Teaching came about became people wanted to learn, and there were those with the capabilities to provide the knowledge and information for these learners. These learners would voraciously seek knowledge because it was in their own interests to do so, and as such motivation was hardly an issue for them. That is learning.
But somewhere along the way it was decided that certain forms of knowledge are essential. Someone somewhere at some time decided that everyone should at least grasp that bit of knowledge. Fundamentally there is nothing too wrong with that. But the learning process gradually devolved into, as some might put it, "filling the empty teapot".
In both cases the end result is the same. The teapot is filled. However, the teapot should be getting filled because it desires to be filled, and not because people decide that it should be filled. Today, students are no longer learning- they are being taught. Indeed, it may sound normal. However, it is akin to pushing dirt into the vacuum cleaner instead of using the vacuum cleaner to suck the dirt up. It is very much obvious which is a more efficient method. The desire to learn is the very force powering the vacuum cleaner, which makes a tremendous difference.
Some will argue that regardless, some form of knowledge will have to be imparted into successive generations for their own sake. This argument is not without its merits. Indeed ignorance is extremely costly, even if one should desire it. In that case, the education system should be made as efficient as possible such that the student would desire to learn despite that the content and knowledge is being forced upon him. Presumably this should be the goal of modern education systems. However this is not the case. Instead, the end result is all that matters. The means are merely geared towards the most efficient way of producing results. This does not even mean that the best results will be produced. Rather, they are simply trying to maximize output for a given input. Which is acceptable to the country and the government. But not to the individuals.
Individuals. Therein lies the key issue in education. Each and everyone of us are individuals. Each and everyone of us learns differently. Each and everyone of us wants to learn different things (if at all). Each and everyone of us learns fastest using different methods.
The main drawback to the current paradigm is that any method proven to be effective will eventually be industrialized and applied in all schools. The problem is, because there are so many students, what is effective here is not necessarily effective for others. And what is deemed effective to begin with is not necessarily effective at all. It is simply a cookie-cutter which manages to garner a certain degree of success. An education system which caters to each individual is much more ideal and will allow everyone to achieve their potential much more easily. On the flip side, however, it is also considerably more expensive.
Until such ideal things (which will never happen) happen, we have no choice, however, but to make do with what we have.
