The world needs a little imagination.
Having a strong imagination is definitely a good thing. Imagination has lead to many great things in the world. Many inventors imagined working gadgets that seemed impossible to build in their day. But they did it. They created the seemingly impossible machines they had fantasized about. Artists and authors also use their creativity and imagination to make beautiful pieces of work. The world would be a different place without imagination. I personally think everyone should use their imagination and creativity as much as possible. But traditional schools have begun to limit generation’s use of creativity and imagination through their teaching methods. Since imagination is a way of expressing oneself, our generation may go into the world without the creativity they may have been born with. When someone sits in for a lecture for hours every year, their ability to imagine and think out of the box slowly ebbs away. There was once a time when I wasn’t able to use my imagination as I’d have liked to. Every day seemed to be the same as the day before.
My old high school was a traditional school. It had over 2000 students walking its halls, and the freshmen class was made up of about 500 students. Each class contained around 30. By the end of the day, each teacher had lectured around 100 kids. I was one of those 2000 students flooding in the classrooms. Each day the teachers lectured straight from the textbook. The teachers would drone on and on and on, and it wasn’t soon before the entire class spaced out. They’d write on the board with their backs to the class, and they really didn’t care if you listened or not. Homework and class work
were straight out of the books, so it almost felt as if the teachers weren’t teaching.
The worst thing about the teaching style was the projects. In a way, projects were the most exciting things we did because they were a break in our routine. But they were the least bit fun. For the
projects, the teachers gave out a detailed outline and what the end product should look like. So it required very little thinking on the student’s part. The most exciting project I did was create a
PowerPoint presentation on Newton’s Laws and the forces of physics. This project required absolutely no imagination or creativity, and everyone’s PowerPoint looked the same in the end. I didn’t learn anything that wasn’t already in the textbook. Every class was the same; none required any creativity or imagination. I began to get bored of every class and every teacher. Then halfway through freshmen year, I switched to High Tech High.
I noticed straight away that High Tech High was a completely different school. There were no textbooks, the classes were small and interactive, and the teachers seemed like they genuinely cared about my education. The biggest difference was the way the teachers taught. There wasn’t a lecture every day. Instead, there were plenty of open-ended projects, and some projects really put my imagination to work. For science class at High Tech High, we learned about Newton’s Laws by building a mini foam roller coaster. I could’ve designed the coaster anyway I wanted to, just as long as it worked. I also built a projectile launcher out of household items. Again, the design was completely up to me. I would’ve never done these types of projects at the traditional high school.
At High Tech High, I can actually use my imagination to complete projects. And this is the biggest difference between my two high schools. I know that I’m learning so much more, and I actually don’t get bored in my classes. With High Tech High’s learning style, I’m most likely to have a brighter future. If all schools were to teach their students how to use their imagination, maybe the students would be more innovative. The world needs a little imagination. And the best place to start stretching imagination would be in school.