Why I Love Learning But I Don't Really Like School

So you want to get a degree? Seems simple, right? Everybody seems to tell us that it's what we need to increase our chances of getting a job, that it provides us with an opportunity to be successful, and will remove a lot of stress from our lives. Education is the key. Our parents tell us to make them proud. But, at the same time, what society tells us is: 'Sorry kids, you're either going to have to get a job or go to Uni. Oh, but Uni is probably going to cost you more so you'll need to do both. Also we don't have enough jobs for you'. It all seems pretty messed up to me.

I don't think we need to go to school to get an education and, sadly, sometimes, school actually gets in the way of learning.

The drive to question things and learn how they work is part of human instinct; walking silently in straight lines and sitting in chairs bent over a paper using no more than your hand muscles and brain is not. Humans are born with a drive to learn.

We need to completely reformulate our entire educational system; children need to identify and learn to use the abilities that they have been endowed with.

We need to learn how to learn: it is not enough to shovel information into our heads and have us dig around for it, to regurgitate it on the exams. The world we live in is constantly changing for this to actually work.

"Everybody's a genious but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking it's stupid", said Mr. Einstein. And it's true. It's how unfair the educational system actually is! Different people have different abilities. Why are we all being tested the same way? How is intolerance fair for people growing up? You shouldn't be telling kids struggling that they are failures for missing a year of school of their lives. You should support them!

Tolerance is the key and there's almost no room for it in school!

Ana Margarida Correia, nº 2, 10º L

Private Schools vs State Schools

Nowadays there is a lot of discussion among people about which type of school offers the best educational system: private or state schools? Because there's not a correct answer (it's a matter of opinion), I interviewed some people to know what they think.

It's obvious who answered what. Rich, naive and ignorant people answered private - maybe because they couldn't attend a state school; maybe they think they are superior and too rich to do it. These people told me all about the great facilities, the outrageous teachers and the quality of the students. This is all true indeed, but what people didn't tell me was the amount of money they pay for having their kids attending private schools or the coldness and antipathy of teachers and staff. Even though, I have to agree that the teaching is much more strict and rigid, there is much more discipline and order.

Not so rich people answered state schools - maybe because they couldn't afford attending a private one. They told me that the environment is very different, the teachers are sensitive to students because they are aware of money and family issues. They often help kids, not only by giving them a good education, but also by talking to them and giving them support. However, the teaching there is messy and sloppy.

I talked to Eva, a girl that has been through both: public and state schools. She believes that in private schools you have a minor vision of real life, they protect the students too much; in their world everyone is wealthy enough to have brand-clothing and new IT equipment, while in state schools there is more sense of reality and a global vision of life. She also agrees that in state schools the teachers are often better and nicer, very helpful to everything the students need.

There is not a true or false answer but I'm sure we all agree that people who put their kids in private schools are wealthy enough and ignorant enough to do it!

Joana Almeida Flor, nº 15, 10º L

Roll House

 What about to live in a Roll?

 There are some that have a dream: to live in a Roll!

 Is it possible, may you ask? Yes it is!         

 There are lots of roll houses, but they are usually in a cool dry place, to better conservation of the roll.

 We leave here the ‘How to make a roll house’ research:

 „First, they said, you have to dig into the roll. Then, you build a bed, chairs, table and windows. You have to be very careful with the door, as it has to be made of sugar. Otherwise, it will react with the flour.”

And there you are! Go out in the wild and bake your own flour house!

by Duarte Benard da Costa, nº 11,10º L