Our last blog posting, I asked you to think about the importance of studying literature, both in your life as a student and in your life as a citizen of the world. The majority of you expressed the opinion that, though sometimes boring and difficult, the work of studying literature can teach you important academic skills as well as make you think about "the big questions" in life. Only a few of you commented that literature was not important at all, and was a complete waste of your time. Some examples on this side of the argument were that Shakespeare, for example, never comes up in "the real world" and that studying fictional stories is a waste when you could spend your time reading to learn a trade or skill. Whatever opinion you expressed, most of you expressed yourselves in a clear and convincing way on the blog. As an English teacher, I have my own beliefs about the importance of studying literature; however I do appreciate the dialogue and the open-endedness of the debate on the subject. Do I think there is a "right" answer to the question about whether studying literature is important? My answer is "No," it depends on your point of view.
An underlying theme I found in your comments about studying literature is a problem with school in general. Many of you voiced the opinion that, in one way or another, school could offer you a way to learn that is more in touch with your own individual interests and goals. For example, many students suggested that students should be able to select their own books to read rather than have to read the same old books with which they find hard to relate. As much as I believe in the importance of school, having been a member of a school - as a student and as a teacher - for most of my life, I can admit that there are many problems and quirks of the school system that could be improved upon to enhance the learning experience for many different kinds of students from different backgrounds and with diverse interests.
Begin your comments here by stating some of your complaints about school in general. What if anything about school makes it difficult for you to learn? Then, imagine what the ideal high school education would be like (of course keeping to the bounds of reality here - I am not talking about a playground/amusement park/country club where you spend your school days playing Nintendo Wii and napping all day!). What would be the ideal high school situation for you that would allow you and motivate you to learn? What subjects would you take? What subjects would you leave out? How would your classes be taught? Your goal in this post is to imagine the perfect school, one that you still have to go to, but that you enjoy going to and learning in every day of the school week.
Your posts must be at least 150 words. Please check for spelling and grammar before submitting. These previous criteria, plus how thoroughly and completely you answer the question, will effect your grade for this assignment.
Due Wednesday 3/18. Total = 25 points
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There are some complaints for me in school such as the teachers sometimes over react to the school rules such as hoods, hats, ID’s. Then like at lunch the aides want to tell me to take my hood off when there are people outside smoking right in front of them. There is really nothing that is difficult to learn in school. I guess the ideal high school would be like a little motivation from teachers to the students to get good grades and pass. Also the classes would be a little shorter than usual and lunch would be longer. The subjects that I would take would be art or sports and marketing. The subjects that I would leave out would be chemistry, Spanish, reading. The classes would be taught with shorter length of time and work, also more motivation of the teachers because some act like they don’t care.
ReplyDeleteJosh Swift
My ideal school is a school with strict discipline and standard. I would like students to understand that the education can’t be underestimated. Some students take the class for granted but I see how adults who dropped out or messed around in their high school year and college year are now facing low paying job and living in bad circumstance. I seen some student yelled back at the teacher saying” I don’t care and leave me alone.” When ever I see this I think “how rude.” I am not absolute perfect because I read graphic novels in class, but at least I take notes and pay attention 90% of the class. Another complains is that I don’t have a lot of student to compete with. Since I am in regular class I didn’t expect much but I would like a completion in grade with a student who is smarter than me to measure my growth. I wish to be the best but without a greater adversary I feel hollow. Next year I plan to go higher level to avoid this problem.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I hate the most about school is how early we have to be there. When I get up real early in the morning I’m tired all day. When I’m tired, I can’t concentrate, so I don’t remember much that I learn in the first half of the day. Also, some of my teachers give me so much work that it seems that they think it’s the only class we have to care about. It’s so hard to keep up with so many subjects at once. My ideal school would be more like a college, you would take classes that apply to things you want to learn in life. I think basic math, science, and english should all be mandatory. But I don’t think learning a language or learning about history is necessary unless someone plans on visiting Spain, or becoming a World Civ teacher. I think most of what we’re learning now we’re going to forget in the future. So I think teachers should focus on what’s most important in life that everyone can use.
