Formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free

Essay topics:

Formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free

I partially agree with the statement for the following reasons. First, one definition of formal education is that the education happened in formal institutions, such as school. In general, when education is institutionalized, it is common to require a standardization of the contents that are taught, so that the education can be systematically reproduced, which is on of the purposes of institutionalization. In this case, the standardization of the education normally creates rules that need people to follow instead of the rules that follow individual's uniqueness. Therefore, formal education does not serve the purpose to free people's minds.

Second, since standardization is the critical element in formal education, the way of teaching knowledge is also standardized, which means little customization is involved to motivate people's pursuit of the knowledge. For example, one way sharing of the knowledge is still the mainstream in formal education. However, one way teaching, normally from the teacher to students, is difficult to stimulate students' active participation. Therefore, it is also rare to set students' mind free when no active participation is being motivated.

Third, in majority, seeking the correct answer is one of the ultimate goals in formal education. When the principle is to find the absolute correctness, it is hard to imagine that the freedom of people's mind is being considered. For instance, during the math class, the most effective way to calculate the correct answer is more important than finding students' own ways of calculation, though the later might help students to learn more about themselves as well as the math concepts. Thus, it is reasonable to have the observation that the formal education normally is in favor of the correct answers than people's minds and spirits.

However, there are different roles that formal education plays, and the statement might be valid if we discuss the formal education in another context, such as the primary formal education. During the primary school stage, it is crucial to build the foundation of the knowledge system for students' to further understand the advanced concepts in the future. Therefore, the formal education in this stage actually serves as a "Key" to the future education. By holding this "Key" from the primary education, actually set students' minds and spirits free, because they are free to explore more diverse education afterwards. In this sense, I would argue that formal education doesn't limit people's mind.

In conclusion, due to the standardization that is required in formal education, most of the time formal education does limit people's mind. However, when talking about setting the foundation of the knowledge, formal education does serve the role to open people's minds for future opportunity to learn freely.

Votes
Average: 6.2 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 423, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'an' instead of 'a' if the following word starts with a vowel sound, e.g. 'an article', 'an hour'
Suggestion: an
...cation in this stage actually serves as a 'Key' to the future education...
^
Line 7, column 691, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...se, I would argue that formal education doesnt limit peoples mind. In conclusion, d...
^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, first, however, if, second, so, still, therefore, third, thus, well, for example, for instance, in conclusion, in general, such as, talking about, as well as

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 27.0 19.5258426966 138% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 5.0 12.4196629213 40% => OK
Conjunction : 3.0 14.8657303371 20% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 16.0 11.3162921348 141% => OK
Pronoun: 24.0 33.0505617978 73% => OK
Preposition: 59.0 58.6224719101 101% => OK
Nominalization: 38.0 12.9106741573 294% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2410.0 2235.4752809 108% => OK
No of words: 443.0 442.535393258 100% => OK
Chars per words: 5.44018058691 5.05705443957 108% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.58776254615 4.55969084622 101% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.17035958191 2.79657885939 113% => OK
Unique words: 202.0 215.323595506 94% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.455981941309 0.4932671777 92% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 755.1 704.065955056 107% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59117977528 107% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 7.0 6.24550561798 112% => OK
Article: 4.0 4.99550561798 80% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 3.10617977528 225% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.77640449438 56% => OK
Preposition: 11.0 4.38483146067 251% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 20.0 20.2370786517 99% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 23.0359550562 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 52.3108736306 60.3974514979 87% => OK
Chars per sentence: 120.5 118.986275619 101% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.15 23.4991977007 94% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.65 5.21951772744 166% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 7.80617977528 26% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 14.0 10.2758426966 136% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 1.0 5.13820224719 19% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.83258426966 103% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.271495204699 0.243740707755 111% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0960927589509 0.0831039109588 116% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.071420188961 0.0758088955206 94% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.16331996678 0.150359130593 109% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0524174879145 0.0667264976115 79% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.3 14.1392134831 108% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 40.69 48.8420337079 83% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.92365168539 141% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.1 12.1743820225 108% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.27 12.1639044944 117% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.33 8.38706741573 99% => OK
difficult_words: 101.0 100.480337079 101% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 11.8971910112 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.2143820225 96% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.7820224719 119% => OK
What are above readability scores?

---------------------

Rates: 62.5 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.75 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.