scijessreads

This post is going to be a bit different than most so far. But there was a time not long ago that TikTok was full of videos talking about how far behind students are in the classroom, and the reasons for this. And let me start off by saying, like many problems, there is not a singular issue at play but many overlapping and compounding issues resulting in the outcome: the landscape of education has changed. Even in the *mumble* years since I was in school.

What I can speak to is my own experience as an educator at the college/university level. I teach Biology (and related subjects like Anatomy, Microbiology, and Immunology). I have taught ages from mid-teens to early twenties. And as a whole, the ability of students by the time they hit my courses to think critically and comprehend how to solve problems that can’t be straight-up memorized is eye-opening. Part of college is learning how to take basic information and apply it to new situations, and this is where so many fall short. Knowing HOW to use information is just as important as learning the information itself, but this step is the one that is not getting across to the student.

So many times I am asked “what EXACTLY is going to be on the test?” Like, they can’t handle surprise, and don’t want to sit with the fact that I am not able to do that. Doing that won’t help anyone learn, it will only help them memorize.

So many things have been blamed: attention spans, the test-happy nature of education these days, inattentive parents, and yes, some not great teachers. But as a whole, we want students to learn. We want them to not just know the facts, but how to problems solve and find the information that they don’t have. It is a skill to learn how to ask questions and find answers, and it is one that gets quickly forgotten because it is hard to quantify on a scantron.

There is no singular answer to the situation. There hardly ever is, as nothing is as easy as we would like it to be. But the “state of education” is something that has been decried for so many years, and it seems as if we are no closer to any sort of resolution.