So I've been reading and hearing a lot lately about how our public school system is failing our students. Failing to prepare them for college, for their future careers, and to become productive citizens. It has been a little discouraging, not that I ever believed that we had a perfect education system, I know that there are many ways we could improve. But so much negativity about education, and I had never really felt that before, I thought for the most part we did a decent job at educating our students. So I came up with a plan, ask the students! I wondered what their perspective was on this. Now I know that the students at my school may not be the best representation of students nationally, but they are the only students I really have access to, so they'll have to do for my little informal study.
Every day when my kids come into class I have a question written on the board that they have to write about in their journals. At the end of the quarter I collect their journals and give them points for their responses. So one day as students entered, this was the question they saw on the board:
"If you were to give our school a grade (A-F) based on how well it met your academic needs and prepared you for the future, what grade would you give? Why? How would we compare to other schools?"
Today, as I graded their journals I payed special attention to their responses to this question. At first, I was discouraged, but the responses got more optimistic as I continued. Overall the average score students gave our school was between a B and B-. Most of the students who gave our school good scores made comments about good teachers, wide variety of courses to choose from, good school environment, and school pride. Common comments from students who scored our school low were things like, "Not challenging enough" or "doesn't prepare students for the future" or comments about bad teachers.
Overall I would tend to agree with them. That's probably about where I would rank our school. I think we have a great school and agree that some of the positives about our school are things like good school environment, course variety, good teachers and school pride. But we definitely have some things that we could do better, like make classes more challenging or prepare students better for their future, and improve teachers.
That's a gutsy undertaking, but I admire you for it. It's good to know what the kids think, and I believe their input could really make the school a better place.
ReplyDeleteThat’s very Socratic of you. I would venture to suggest that most students aren’t asked that sort of question. It’s really exciting that you would make yourself vulnerable enough for them to give you an honest answer, too.
ReplyDeleteI wrestle with these two ideals that are generally in opposition to one another. The one being contentment and the other being mediocrity. The line between them is too thin and subjective to be any consolation. You know me well enough to understand that I am no champion of that inner battle. I’ll be honest, though; my experience is that negativity generally doesn’t bare fruit. Rose colored glasses aren’t my plight, but I would venture to guess that they don’t do much good, either. I suppose that the ultimate solution is to do what we can and be alright with the rest. That type of oneness with ourselves and our endeavors takes a depth of maturity that I do not, yet, posses. Gordon B. Hinckley often quoted his father as saying “Pessimists do not contribute, unbelievers do not create, doubters do not achieve.” There is a man who knew where to draw that proverbial line. Just two weeks ago in conference Thomas Monson said, “While there is much that is wrong in the world today, there are many things that are right and good. There are marriages that make it, parents who love their children and sacrifice for them, friends who care about us and help us, teachers who teach.” Even if taken out of a religious context, these ideals are pragmatic and mentally nourishing. They give me hope (which is necessary for improvement) when I would otherwise be burdened with the consciousness of our shortcomings.
wilson
p.s. I don’t want to omit the role of families in the success or failure of our public education system. What happens within the four walls of our homes should be considered with the same gravity. It is impossible to separate the success of the public education system and the success of the family.
As I have thought about the student perspective. I can see how it is important, and we must cater to that perspective, because we need to keep students positive about learning. I would even like to see student interests catered to more effectively within our school system. Your assessment is no doubt a good way to get the student perspective.
ReplyDeleteI like the assessment you did in your class by asking the students how they feel about our school system. Schools should be a place that students enjoy. We also need to direct more responsibility for the success of our school system upon the results that we see from the school system. What is the current graduation rate of our school? Perhaps we could survey our students after they have graduated to find out what they are doing with their lives. What kinds of jobs they hold, or if they are pursuing a higher degree. It also seems like our school system does not educate the whole child very well. We have leaned towards specific knowledge indicators, and have set aside the important aspects of building the character of our children. Our students need to appreciate their lives, and they need to appreciate the opportunity to learn. Maybe it's because I work in a middle school, but it seems to me that too many students have too little respect for other people and this wonderful country in which they live.
Ray,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your informal survey and study. I think it really comes down to whether students have had effective teachers or ineffective teachers. It is sad when you hear students say that they take a math test six times to finally get a good grade or that they don't really learn from the teacher in their classes. I heard these comments tonight from some of the boys on the basketball team I coach. It is great to hear about the great teachers and the things students learn from them. Somehow we need to help all teachers to be effective and have a positive influence on the students they teach.
Garrett
Wilson,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the last point that you made about the importance of family values in education. I was actually just having a discussion with someone the other day about this. I know its not always the case, but the majority of the time when a student's parents value education and learning, they will do well in school. But if the parents don't value education then the student sees no reason to do so. Its hard to get accross the importance of learning something when a students parents are high school drop outs. They typically don't see any reason to succeed in school.
We actually have a pretty cool program at our school which encourages first generation college students (kids who's parents never went to college) to get into college. They can actually take college classes during the school year and during the summer and it doesn't cost them anything. In fact I think they can make money if they do well.
Nice post. I have also been thinking a lot about our schools today. I love public education because it provides and education for everyone, Not just the rich. There was a movie that I have heard of that came out in October that is called, "Waiting for Superman." I have heard it tears apart public education. I definitely think that there is a lot of room for improvement and I feel like my school is working very hard to improve. One system of education that I personally like is the Japanese. They have a good mixture of private schools and public schools to create competition. Anyway, good post.
ReplyDelete