Education is incredibly important. This is indisputable and every student I’ve asked agrees wholeheartedly. Despite this, however, students are much less enthusiastic about school itself, or even the process of being educated.

Student Megan Cunningham says, “You know, I actually really like learning stuff… I guess I just hate, like, busy work and homework.”

I think this sentiment sums up the thoughts of many students. Learning is fun. Peter grey describes this in his book Free To Learn, saying “They (children) are little learning machines. Within their first four years or so they absorb an unfathomable amount of information and skills without any instruction.”

Essentially, that it is only natural for people to gather and pursue knowledge. But, when learning ceases to be fun- or when it isn’t learning, but busy work, learning ceases to be enjoyable.

However, despite this being the case, I urge students not to allow themselves to lose interest. more often than not, homework is put in place to help reimburse previous learning. The intention is rarely just to waste your time.

Jordan Palmer, another student, agrees with Cunningham, saying, “I like learning.” But he continues, “I just don’t think everything we do in school is always learning. A lot of the time it’s just memorizing things we can forget after the test.”

This is a sad truth. However, as much as our school system shouldn’t depend so ridiculously on testing, it is also the job of the student to take their education into their own hands. Afterall, if you’re going to sit in an uncomfortable desk against your will for 50 minutes, you might as well get something out of it.

So, I would propose to students who feel a Garfield-esque hatred for Mondays… and Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays (but only from the hours 8:15- 3:30) to try and look at the whole exhausting homework/busywork/incessant testing process as merely an obstacle. One that should not stand in the way of actual learning.