I really feel like they let me down on more personal skills. It took me a long time to learn that most people deserve the benefit of the doubt and that I can’t judge a person based on one thing I don’t like about them. I still feel like I have to put a lot of effort into being as sociable as I want to be, and I don’t think I’ll ever be as bold and adventurous as I want to be.

It’s really hard to determine whether these are failures of the school or not. My parents probably played a larger role in who I became, and maybe I’m just upset that I’m not exactly who I’m supposed to be (maybe that just means I should be disappointed that my schools didn’t instill more confidence and self-worth). I suppose to be scientific I’d have to develop what fair criteria for success would be for “helping me reach my potential”, then judge the schools against that.

I was thoroughly impressed during a recent visit to one such school which I blogged about at http://tinyurl.com/IslandSchool. Though this particular school is K-8, the lessons observed are applicable for high school and beyond. It was remarkable and impressive to experience a school where all children actively and authentically pursue, discuss, develop and discover their talents and where each teacher is aware s/he is in a school full of remarkably and uniquely talented students.

I wonder what are they tinking of school?

Happy New Year from Québec Will and others…

Not sure if we have met. I’m currently Principal at Elsternwick Primary School.

Mark Walker
http://www.mwalker.com.au

Students become apathetic when they are discouraged, when they feel like failures, when they give up. This is caused by a variety of factors. Good teachers do try, and are sometimes successful reaching these students, but often the overriding negative societal influences are too powerful. Some students do not see the relevance of their school experience and when these students attend inadequate schools they become even more disconnected, frustrated, and unsuccessful. A vicious cycle. I read a statistic tonight: When interviewed later in life, 88% of dropouts report that they had passing grades in high school. (Kappa Delta Pi Record, Winter 2009) What a shame they dropped out then…

I get what you’re trying to say here. I do. I am an educator of nearly 20 years, married to a hotshot educator of 5 years.

However- these generalizations (whether they be about troubled kids or advantaged kids) do little to help any of us on the ground level. They do characterize the scope and nature of the issue. But I would bet that most teachers would want to do more than just “hold true to the statistics.”

I promise you… that my dad of likely $40,000 when I was in grade school (mom raised us on the homefront) got way more than this statistic for his dollar earned. I can also tell you that I would put my retirement on my daughters getting better than that with two educators as parents.

I know… I know. You are likely spot-on with the statistics. I can also tell you that parents could give a damn less about a statistic. Administrators… even technology experts… can play around with such numbers. While they have their purpose for “stage one” thinking and planning… they don’t do one damn thing for a kid sitting in either your living room- nor your classroom.

I get it- there are always “exceptions.” But what I would argue is: ALL kids are exceptions in their own way.

I do agree on the kind of product delivered by all elite schools. They tend to offer a high-end peer group, but not necessarily the best environment for a rich education for all kids.

Sean

For me, the assessing questions would be for the students. What do you think about schools? What connections are you making between your learning and your life? Do you feel ready for the choices that you have ahead of you?

Which school are you at? Have we met?

Gary

As a principal I know my messages have changed over time [I do about 20 tours per year]. I mention high academic scores, inquiry learning focus, special programs [sports, music, art tec..], student well being, but I think my main message for parents and teachers alike is the challenges of 21st learners – if we are not challenged we are not listening.

As a parent I want to hear about teacher high expectations, support systems for leaners [e.g. relationships with adults], safe learning environments, additional programs that will engage teenagers [e.g. they have a camp to central Australia], approachability if things go wrong and finally that they have made friends.

I don’t expect my students to achieve high academic standards without study, perserverance etc… and the school supoporting them with quality instruction, high expectations, challenge and feedback.

For the most part this is all we can expect and learn to have a little resilience and cope with ups and downs.

Thanks for the post.

We require everyone to be prepared for college and I think this a good thing. As a dyslexic student I was tracked into a vocational program that my parents could only get me out of by putting me in a private school. I know first hand tracking is not a good thing but I also know students whose interests are not academic who would like more freedom to pursue those interests.

This can be very difficult to do in an educational environment driven by standardized tests. I think most of the teachers I work with (I’m in the English Department so those are the teachers I see) are fine teachers and there are some that are absolutely exemplary. But the comments made at the holiday party reveal most everything, I think. We are driven to teach to tests because those that run the schools think nothing is more important than PSAT scores, than having a lot of AP classes in which students do reasonably well, and of course doing well on the state standardized tests required for graduation (ours is MCAS). Teachers spend so much time teaching to these tests because it is the primary criteria by which they are assessed.

There are only so many hours in the day and I think many of the problems of modern education have more to do with time than money. Money is needed to get schools where they need to be technologically (a very expensive proposition especially in light of how quickly the technology becomes obsolete). But paying a teacher $100,000 plus (not that I would object of course) will not put two or three additional hours into a day.

Most people want to feel good about the work they do so they do the kind of work that is going to be acknowledged as good work. To change this we have to change the way those that run schools look at education and the people that educate. I have always loved learning (perhaps in part because those in authority when I was a child wouldn’t let me). I would like to think most of my students share that enthusiasm or could be brought to the place where they contract that enthusiasm.

Cordially,
J. D.