I agree with what you've said, in that people need to take responsibility for their lives. I was being a bit vague in saying we need a new educational system, but I certainly don't blame society for everyone's individual problems. I agree that all of us are infected by social diseases, whether we realize it or not. It is true that at a certain age, no matter what, people must take action in their lives, despite the circumstances of their upbringing.
Hopefully, more and more people will see the importance of designing a proper school system that will not only teach children morals and communication skills, but will provide enough teachers who have studied psychology, sociology, education, and the art of teaching. Also, willpower and responsibility can be taught if the proper teaching methods are used. I just think that the school system is going to be the best way to influence our future generations, and cut down on ignorance more and more, even if we can never be free of it completely.
We need charismatic teachers who love helping children learn, and who are creative in their teaching approaches, and helpful in getting students interested in the classes. Some testing could also prove helpful, so that professionals can group different students in classes according to their interests, talents, strengths, weaknesses. I believe in the power of humans. We've come a long way, and accomplished a lot, despite the amount of mistakes we've made.
I think the important idea here is to get a lot of people involved in designing a better school system. I realize many people are already doing this, but when I see kids dropping out of school, children in poor areas of the country without the money for class textbooks, adolescents getting stressed out from the pressures of getting good grades, shootings in schools, etc. I can't believe that anyone would allow this to continue.
I read that over 50 % of hospital beds are taken up by people with health problems which stemmed from high anxiety, depression, and stresses in their lives. I think Psychology is the answer to many of these problems. All these conflicts between people in social groups, it just isn't necessary. It just causes more problems, so we need to make an effort to teach young people properly, early in their life, when it matters.
I don't see how we could go wrong with atleast putting in more effort in the design of a new public educational system with modern human psychology in mind during the designing of the classes, teaching approaches, everything. Except in cases of abnormalities in babies, mutations, certain genes that were passed on, we all have very similar human brains. The study of the human mind, Psychology, seems to me one of the most important subjects in our lives. Yet, I don't see Psychology classes available in primary schools, only subjects such as Math, English, PE, etc.
Furthermore, I think our current system puts too much pressure on children to get good grades, during a time in their lives when they are going to be stressed the most regardless of school. The current school environment is unhealthy, teaching students how to spell, but not teaching them how to communicate well and get along, and not teaching them common sense, which a lot of people lack. Atleast important classes have been introduced slowly, such as Health class, and Independent Living, but these are hardly enough.
A lot of people might disagree on the details of what the ideal system should include, but I don't think anyone should disagree that we need more funding for education, and a system designed for the human mind, since we're teaching human minds. I feel that we're spending too much money on international affairs and conflicts, and the war on drugs for example, as well as many other things which are doing our country more harm than good. In no way would this be a complete solution to ending all social problems, it would just be a step in the right direction, at least in my view. A view which certainly is influenced by ignorance just as any other view can be.