ReplyDeleteComplaints for me in school are waking up so early, too much homework, and not enough time to get to each class. I do not like to wake up early. The problem with waking up early is getting enough sleep. I like to stay up late to hang out with my friends, but if you stay up to late you will be tired when you wake up. I think that is why a lot of people drop out too. I also do not like how much homework we get. I have like 3 term papers do all at the same time. That leaves me no time for me to hang out with my friends or have fun. last, but not least is the time in between classes. The time you get in between classes is not enough. You get enough time to pass your friends and say, but then you will already have to be in a hurry to your next period class. That is my view on school. The perfect school for me is Abington. I do not think it needs anything due to all I do all day is wait for time to pass so I can get home. That is all.
ReplyDeleteJosh Sonntag
My complaints in school are when teachers are worrying about my hood hat,etc. I think they just take it too far sometimes and also the cell phone rules that some teachers have like one of my teachers cell phone rules s=are if they see your phone you loose 100pts of ctizenship no questions aked so that means if you accidently drop your phone thay will tak 100pts away witch i think is bull crap. and some other teachers just be talking on their cell phone in the middle of class adn i be like that aint even fair we cant text message our friends but they cantalk on the phone in the middle of class. the ideal school for me would be no cell phone rules and we would be allowed to where hats or hoods if we wanted to thats all i would want and i will be satisfied.
ReplyDeleteRay Edwards
Some complaints i have about school is Tests. I know we are suppose to know the things that we learn about and make them stick with us but i don't understand why we have to do an exsive amount of worksheets then have a quiz then a test on it. I don't see the purpose in it. Another is how there is no honors for eleventh and twelth grade it's either CP or AP. I also don't like the way certain ethnisties get treated catered to, for example V.I.B.E is for male African Americans but there are no groups or clubs for just German American or just Native Americans. My last complaint consist of teachers certain teachers do get to contoling over their students. They may yell at them if their not doing things the way they like them to but they are still getting the work done i'm not saying the way kids listen to ipods in class or the way kids talk but im stateing that some kids know how to solve a problem a different way then they are taught and they will stil get the same answer. My perfect school for my self would be to have homework and quizes but no test the quizes would be worth more but not as much as a test. I would still offer honors throughtout all grades. I would make sure all ethnisities are excepted in all clubs no matter what and try to have calm teachers and teachers that understand that not all kids solve problems the same way. The classes that would be able to be taken is your major classes math, english, science etc, he same options for electives, and for extracaricular activtivities it would still be open to anyone making their own club or group just i wouldn't make just teacher allowed to supervise it can be and 18 year old also.
ReplyDelete~ Shyanne Bruno
I have a long list of complaints about school but it is mostly the small things that just irks me. My utopian school would have teachers that help when you want it and understand what you are trying to say when you do not understand the material. I would like to have the electives that I signed up for instead of getting classes I hate and didn’t ask for. My utopian school would not have rules meant to annoy. Annoying rules like no hats before classes or being restricted to leave the library to go to lunch. I also do not like the library because it is so hard to get into. The library needs the ID to be scanned, as if there was no sign in system before, and it is also closed on the worst possible times. Unfortunately a utopian school does not exist. In fact the word utopia means no place in Greek.
ReplyDeleteMichael Zimmermann per1
School, to me, is easy for the most part, and I enjoy it enough that I still feel I should show up. There are some things about school though that I really do not enjoy. For example, Chemistry; Chemistry, in my opinion, is the most pointless and worthless class I have ever taken. I highly doubt that when I’m older at an interview for a job, that the interviewer’s decision will be based on if I know that Avogadro’s number is 6.02x10^23. Also, my chemistry class especially, doesn’t even learn chemistry. We learn that our teacher likes to yell and lecture us, and tell us that she doesn’t give a crap if we fail the tests. My Ideal High School situation would be a high school that lets the kids who actually want to learn come to school, and the one’s who don’t, just sit on their butts all day and have a job at burger king when they’re older. I think that if a student doesn’t want to learn, that they shouldn’t have to, so that the ones who do want to, can. I do not feel that it is fair to me, as a student, to not get the best education I can because someone who doesn’t want to be there, is angering the teacher, making them stop teaching. I think all subjects should still be taken, except Chemistry should be optional. In my Ideal school, electives would also count positively towards your GPA. Our classes would start at 9am, and we would get out at 3:20 like in Elementary School. That would make students more alert and ready for learning. The teachers would give optional homework, so that if you didn’t have the time, it wouldn’t count against you. It should be the student’s decision to learn, so they should be able to decide if they want to succeed in the class. If they want to succeed, they will do the homework, and if they don’t they will fail the tests when they come. That Is my Ideal High School.
