Factory model of education
This video embodies exactly what I used to think of education. I thought teaching was the transferring of information from the teacher to the student. Many of the schools I went to embodied the factory model - we were processed in batches, and our classrooms were set up so that all the desks were in rows that faced the teacher, which resulted in an obvious hierarchy. I agree with this video that we should be moving away from this model of education.
lack of creativity
I felt that mostly in junior high and high school, there was little room for creativity. For example, I remember writing an English quiz in grade 11 about a novel. Now, the teacher had a specific opinion about the novel. If your answer did not support her opinion of the novel, then your answer is wrong. Everything was mostly "here is the information, now tell me back the information that I just told you".
surface learning
Most of the time, I don't really understand what I learned. This was evident to me when my pragmatics instructor asked the questions: "What does it mean to carry the one in addition?" and "What does the equation a^2 + b^2 = c^2 really mean?". Since I'm not really understanding what I'm learning, the information does not commit itself into my long term memory, thus making it easier to forget after the test was over.
standardized testing
Writing exams were a big part of life - its all that I ever study for. Like the image above implies, I also feel that exams don't account for diversity. I believe that there is more than one way to tell if a child is learning. I think that regular and consistent assessment of the child is a more effective approach. When I become a teacher, I want to assess my students in unconventional ways. I don't want a grade to define who they are.