"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

To what extent do our schools serve the goals of a true education?

The dictionary definition for education is the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university, or an enlightening experience. I believe that education is the general knowledge we obtain and the knowledge we gather through experience. I believe that true knowledge is powerful. True knowledge is not the one where we fill our young minds with random facts or the perceptions of the world we receive that has been decided by society, but rather our own philosophical perceptions of the world. Every individual should have their own ideas and beliefs, but I feel as if education nowadays has demolished the idea of various views and beliefs, and has made life this complicated route of twists, turns, steps, and processes. Schools do not serve the goals of a 'true education,' instead they make it appear as if they are. Public education merely destroys the ambitious spirit. Students need to be instilled with the belief that "the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." An Italian philosopher by the name of Galileo Galilei believed that “we cannot teach  people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.” Galileo states that knowledge cannot be thought, therefore how can the modern education system, with inculcated teachers and an already set curriculum, encourage and advance the growth of knowledge and the birth of consciousness? Our knowledge cannot be rushed or be put into some system, instead it needs time, and it needs to be learned. Don't get me wrong, schools are doing an exceptional job trying to educate students everywhere, but maybe if the school boards and the government gave the school and the teachers an opportunity to express their own personal feelings, beliefs, and experiences, then the school system would not be in this difficult situation of  predestined learning. Schools simply cannot serve the goals of a true education. It is difficult to learn in school, because these schools continually organize harsh regulations and put too much stress on students and furthermore cause them to have psychotic breakdowns. Education takes real world experiences. One needs to take in their own perceptions, be well tuned with their emotions, and have the desire to attain and augment their knowledge. Without true education, the number of intellectuals and philosophers will decrease, and “poetry, beauty, romance, love” will stand no longer.