Allegory The Cave

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, says former South African President, Nelson Mandela. While this statement is very true, there are a few caveats to this statement. If students do not want to reap all the benefits of education, they will not be as likely to change the world. In addition, the quality of instruction should facilitate learning. Also, students should be allowed to have fun in addition to learning. This allows schools to cater to the agenda of the student and the classroom rather than the school board, college board, etc. I believe that school should be about giving students useful information that they can use later on in life, rather than what is like today, which is a thoughtless
In particular, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave can be interpreted to be talking about the educational system. In this allegory, three prisoners sit staring a wall, in which they see shadows from puppeteers in the background. One day, one* of the prisoners is freed and forced to go outside to the real world. At first everything is so difficult to see and understand due to him being used to the prison, but eventually he understands that this reality is much better. After realizing this, he goes back to free the other prisoners, who immediately refuse, because the prison is what they are used to and they think the free man is the insane one. The cave itself can be interpreted as school, with the outside being the real world. The free man can be thought of as a someone looking to reform, the puppeteers are teachers, who just present the information and the remaining two prisoners can be thought of as the school board who does not really like change and leaves things as they are. This whole allegory opens up numerous ways in which our situation can be ameliorated
While sports can have quite a few benefits such as physical fitness, time management, and learn skills such as teamwork and cooperation, the negatives of high school sports generally outweigh the positives. Sports generally take a lot of time out of a student’s day, time that could be used for academics, hobbies, family, etc. In addition, there is a lot of pressure on students, which can be compounded with the academics. Also, injuries are very rampant in high school sports and can cause much discomfort, which can thereby affect the quality of student’s life. A study done in 2013 showed that there were about 1.35 million serious injuries because of sports. I myself am a student athlete and I have experienced all of the above. During the crew season in the spring and fall, I spend upwards of three-four hours at practice and this often leads to me falling behind in academics and very late nights. In addition, there is a sizable amount of pressure as it is every man for themselves and you have to keep pushing yourself immensely if you want to be on the best boat. Additionally, when I did track, my calves were always extremely tight and it would be an everyday struggle for me. Clearly, the negatives of doing a sport outweighs the