The problem with school today is the pace in which we need to learn everything.

We fly through classes like math and history, where small details are important and the switch from topic to topic is faster than the Road Runner can escape the Coyote. Sure, we know what we are learning, but for how long?

I realized while taking my history final today and reading my notes aloud that I already learned this stuff once, so shouldn’t I know it? The answer to me was clear.

I have a general idea, but off of the top of my head I cannot tell you the specific date and circumstances of some events — the reason being we talk about each thing once and then leave it from there, only returning to it once in our final test.

Something needs to be done about this, something needs to change. I take the time and put in the effort everyday I am in class to get good grades and actually learn. What I am actually doing is cramming details into my short-term memory for the next test and then letting the less important details go. This, in itself, is a problem, because everything is important. It may not be important to your specific chosen path of research and career, but knowing more is never a bad thing.

I am able to easily pull dates and numbers out of my head from subject areas I am interested in and enjoy learning about — and let’s be honest, nobody is interested in everything. I can easily learn about history, but 18th century English poetry and Shakespeare? No way. The reason is I have no interest in these topics. A solution, I believe, would be to make classes more enjoyable and engaging in a way that not just those interested in the topic will retain all that is learned in class.

We need to be asked questions and tested on things that relate to our everyday lives, rather than impossible made-up scenarios that make no sense. One of the worst ruts to fall into in education is the “How does this apply to me?” rut. This is the most common complaint I hear from my friends. In all of my classes, we are given questions that are silly and sometimes comical in some sort of attempt by the author of the textbook to get us engaged by way of humor. This strategy does not work. When a question like this is found in math class, suddenly the material loses its value in a real-life situation because it is connected to an impossible scenario that we will never find ourselves in.

Rather than trying to make a joke out of what we are doing to get us more involved, make a serious question that has to do with real life. Questions like these have caused me and many other students to lose interest in what we are doing, and that will kill a student’s ability to retain the information.

The real problem is we are given a small amount of information and then tested on only that. Then the next chapter rolls along and suddenly what we learned in the last chapter is gone. This teaches us to learn a lot and cram for the test, with no regard for what happens to that information afterward. We need to continually use all of what we learn throughout the entire year. Not only that, we need to be taught in a way that is engaging enough for us to learn it.

What’s the point in learning something for a month and then forgetting it?

— Kyler Lacey is a Kingston High School junior participating in Running Start at Olympic College.