Schooling for the Masses - Does One Size Really Fit All?

If you've been following my writing for a while or have connected with me beyond the usual comments and compliments, you will know I did not have as positive experience with school as I perhaps could have. Many of my memories are not entirely positive, though I never had truly bad experiences, I never had truly great experiences either.

My time at school could be described as "mediocre" to say the least.

I left without very many qualifications and without an idea of what I wanted to do.

In hindsight, I realise that is the case for more people than we really think.

Which leads me to suspect that the way schooling is done in much of the west, in the UK and the USA for example, may not be the best for all in attendance.

Testing and grades, while useful for academically gifted students, often focus more on memory than true learning. I've always found it ironic that there's so much pressure for teenagers and young adults to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. While for some children, that is fine and works to their benefit - how many of us know people who have changed their career several times before they reached the age of 40, for example?

How many of us know people, or are those people who still don't really know what they want to do 20 years after leaving school?

In fact, many people find themselves chasing their dreams later in life as a kind of adult pivot—writing is one example, but this isn’t reserved just for writers. Many people start pursuing their true passions in their 30s or 40s, even after they've already been through school, college, and even university.

Even if they have exhausted and achieved all they can from school, college and university. Ditching their qualifications in favour of completely different discipline.

While I don’t claim that the education system in the UK or USA is entirely flawed—many people have positive experiences—there are still areas where alternatives could be more fully explored. Many I follow and call friends on here work within the education systems and I know are passionate about doing their best to help children progress in life.

What I would suggest is that information about the alternatives are made fully known to parents, rather than being stigmatised and made to look like "strange or bad choices".

For instance, Ruth and I homeschooled our children from early ages. Our oldest is 21 and works for Police Scotland as a call handler through the emergency services and our youngest son is 18 and studying cooking and hospitality at college level. Our experience homeschooling shows that stepping outside the traditional school system doesn't automatically lead to setbacks, as some critics might assume. In fact, it can provide students with more personalized learning opportunities.

When we first made the decision, it felt like a daunting prospect. But my wife—and particularly her passion and commitment—really drove us forward, and we were both excited about what lay ahead. When she told the head teacher of the local primary school our plans, laying out what she intended to do etc. He said that he was as excited as her to see what happens next.

It was challenging and rewarding. There were mistakes, sure, but we learned and adapted along the way. It wasn't a perfect solution, but then again, neither is traditional schooling—especially for every student.

That is my point I guess. Would I have fared better homeschooled? I doubt it. I think my teachers needed to put more effort in, as my confidence was low when I was a kid and remained that way until adulthood really. Well, until a few years ago. I've never really felt confident about anything - imposter syndrome mixed with depression, anxiety and a whole lot of other things.

But, if I had one of those teachers that actually gave a damn and put in a little more effort, maybe things would have been different. The funny thing is, I've always wanted to write. It’s a dream that I’ve carried with me for as long as I can remember, but school never seemed to encourage that. Music and film journalist was a fond dream of mine, as was writing books or films. I know they are not realistic and we all have those dreams, but I distinctly remember teachers constantly telling me my sentences were "too long and drawn-out". While I understand what they meant, it's not actually good feedback really, is it?

Look at Tolkien - okay, funny example because you either love him or find his love of detail irritating, but he built a complete career and legacy out of writing with a lack of brevity.

While some writing benefits from brevity, other styles benefit from details upon details. It's all about taste and personal preference in my opinion. That is why I find "writing guides" a little hard to take as anything beyond "helpful tips and considerations" because aside from grammar and spelling mistakes and accidental plot holes, things like that, there is no real "right or wrong" way to do writing. Or there is not just one right or wrong way.

So to tie that back in to my original point - there is no one right way of getting education right.

The rigid structure of traditional schooling—uniforms, arbitrary rules, and constant deadlines—was designed with one purpose in mind: social control. While these norms are meant to maintain order, they don't necessarily serve the diverse needs of students who might excel in environments that encourage self-expression and independent thinking. Sure, the passing down of knowledge, skills and social norms was part of it too and it made sense in many ways for larger groups to be educated, while parents worked to support their families.

To understand why we need to reconsider the current education system, it’s important to remember its historical roots. The purpose of schools—especially public primary schools—was originally to reinforce social order, not necessarily to nurture creativity or independent thought. If we truly want to serve all students, we need to ask ourselves: Do these outdated systems still help or hinder their growth in today's world? The future of education isn’t just about better resources or more funding—it's about a willingness to rethink how we approach learning and what we want it to achieve.

*

Thanks for reading!

Author's Notes: This is for the Education community as part of my year-long ABCommunities Challenge. Just as a warning - the Filthy community is fast-approaching... hehe.

Here are some other things:

12/48