Is classic school the best way of learning?

In first chapters of the book, we understand that Holden has serious school problems. He has been fired many  times and he never changed. We can say that he isn't à scholar boy. And it is the case of many people in our society.
But why? In my opinion, it isn't a question of capacity -most of them are very intelligent- but a question of interest. And that's why this subject exists; can you imagine a system of learning who would be more appropriated? A system who stimule interest?


An idea of mine, for exemple, is school were you work by project with an entire class. So you choose a subject, for exemple wrtitting a novel, and you think about it. One condition is to mix différent subjects.
Firstable, it's french, of course. But you can study the place where the story take place for the geography, you can study the time where the story take place in history, and you can add physical themes  (as in Jules Vernes books for exemple).
The next subject could be "building your own computer" and the next "what are the rests of the berlins wall". Every subjects are organised by a main teacher who chose a theme (history or maths for exemple) and the class chose the subject. Other professors come to add elements and help.
I think it would be a lot more interesting because you have to do that if you want to reach your goal and you see the utility of what you do.

We still don't know what was the systeme of learning in Holden's school. I think each country has a different system so maybe his was the system you proposed, we don't know. Perhaps it's just that the chosen subjects weren't stimulating him.
I went last summer in a school in england to practice my english and they had a lectur class. It's a class where a teacher is speaking about a subject during a whole lesson. I personnaly liked this kind of cours but some other people doesn't because the subject wasn't interesting for them. So it depends for each person. It's difficult to choose a subject that captivate everybody.
Anyway I also find that it's a good way to learn because the majority choose the subject (so most of the people agree to work on that and are interested by the topic) and they search themself about it. It is also more interactive!
The problem is that there is always at least one person who doesn't like the subject but if it changes every week or not a lot more, then it is great.

I agree with you, Benoît. In our society, if you want to success at school, you really need to have a lot of interest for each subject.
And I personally think this is pretty hard. Everybody has his own personality and his passions.
For exemple the "Travail de Maturité" is a nice thing. Certainly it's a long work but the topics are broad and you can focus on something you really like.

To get back to what you said, I know a lot of friends who are very intelligent but who just don't want to work. And that's the case for Holden and a lot of other people.

Anyway I think "Is classic school the best way of learning? " is a good topic to speak about.

I agree with Benoît on that point : If you have bad school results, it's not necessarily that you aren't intelligent. There are many ways to learn some things. For some people it's quite hard to stay all day long on a chair listening to someone else. The professor has to give his course in a special way to make them understand what he says.
And it's why private schools have been created: to teach the students in an other way and to help the kids, who are not like most of the the others, to learn nevertheless.
Some people like to learn things by theirself and, in a way, it's what Holden decides to do when he leaves his school. He wants to be alone and to experiment things.

Elisa, of course there's always someone who doesn't like. But it's also a life lesson. In life, it is impossible to make everyone happy (and is it really possible to make someone happy?) but in the system I imagine it will change regulary so the sad one will change.

Sébastien, yeah I think the "travail de maturité" is a good thing but it's very long and I know some people wha can't keep intersted about only one thing for a year. Anyway it is a personnal work and you do approximately what you want, so yes, I agree with you.
For the second part, I don't think there is intelligent people and stupid ones. I just think our system is more appropriated for some and les for others. I don't say everyone are intelligent I just say that everyone could be.

Simon, I don't totally agree with you. Yes classic school are goos but it says: "If you have money you can be intelligent if not just be stupid" Money is so important in our society, I think school shouldn't be link with that. If private schools were public (what a paradox) it would be great.
I hadn't thought about your exemple of Holden and I think it's a good one. I totally agree with you on that point.