For me, my “education” with math was "when you see this: 5/73¥π7^t then you use 5-8(25&6)_9gh8/6 not 5&6(9!4_89) ok memorize it for the test.
Oh you want to know why or what it does or what it even is? No that’s college work. You’re in highschool, memorize it because reasons.
Yeah… That’s not how my brain works no matter how badly I wish I did. I need to UNDERSTAND not memorize! I can’t memorize seemingly arbitrary bullshit that has no explained meaning. My brain instantly tosses it as irrelevant information.
I find that the best way for me to learn is to learn the use of something first , then find that something . Exploring a problem and finding the solution is way more engaging than repeating a basic task over and over again . And unfortunately schools , at least in western countries don’t have space for those things . Its all cramming cramming cramming , which sucks , both for the students who are weaker in a subject and those who are better at it .
Students often reach for tools to bypass problems , not realising how useful that tool would be at understanding the problem . Learning becomes a chore , not something that one does for self improvement .
In the US this is enforced even more by imperial units , which put one more roadblock when students try to use what they learned in a way which has any connection to the real world .
It hurts , both being a student which has large voids in knowledge that is expected , being a student which is ahead of material by a large margin and seeing other students struggle with tasks , to me , simple . It hurts knowing how complex of a problem this is , especially as one notes its connections to the wider world , both how failures of the education system hurt our society and how society is not able to help our schools .
