I was thinking about this the other day, and it really began to bother me. It bothered me that we spend most of our time, every day, until we're about 18, in a place that we have the courage to say "sucks".
Ever since I entered the IA, I don't find myself saying this phrase at all. I actually look forward to Mondays because I'm engaged in projects that truly interest me and I get to work with people who are motivated to work because they see relevance in what they are doing.
When Tuesday comes along, however, that phrase usually pops right back in my mind. I find myself sitting in my IB classes, either listening to one of my teachers talk for the full 90 minutes, taking a test, or hearing my friends say they are either bored, tired, or both; I understand why.
Two days ago I discovered something...
School can actually be F U N.
The catch?
A lot of the times it's up to us to make it fun.
About two weeks ago in my Bio class, we were told that we had to design a lab about cellular respiration that was going to be sent to the IB. Most people choose to search for examples of labs and do something similar to what they found online, and that's what I was going to do as well until I thought of something a little bit different.
I made bread!
What I'm really trying to say is not that I learned about the process of anaerobic cellular respiration, but that I learned about it by doing something that I really enjoyed. We often stick to the ideal that school is boring, but we don't do anything to make it any more F U N. I know the curriculum is very structured, at least it is at the DP courses in my school, but why not break that structure in a sense, and write Biology lab reports that explore the chemistry of bread making? Why not write Math Internal Assessments that find our probability of accuracy in scoring a goal during a soccer match? School can be fun, but we can't expect the F U N to simply come to us.
I know it's a lot easier to stick to the norm, to do a Biology lab that has already been done before, and that you know will work, but I urge you to take the next opportunity you have in class to make school F U N. It may require some extra time, I took about 4 hours making my bread, but I had a much better time than I would have had by simply watching anaerobic respiration occur in test tubes. Plus, I have lots of bread to enjoy of for the next few days! :)