One thing I feel like schools don't recognize/focus on enough is the arts. From my first hand experience in being in choir all years of my high school life, I can say that because of it, I did better in school, had a way better experience in high school, and was just a happier person altogether. Singing is something I love to do, and without it in high school, I honestly don't know how I would've gotten through it. My last year of high school, they started doing budget cuts towards the arts which was completely ridiculous. Yeah, english, math, and science are important to some, but it's focused on TOO much. Isn't high school advertised as the place where students get to explore what they want to do with their futures and start training for success? Where students can be creative? How is cutting the arts supporting this at all?
Something else I know I would change is teacher to student ratio. Does it make sense to jam 30 students in a class with one teacher? More kids would benefit with a smaller class room because that gives the teacher more opportunities to care for the students needs and when they need help. Everyone is different and for a student to get that individual time with their teacher on a specific area they need help in is very crucial.
Another area I would see needs attending to is thinking. Yes, thinking. I don't think we were made to be containers to be filled with information and just memorize it. We were made to expand our minds and to think outside the box! I can't tell you how many times I crammed last minute for a test, get a good grade on it, then forget everything the next day. (Banking Method)
What is high school for? High school is an
educational program to get you ready for your adult life and future career
choices. Not only that, it’s a place where students find themselves and to be
creative. If this is true, then why do so many students drop out or feel like
they benefit so little from high school? Is graduation one of the greatest
moments of your life because you’re finally moving on to bigger and better
things or because you can finally stop coming to high school? If I were to
change high school, I would make it so kids would actually want to go and would
benefit greatly from it. With improving the school system to match more of the student’s
personal interests and cater to their creativity, there would be more academic and personal achievement. High
school would mean more to students then just getting a piece of paper stating
they graduated from high school.
The first change that should be made is to stop
making so many budget cuts in the arts department. High schools focus so
intently on science, math, history, and English. I agree that all of those
subjects are very important by why should the arts be any different? Aren’t
they just as important? The arts is the creative side of education, while science, english, history, and math are the more technical and universal subjects of education. During my last year in high school, the arts was targeted completely and was almost completely cut from my high school. Yet, students from the choir and band all stepped up and went to the school board meeting and defending the arts. If science or math was cut from high school, how many students do you think would be at a meeting defending it? The arts is a way for students to explore their minds and be creative. If schools were more understanding of students and didn't just fund math, science, english, and history, high school would be a much better place.
The second change I would make is the teachers. In order for classes to be enjoyable, teachers must enjoy what they teach. They must be passionate about it. High schools need teachers who aren't just teaching because they just want their pay check, they need teachers who are passionate and love teaching. In the movie Chalk, their was a particular teacher who didn't much care about teaching his students, in fact, all he wanted was to win teacher of the year. And did he get it? No, he did not. In fact, one of his students was more advanced than he was, and the teacher got angry because it made him look bad. That teacher should have put his student in an advanced class. Described as the "differentating function" by Gatto, he states, "Once their social role has been "diagnosed," children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits - and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal best." This describes how teachers don't push their students to their full potential. A good teacher is active in their students' educational life and is willing to go above and beyond to make sure that student gets the education they need and no the education that others say they need.
The third change I would make is the way school makes you think. Their have been so many instances where students will cram right before a test, get a good grade, then forget everything the next day. What good does that do for anyone? Instead of teachers making the students memorize subjects, they should be making students think outside the box. Of course, memorizing some things does have its place, but make it more than just memorizing. Ask questions that exceed the limit that expand your mind into thinking about things you never would consider. Instead of students being containers to fill you should make them seeds that need to grow. As Paolo Friere stated in his Banking Concept of Education, "Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor." This describes that teacher are doing nothing more than just filling a vessel, the students, and not expanding them.
The second change I would make is the teachers. In order for classes to be enjoyable, teachers must enjoy what they teach. They must be passionate about it. High schools need teachers who aren't just teaching because they just want their pay check, they need teachers who are passionate and love teaching. In the movie Chalk, their was a particular teacher who didn't much care about teaching his students, in fact, all he wanted was to win teacher of the year. And did he get it? No, he did not. In fact, one of his students was more advanced than he was, and the teacher got angry because it made him look bad. That teacher should have put his student in an advanced class. Described as the "differentating function" by Gatto, he states, "Once their social role has been "diagnosed," children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits - and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal best." This describes how teachers don't push their students to their full potential. A good teacher is active in their students' educational life and is willing to go above and beyond to make sure that student gets the education they need and no the education that others say they need.
The third change I would make is the way school makes you think. Their have been so many instances where students will cram right before a test, get a good grade, then forget everything the next day. What good does that do for anyone? Instead of teachers making the students memorize subjects, they should be making students think outside the box. Of course, memorizing some things does have its place, but make it more than just memorizing. Ask questions that exceed the limit that expand your mind into thinking about things you never would consider. Instead of students being containers to fill you should make them seeds that need to grow. As Paolo Friere stated in his Banking Concept of Education, "Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor." This describes that teacher are doing nothing more than just filling a vessel, the students, and not expanding them.
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