(Pixabay)

While structured classes may seem effective at improving test scores and maintaining order, they harm students’ long-term learning and development. This debate is even more relevant as Houston has recently shifted to a new educational system based on strict schedules and curriculums.

Houston’s new strict schooling model, although it seems effective at boosting schools’ state ratings, is unhealthy and harmful to the students because its in-class tasks are timed down to the second and expect students to comply with strict behavior rules, teaching them only from a closely-followed district curriculum–which kills creativity and students’ love of learning, harming them in the long run.

Teachers should not focus on getting through a set amount of material every day, using timers and strict start-and-stop times to control their students’ pace. Instead, they should focus on teaching the material well, one part of which involves fostering a love of learning and creating a learning environment with choices, not strict rules. 

Additionally, making the goal for learning by getting through a predetermined amount of material rather than understanding only defeats the entire purpose of schooling, which is to prepare students for future and real-world problems. Fully-planned out classes enforced with timers and punishments stifle curiosity, leaving students with no opportunities to explore or ask relevant questions that allow them to understand the material better. 

Although proponents of this new model point to the increased state ratings for individual schools following the implementation of this system, the case of whether it is good or bad is not as simple as a rating going up. The purpose of schooling isn’t to shove as many facts and memorize as many formulas as possible. It’s to foster a sense of creativity and curiosity as well as teach students the importance of resilience and hard work. This new system kills those core values that a school should hold, as the restrictions and lack of freedom or time to explore will make students hate learning. 

We won’t know whether this system is beneficial towards learning until we observe the current students and their contributions and actions as adults in society. Yet, I have faith in the traditional teachings of school: hard work, perseverance, curiosity, and creativity. That’s why Houston’s new schooling model is both harmful and unhealthy for the students involved and that schools in general should not revolve around highly structured classes.