geographical preferences, social connections, peer pressure and finances are the major ones.
The most important basis is what we were good at and/or liked doing at school: what was our favorite subject? As far as I know this is the number one basis for everyone’s decision on what job they’re after or what they want to study for three more years.
But imagine if your school screwed up and made you dislike some subjects which you actually would have enjoyed related careers in. Imagine if your school made you think subjects which were meaningless to society actually had meaning.
Imagine this happens to students everywhere, in pretty much every school.
I believe right now that schools, through a design flaw, are destined to be bad at certain subjects and good at certain others. Before I explain, let me give you a run-down of how my high school performed in all the common subjects.
Subjects that my school made wastes of time
Food Technology
Craft and Design Technology (Workshop)
Art
Music
Physical Education
German
French
Religious Studies
Subjects that my school did decent jobs with
History
Geography
Business Studies
Drama
Science
Math
English
PSHE (this was the ‘all about sex, drugs, racism and politics’ hour)
I’m hoping you read through the above and nodded your head a lot, uttering comments such as: ‘how was less than an hour of sport per week supposed to be of benefit to me?’ and ‘I learnt nothing useful in Food Technology’ and ‘I went through five years of French and can barely talk about the weather’.
And maybe you also said: ‘Math…yep, I can add, multiply, do fractions…all that stuff’ and ‘I can read and write fluidly so English did its job’ and ‘I know about second world countries and how rivers are made so I got a few things out of Geography too’.
The reason some subjects inevitably suck – no matter how good the teacher, the textbooks, the classroom and the class size are – is that a school curriculum isn’t built to do them properly.
Some subjects are purely academic, which means they exist to just be learnt and taught, pretty much, and these are the subjects school covers well.
As foreign languages are ‘real’ and theories come about after the language exists (when you were six-years-old you I bet you were pretty fluent in English but you didn’t know what an adverb was) schools don’t teach them well because schools start from theory.
The study of English Literature, on the other hand, is all theory. From learning what personification is to analyzing Pride and Prejudice using a feminist framework – that’s all stuff school made up in the first place, so it’s no wonder they can teach it!
Here are a few examples from my lists:
Business Studies is, again, all theory. I should think the reality of business is simpler but still more mentally and emotionally taxing than what the classroom would have you believe. I heard billionaire businessman Richard Branson once admit in an interview that he still couldn’t remember the difference between net and gross profit.
But at school this can all be taught well because all these terms and ideas about business and economic operations are academic in nature. School won’t really teach you how to get out there and set up your own business and make it profitable but it will give you some useful ideas about doing that.
History – it’s made up (not literally, but you can see what I mean, what I hope)
Art – a real thing that exists independently of schools, which is why schools can’t get to grips with it. I don’t believe anyone has ever become a great artist because his or her school was good at teaching at art. The passion has to come from within and so does the talent and so does the self-disciplined practice. I’m not an artist, so feel free to disagree – but that’s my take on the subject.
PSHE (don’t do drugs, practice safe sex, don’t steal) – that subject is nothing but ideas on how we should live. Therefore school does this subject well. Condoms help prevent pregnancy (but PSHE will not tell you how it’s best to get a sexual partner in the first place). Stealing is wrong (but PSHE will not teach you how to have the fortitude of character to not steal).
PSHE can tell you the theories and the facts, so it’s a decent school subject. But, like music or art, it can’t help you live what it preaches.
Exceptions
Yep, gotta be one or two. My only guess would be drama. Drama is a real thing that exists independently of school, and which schools can actually get to grips with.
So, how can we use this information?
Don’t rule anything out because you didn’t like it at school. If I were to live by that measure I would never cook for myself, learn a foreign language, do any DIY, do any sport, make music or make art for the rest of my life. Inevitably I will do those things, and if I just forget about school in order to be really open about those pursuits, the odds are I’ll quite enjoy and be quite good with at least one of them (in fact, with Japanese, that’s one covered despite my displeasure in all those French and German lessons).
Be careful about your university options and career choices (in fact, stay on the side of caution) but always keep in mind that school was not the definitive test run of anything. This is particularly important, I think, when university is over (or if you never went) and you are far less committed to any particular activity or line of work.
Just as your past does not dictate your future, so your experiences of subjects in school do not dictate how you will feel about those subjects for the rest of your life.
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