ReplyDeleteKatherine Kushin
There are a few rules and regulations at our school that i don't agree with and I'm sure some others do not either. The one big thing that bothers me is texting. I think that its our choice if we want to text and be off task in class. When we are texting we are not bothering anyone or disrupting the class all we are doig is sitting in our seats minding our own business and on our phones. If we dont want to pay attention in class its our choice. Thats the rule that i think should be changed.
ReplyDeleteMike Murphy
There are some issues I find about school that tend to be a problem for me. One thing maybe when teachers stand in front of the room thinking they are teaching but actually are just confusing you because they are not being creative. Things that make it hard for me to learn would be my number one problem because I need things to be visual and I like things that are explained by sometimes a song to memorize or maybe just getting your attention by a picture always helps. Some other things that make it hard for me is when kids in the class don’t care just because they don’t doesn’t meant I don’t and it’s hard for me to learn when they are messing around or being a distraction. My perfect school I think would be a school 4 days a week maybe less. Not having to take chemistry and making subjects that interest you only be taking. I think kids should get the decision. I would take law and math because I want to be a lawyer and I feel like math may help me later on. The perfect school would be fun and teachers would have to sing for us to memorize things easier.
ReplyDeleteJaimie
My ideal high school would be small.I dont like being in a big school, its too buisy, loud and annoying. i would rather be in a school where there were only 300 kids. The classes could be the same, and the lessons too. I dont think there is anything wrong with how the school is now, maybe just how attentive kids are in classes, but other than that no complaints. i do beleive i had a lot of complaints in the early years, but if there were any they have already disapated.93 For the better of the school i would change somerules,like smoking gets automatic out of school susspension. i also feelthat way about stealing, anything along those lines. unfortunatlly school will never be perfect, but we can always try.
ReplyDeleteJaniice C
I personally think the little petty rules turn off students when there enforced. What I mean by that is not so much the excessive talking and fooling around, I'm speaking of the hoods & hats ordeal. If its not a disruption to the class or peers around you why can't your wear them. A student may have their full attention towards the lesson but as soon as a teacher tells them to take off the hood or hat it frustrates them because in their eyes they weren't doing anything wrong. Now since their mad they might not pay attention or start talking to the students around them, which is NOW causing a disruption of the class. I also don't think listening to music during classwork, not when the teacher is going over the lesson, is such a bad idea because some students work better in an musical state of mind. The classes that are available at the high school is fine, my personal opinion is that the electives shouldn't be taken so serious [[spanish, art, ect.]] . i don't think projects should be given, your just learning something different that's the purpose of an elective why make it so serious, because you could of just simply get a study hall instead. And summer school for gym is ridiculous, you can't be serious.
ReplyDelete~C.J.~
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cArL RicHaRDsoN
Work after work is what makes school difficult for me to learn I mean its jus way to much work. The ideal high school that I would love to go to would not have at a lot of work and not a lot of projects. The teachers wouldn’t be so uptight and then school might not be so stressful at all. If school was just a little more fun I think I would always go. And never try to miss a day of it. I would take every other class but chem. My class would be taught like any other class.
ReplyDeletebrandon boynton
The rules that i would want to change in schools are, i don't think that some of the rules they make are really nessisery. For example, the rules about no texting is pointless, i think that if the student can text and pay attention at the same time it isn't a problem. Also because there is that rules students do whatever they can to hide the fact there texting and don't pay attention to the lesson. A part of school that makes it difficult to learn is getting up so early, i have to wake up at 5:45 inorder to be ready for the bus at 6:54. If school started at 9 and got out at 3:30 then kids wouldn't be so tired and they would be able to focus during there morning class instead of trying not to fall asleep. My ideal school is when your able to come in later and the stupid rules that we have now are lifted and we have more personal time and were able to do things that make us comfortable and not get in trouble for it.
ReplyDeleteKelly
i think everyone needs motivation to learn and i think every student gets motivated in a different way. I also say that if alot more teachers like ms levin and mr rendine were around students would love going to class but then you get those teachers that could care less if you hand in your work or dont try to make your work day easier. but i think the ideal school would be that every teacher needed to be alittle more cheary and have more interest in there students education instead of throwing stuff on the board and telling us 2 take notes and not exsplain anything about the work just tell us to do it and do the homework behind it. the ideal school would be one were the students could pick all of there classes and take the ones they feel that are important and i think that if you still should have to take sertain classes but that you could take them on ur own picking of classes and not what the school makes u take.
