Temporality and Education

The purpose of education must be more than just academic learning. It must be liberal and also cultivate individual character, towards the ideal of bildung. While academic knowledge is important, such knowledge would be useless (and perhaps even dangerous) if handled imprudently. Effective education should develop a clear sense of responsibility in students, which will allow students to eventually give back to wider society in a considerate way. However, a sense of personal responsibility cannot be developed within the rigidity of our contemporary experience of time at school—postindustrial time—where there is no room to make your own choices and learn to take responsibility. 

The Foucauldian feminist philosopher Cressida Heyes writes in her book Anaesthetics of Existence, “postindustrial time…is clock time: we show up to work at 8.30 a.m. every Monday through Friday…the vagaries of daylight hours, harvesttime, or a sick child are not worked into the schedule of most jobs.” At my school, students are governed by a strict schedule of timetabled lessons which must be followed to the minute. This vestige of the Industrial Revolution, postindustrial time, acts as an immovable mover of student life. Time itself is used as a means of oppression, and this must be combatted.

Students should be allowed to freely and flexibly choose their own timetables and lessons. With this, students will be able to escape the confines of postindustrial time, and at the same time, be taught to confidently accept responsibility for their own choices. This change will be beneficial not only because it can let students grow into responsible citizens, but also because it better allows the diverse strengths of each individual student to flourish, and hence also better account for differences between students. By allowing students to decide their own educational path starting from high school, students will be able to focus on elevating their own unique talents to the fullest, and not be molded into mundaneness by a set curriculum. Moreover, at university, students must make their own decisions about their education—so why not start this earlier at high school? Therefore, this change will not only bring out the best in every student, but also make them ready for life in higher education. 

Despite this, parents of students may be negatively affected by this change. Parents who work full-time day jobs may struggle to integrate their children’s new totally free school schedules into their fixed work schedules. For example, if a parent has to drive their child to school before heading to their 9-5 job, then it would not be feasible for the child’s school day to begin after 9. In response to this, my proposed change could be adjusted: starting and ending times for the school day will be set in place, but students will still have the freedom to determine their schedules however they like between the starting and ending times. While setting starting and ending times in place does bring back an aspect of postindustrial time, this change would still be better than a school day where everything is totally set in stone and structured by postindustrial time. 

Another possible concern from both parents and teachers would be that they may not trust children to make responsible decisions about their own education. Decisions regarding education carry great weight, as they have the potential to change the entire trajectory of a student’s future. A university student may be mature enough to make choices about their educational future, but some may think that high school students do not have this level of maturity. However, this concern can be alleviated if professional counselors are paired with every student to help them decide on the best curriculum choices for themselves. These counselors can ensure that students are picking the classes that will best fit their natural abilities and gifted areas. This implementation of personalized counselors will inevitably reduce students’ responsibility for their own educational choices, yet similar to the previous concern, this will still be better than students not learning to take any responsibility for their education at all. Besides, introducing students to partial responsibility in high school will serve as a great stepping stone to university life (where there will be full responsibility). 

In conclusion, one change I would make would be to allow students at my high school to be granted the opportunity to plan out their own educational paths, albeit with some restrictions on their freedom. This will develop their personal qualities, refine their individual talents and prepare them well for higher education.