THE IDEAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

BY  IYARE RUKEVWE FAVOUR Education in simple terms is the process of imparting general knowledge or ideas into a person formally engaged in learning. The misconception of education contributes to harming students and teachers when policy makers keep setting units of standards for students to reach up to on tests. Instructional bookkeeping drives administrators to compel teachers behavior, which is directly linked to increasing symptoms of anxiety, depression and other forms of diminished psychological well being in some students. For most students, learning in bits is what their brains can cope with while some seem to be more mastery to books. Making them to pass through a series of tough work and book keeping scheme becomes a failure even before the harm it causes is taken into consideration. An ideal educational system is one that places value on the provision of space, culture and environment that supports and advocates for students’ thoughts, ideas, feelings, and opinion through different mediums for the creation of high performing students, classrooms and schools. An ideal educational system forms the attitude and intelligence of individuals. But how should governments proceed to educate their country's children in an optimum way ?. The first and foremost is by working along with the students opinion. Students always have something to say, and not until they are been paid some fair hearing, running an ideal educational system is almost impossible. In an ideal educational system, learning in the classroom shifts from teacher-centered learning to a student-centered one. Students will be able to work with the teacher to facilitate a learning environment that supports their individual learning needs. At the same time, a culture of student participation in the formulation of academic scheme allows students to be in charge of their own learning, which in turn increases critical thinking, synthesizing, sense of innovation, improved academic performance and leadership. Standardized testing, high-stakes national assessments. school ranking and no ability streaming are not just attributes of an imaginary ideal system, but features of an actual education system. I think the best system should have a minimum requirement for major subjects such as math, history, geography, sciences and maybe even economics (e.g. like how to manage one's money or how to pay one's taxes) or psychology (e.g. how to study more effectively or analyze one's personality). In addition, people should choose some options or more hours of the compulsory subjects. One great advantage of this process is the meta-cognitive feedback that the teacher is able to receive on her own pedagogical strategies and teaching in the classroom. When students are able to take charge in facilitating and giving feedback on their own learning, the teacher is able to use that as feedback to tailor her teaching to meet their needs. Teaching will be a constant process of facilitation and collaboration to achieve learning goals. What an ideal Educational System  actually looks like is complicated with that fact that there is not a clear consensus on the importance of being or becoming educated. While for many, education is necessary to attain their future prospects for others it is to gain affluence or titles, and yet some just want critical thinking, literacy or sharpened skill for creativity. Education still remains one of the most important things needed for a society to prosper and be safe, so therefore an educational system cannot be ideal if it lacks the attributes to form the intelligence as well as the character of the individuals. Research often indicates that student achievement is directly linked to student engagement, i.e relational connection with teachers, opportunities for identity experimentation experienced through play and socialization, and structured time and encouragement. This makes student interaction very necessary when it comes student success in the classroom. Now the question that many teachers ask is how do we engage students in the classroom in order for them to succeed in learning? Student voice holds the key for many of those questions. A classroom and a school that supports students sovereignty and voice often also works to engage students in learning. In a school where students know they have the right to speak out and be heard, to express their views and to become actively involved, the right to make a choice and to be involved decision-making it goes a long way to. This system is already the norm in most English-speaking countries, but is much less developed in continental Europe, where all students must learn all subjects, and can usually only choose to have a few more or less hours a week of some subjects (like math, sciences or languages). But they are almost always allowed to choose at least their foreign languages (the number of choices vary depending on the school itself) and some options not in the curriculum (e.g. psychology, economy. arts, electricity...). From my personal experience most recent research, I have come to the conclusion that the division of classes by ability is a more efficient way of learning. But this should be done only on that ground that the administrative bodies meets with the students and work alongside with their acknowledgement since their own voice matters too.