Education and the education system are misunderstood or not completely comprehended by a significant amount of people. Today, education is almost reduced to students’ school life and academic accomplishments. Majority of parents think the succes at school means succes at daily life. Although we know that grades are so important for the future of students, can we ensure that it is the only way we can assess a student’s abilities and success? Does modern education system provides all the achievements a student should have?
In modern system of education, the students get most of their education in schools and they are supported with homework and some other extracurricular activities after their school hours. Depending on the education system of the country, the importance of extracurriculars changes. The time seperated for extracurriculars significantly affects the quality of the system. The freedom of students in both academics and off-the-school hours is also really important.
For example in Türkiye, which is a very multicultural and cosmopolitan country, students are forced to choose 1 of 4 areas. (Maths-Science, Turkish Literature-Maths, Turkish Literature-Social Sciences and Language) The students should select their field of study only depending on their exam which they will be asked questions from the areas they have chosen and their exam results. In this kind of multicultural country, forcing students to choose an area of lessons is nothing but underestimating their abilities and intelligence. This system sometimes mislead people about their future and causes them to fail at university. As the population is dense and cultures, lifestyles, and abilities of people differ from place to place, every single student should be assisted depending on their abilities and needs of people. This can only be possible if the system of education is shifted to a more person-based and liberal style instead of a collective and standard model.
On the other hand, there are systematically successful countries at educating people. To give an example, which is actually really stereotypical, Finland is a quite good example of this. The students are set free and not forced to do anything. The lesson is thought at school so that the students don’t spend their times dealing with homeworks and extra studying hours. The students also don’t have the concerns related to their grades. The exams and tests are prepared so that the students focus more on learning. Students spend a significant time doing sports and last but not least the students do not have compulsory lessons that they must take. When we take all of these into consideration, we can understand why Finland is so happy. The students are educated with patience and freedom instead of greed and stress, which leads them to become responsible and happy citizens.
As a result, by the comparison of the two countries in education, It can be stated that students are educated better when they are not restricted or forced to choose anything about their education. Students’ abilities other than academics also should be explored and students should be assessed depending on their abilities.