Progression is a gradual process to different development stages.

Does the current education system offer that? If not, whose responsibility is it?

I hesitantly take on this subject as I resist the need to progress myself often. Progression is the only way to follow the Yellow Brick Road to wherever you want to go. Unfortunately, with no crumbs to follow, many of us lack guidance on exactly how to allow time and space for progression.

From schools we are always given a natural progression route to University from which we take on the working adult world. We are expected to have learnt how society works in general without having been given the learning. From cradle to the being thrown out to total independence without the necessary skills. Academia is the solution to society’s needs; all life has been created around this concept.

What happens to the non-academic individuals?

As a society, we have labelled most that don’t hold an academic certificate uneducated. But what does that mean in real terms? Can’t anyone be educated in life without attending school?

As I have found out from personal experience, the people without the certificates are often more streetwise and more clued on about the mechanics of life. This is because they have not had the cotton wool around them that hinders progression. They have had to learn the hard way, which is always the more realistic way.

Most millionaires start in market stalls such as this. There is something about learning on the job that progresses one faster. The theory is great; but the practical side is what we need more in the real world.

Cost of a system that doesn’t encourage progression

I was brought up in a strict education system where a piece of paper was king. But to my awakening, after all those years toiling for that piece of certificate; it was not worth the paper it was written on. I suddenly found out that there was no job guarantee and I had to find a means to support myself. What really shocked me was how `green’ I was about how things worked in the real world. Everything I was taught or I had learnt in passing mostly worked in an imaginary world.

A world where people with degrees are except from jobs such as cleaning. But where was the progression if you hadn’t learnt to clean, make tea, socialise in a work environment etcetera before you walked into your dream job?
The education system is a fallacy to a large extent if it does not teach young people life skills. Without progression there is no growth and without growth there is stagnation. I feel this is the main reason we have generations willing to absorb media output both in material form or information form without questioning their part in the whole scheme of things.

Because they have not gone through progressive growth, they accept everything without question.
They have not learnt to fall and get up, hence think on their feet. They have insurmountable amount of information to consume and theirs is a world of consumption without consequence.
They do not have the patience to do the work needed for their development. They are waiting for someone to hand whatever it is they are after on the plate ready for consumption.

What do we do about it?

There is always something we can do both at an individual level and society level. I always tell parents that educating our children should be first our responsibility, not the state’s. I live in an area in UK where a lot of parents have taken children out of schools for home schooling. Because too many of them were doing it, the state has decided to make it harder by not allowing these children to sit the same exams as their peers in main stream education.

Chores at home can make children great contributors to society

As a parent working in education, I suggest that the work we do at home builds the best building blocks for the child to progress faster. For example, if they are taught how to read, basic maths through play or baking, life skills such as personal care, general manners and independent thinking etcetera; they are more likely to do academia as rounded individuals than puppets.

Child baking; Learning how to measure and calculate ingredients

They will be able to question ideas rather than accept whatever is being fed to them. They will have a general view of who they want to be and what makes them unique as individuals.
What I am really discussing here is that as parents; we need to take the reins from the state and look at total responsibility for our children regardless of whether they are in a state school or home schooled.

Let me know what you think!