Being a teacher, it is frustrating to see all these attempts at changing education to make it better, and seeing the real problem ignored. The problem isn't with curriculum, or testing, or keeping teachers accountable. It is with too many students being completely apathetic or even contemptuous towards their education. If a student doesn't have a desire to graduate, how can you motivate him to think critically? He has already failed to think critically about the most important aspect of his life. If he doesn't graduate, his life is going to be miserable. If he doesn't understand something he is living, how is he going to communicate abstract concepts about about a hypothetical situation from the information in reading or lecture?
So how do you get better performing students? The first thing is you have to expect them to perform at a higher level. I don't mean hope they perform at a high level. We have to expect it. That means there are some real consequences for poor performance. If a student doesn't want to try, get him the hell out of the school. Maybe he can try a continuation school, or maybe he needs to be sent home for a year and see if he changes his attitude next year. This may seem harsh, but if you do it when the students are young, they can get a second chance or third chance and realize what they are facing before it is too late. As of now, we hold our students' hands right until the time they drop out and then there is no second chance.
More people suffer than just the apathetic student. A deadbeat student tears down everyone around him. Struggling students see there is no consequences for failure and they try even less. Many students will adjust to a middle performance ranking in their classroom. I see it all the time. There are many students that judge their performance in the classroom as compared to those around them. If they are sitting amongst a bunch of F students, they will strive for Ds. If they are sitting with A and B students, they will be forced to work harder and get Bs. Just today in my class there was an F student arguing with a D- student over who was dumber. That D- student took great pride in the fact that he was better than the F student. I think if that F student was removed from school (he isn't going to graduate anyway), the D- student is going to work harder and be a C student. He won't ever be an A or B student, because he is lazy and only wants to do enough so he isn't the dumbest guy in the room.
We can save the D students. We can't save the F students. They F student has a reward system that they judge far greater than their prosperity as an adult. For many at my school, that reward is drugs. It is quite common for a kid to be busted with drugs. Nothing happens to them. They have to promise not to do drugs and go to a drug and alcohol class after school. Needless to say, recidivism is high. For others, that reward is a boyfriend or girlfriend. Nothing makes a kid forget about the consequences of his actions like sex. Getting some, or the prospect of getting some can be overwhelming for teens. Since many high school kids live in a bubble where future job prospects aren't considered, losers can score. There are others that get rewarded by their friends for bad behavior and don't get rewarded by their parents for good behavior. This leads to a self destructive adolescence. Again, this is something that is out of teachers' control, and it would be best to remove these types of students from a school until they change their life enough that they can be responsible about their academics.
Sorry for the rambling thought pattern. I just sat down and decided to type something out. This is first time writing, and definitely a rough draft, but that is what most of my posts will be. Hopefully I will get better at this.
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