ReplyDeleteBryan Mckay
My ideal high school would be a place where the teachers would be less strict about the things that don’t really bother nobody else but the things that really are important in life. I feel as though the tests that we take in some classes are too hard for some people to get so I think they should change the way they make the tests. The projects in some of the classes don’t make sense and they don’t give us enough time to do them either. The hall aids harass the students too much about nothing at all, I think they just need something to do because of the fact that there getting paid. I don’t ask for much i just ask for a little freedom to relieve the stress that everybody in the school puts on the students
ReplyDelete-Damian
I read Josh Swifts, Amber Stacks, and Ray Edwards. I agree with the general view of their arguements I mostly agree with Amber's though because I would actually like a schedule where I am only doing the classes that I feel the need to learn. Therefore not having as much school, more time inbetween classes, you dont have to wake up as early, and you probably have shorter classes. Which in return I would be able to stay up later, hang out with my friends more, and concentrate more time on homework.
ReplyDeleteJosh Sonntag
i think that i have many complaints about the school. it is pretty rediculous how the teachers react to things like if you have your i pod on i thik that you should be able to listen to your i pod in school just as long as you are doing your work. The same thing with cell phones if you are able to text and still pay attention in school that should be the rule. Also you get into so much trouble for so many things around here.
ReplyDelete- Tim Salley
I think there are many reasonable changes that could be made in this school, Abington Senior High School. Waking up early is one. I just think it’s stupid how early we wake up. We should have the opportunity to sleep in a little later, and I know it’s our decision what time we end up going to sleep at night, but I still think we should get more time to sleep in. Another thing that I think needs to change is the amount of time we spend in school, as in school hours. We spend 7 hours in school and I’m not trying to compare this school to my old school, but they are in school for 6 hours, and through students’ eyes, an hour is a difference. My old school, Calvary Christian Academy, is at school between the hours of 9am-3pm. I think that’s reasonable. I think the ideal high school would have those hours. (9am-3pm) Also I’d take out the class chemistry. I think it’s unnecessary to have that class unless you want to grow up to be in the chemistry field. That’s basically sums it up for me.
ReplyDelete-Danielle Curry
I think that there are many things about school that make it difficult for me to learn. First off school starts very early. We have to be in school by 7:40 and that is too early. School should start later, because then students would be more alert by getting more sleep. And if students aren’t getting too distracted by cell phones and texting then they should be allowed. Most teachers always say to put ipods away. Music actually helps people concentrate more because it is relaxing. The ideal school would be that students would be able to listen to music when they wanted. It would start at around 9:00 am just like elementary school. I would take math, science, and english as my subjects because I feel that all of those subjects can help me later in life. I would leave out world civ, because I don’t need to learn about past events in history for my job career.
ReplyDeleteJasmin G
Some of my complaints about school, is that we get here way too early. I also think that schools should be more trusting of the students, like honestly how many security cameras do we have. Kids are going to find a way around them, if they have not already. Oh and I think this school needs to back down on the little simple rules, like no hats and headphones in the classroom. If it’s not a distraction to the class then there shouldn’t be a problem. What makes it difficult to learn, is that those who want to be here, or at least care enough to learn and listen, don’t. Teachers spend too much time talking to kids, who don’t even want to be there in the first place. Luckily I have teachers this year who either know how to control their students. Or know how to go with the flow. Also teachers themselves…some of the teachers don’t make it a very learnable environment. We the students, know who we work well with, and what type of learning we do well with( i.e. visual, written, whatever way they see fit). I’m all for new ideas, as long as you know what your doing. If you’ve ever seen the movie Accepted then I think you’ll agree with me that that is the ideal school. The teachers learned from the students as much as the students did from the teachers. They cater to the need of the student, and not what was convenient. A high school that every student got to express themselves. Wither they express themselves in poetry, or tagging a street sign. Expression is expression. A high school that actually helped it’s students get to where they want to go in the future. Not everyone wants to go to college, not everyone is going college. That would be the ideal high school situation. I would take subjects, I think I need/want to take. Something that interests me, not something that somebody puts me in because I need that period to be filled. I would leave out the Academic accesses classes, for me personally they just take up time.
ReplyDelete~eryn