What can we do to improve education and learning? –  By Zunaira Waheed

What can we do to improve education and learning? –  By Zunaira Waheed

Educators and Policymakers have been searching for the answer to this question for a while now. The best way to answer it is to consider what a high school student’s opinion is. As an 11th grade student, I would suggest a plethora of ways education and learning can be improved.

Steve Job stated, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” School is a rollercoaster of emotions, the exams are stressful, and the classes are mind-numbing at times, combine that with the emotional stress a student might have from their social life and nothing about school sounds pleasurable. This is harmful to a student’s mental and emotional health. It is bluntly obvious why a student might not enjoy school.

The utopian situation would be a motivating environment where students understand the value of teamwork and grow into better versions of themselves by learning from each other. Furthermore, teachers play a vital role in making school a motivating environment. Most of the time, a simple “Excellent job on the test!” from a teacher makes a student’s day. Teaching indeed isn’t easy, in each class, there are 30 students, that’s 30 different minds, each function uniquely, sometimes teachers have to teach different methods, hoping each student will understand. While some teachers are excellent at this, they don’t realize the importance of motivating their students. I’ve found that I perform better in a class if I like my teacher regardless of the subject or how good I am at it. I find myself working hard to make the teacher proud.

The COVID 19 pandemic was a learning experience for us all. While a majority of students would say online learning wasn’t a success at all, I disagree. Online learning has its advantages as long as one chooses to change their point of view. Driven, hardworking and honest students found that online school was beneficial and even preferred it to attending classes on campus. Online schools provided the teachers with the opportunity to record their lessons, these recordings of valuable knowledge were saved and provided to students. In case, a student needed to review a lesson before an exam, they would turn to these recordings and have no trouble at all. I would suggest that classes should continue to be recorded as schools all over the world re-open. Students who get sick or can’t go to school due to family emergencies won’t be stressed about missing important material, they can simply watch the recording.

Technology also allows teachers to teach through videos, podcasts, and slide presentations, these methods enhance a student’s learning experience. Online quizzes and assignments are great tools for students to prepare for exams.

To conclude, instead of dreading school, students should enjoy learning, this can be accomplished if the environment at school is encouraging. Technology is a great tool that can improve education. These are some ways educators and policymakers can improve education and learning.

Zunaira Waheed