Thoughts on Education - Part 1

A friend of mine shared a video. Its title named 'I JUST SUED THE SCHOOL SYSTEM!!!' and the opening sentences I heard was about Albert Einstein's quote

The video has a point, much like a TED Talk video I watched about the education system. I see that they have some truths in it. But I can't help thinking a lot of things at once to argue with their point.

When You Change Something, You Gotta Think the Overall System

My thoughts combined everything at once: Financial instruments, Education, Human Resources, and Governmental Policy.

First of all. WHY do we have ranking system? WHY do we have standardized test?

Although it's not connected, I somehow remember a financial product: Collateral Debt Obligations (CDO) and Collateral Mortgage Obligations (CMO). The first came up in a movie called THE BIG SHORT and the latter from a book LIAR'S POKER. Both, were written by Michael Lewis who previously worked as a trader in Wall Street.

Essentially, they resemble to piles of loans. But to ensure the safety of the investment, there are rating agencies that give their rating. Say, you can have a pile of AAA+ loans, or pile of AAA- loans, etc. etc. But my point is... sometimes it feels good to have a rating system - ranking system - so you know the product of your investment.

Then I thought... maybe that's how any ranking system valued. As long as we know who's number #1, who's the bottom, etc. we know who's good and bad. In other words, it's easier to judge based on a standardized system. Once you become comfortable with the system, it saves your time to evaluate something.

The downside? You can cheat. The rating system can be commercialized. This is a dialogue from THE BIG SHORT movie.

Mark Baum: Can you name one time in the past year where you checked the tape and you didn't give the banks the AAA percentage they wanted?
Georgia: If we don't give them the ratings, they'll go to Moody's right down the block.... Not our fault. Simply the way the world works.

Second of all. WHERE do we use the ranking system, or educational background?

A student journey. He entered elementary school, got basic knowledge he needs to... go to middle and high school. There, he got more advanced knowledge that better prepared him for... higher education. Here, universities look at his academic performances and possibly standardized tests (may it be SAT, TOEFL, national exams, etc. etc.) Already, eliminating system has been done throughout the journey. But why???

Because even then, you have to prepare yourself for... the real world. Your end result of 4-5 years of education will be used for job interviews. Employers will choose whom to work with, based on your educational background, personality, and other considerations. But point is... your campus name and GPA will be there for consideration.

Not sure if this is right or not, even when you're at the top level... some people might also want to know your educational background. Shareholders might want to know (I can be wrong in this, though). If you're in the politics... they will look at your career path but also your educational background.

My point is... you can't escape that the whole system depends on education.

If it really does depend on a lot of sectors... WHAT can we do?

That's the thing. I don't know. I myself love people based on how they inspire me. How their lives shaped who they are. Something that is hard to measure based on a system.

But let say you want your kids to stay out of the competition: maybe to finish high school and go to work... then you are very aware that his obstacle is to face this system. By the time he applied for jobs, or even to be in a relationship... some people will look at his income, his education background, etc. etc.

The ultimate hands that can control how education gonna go, is government's and maybe top business people. And not because individuals cannot create school. But because they can modify the whole system related to education (job field, teacher's wage, and others...)

Part 2