When the bell rings

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What does it teach a student to have most of their time directed by a bell, dictating when to change focus, attention, activity, seats or classrooms? Is it a subtle suggestion that you are not the governor of your own destiny? Does this bell directed life offer insight into how to go deeper into learning, uncovering your own discoveries?

Or does it teach you to wait for direction, not to bother going too deep, for time will soon be up. For you will soon be directed elsewhere by a higher authority over you. Does this teach you to accept that authority easily? Does the bell that rings every so often, teach you to follow the crowd, be directed, not to lead your own quest, not to question?

I wonder, when that bell rings, what is the higher purpose to it? If one is not entrusted to govern their own learning, what does this teach them about trusting themselves? When interrupted by a bell before going too deep, how much deeper learning can truly take place? If one finds themselves truly inspired to learn, and suddenly are told to move on, what does this teach them about how much their values matter in this world?

What if the next class “subject” has little relevance to you? How does it relate to you? Why are subjects taught in isolation rather than in relationship to one another in real life settings? Why are schools mostly in age segregated classrooms? How then is one able to learn from a variety of life experiences if they only have peers of the same age?

How are students to learn how to self regulate and be self driven if they are hardly given the opportunity, being told what to do for so much of their life? How is one to become independent if they are constantly taught to depend on instructions from an authority? What does this do for their confidence? How much creativity can come from merely being able to search for a predetermined answer, in order to be graded in a competitive pressured environment?

How are we to learn if we are taught not to question he “fill in the blank” test papers from rote memorisation. How are we to learn the art of self directed learning and the birth right of autonomy, if we are hardly given the opportunity to. These are just a few questions that enter my mind when I think of the school bell. What do you think it teaches? I’m open to learning;)