If We Seek to Learn, Our Schools and Our Attitudes Must Change by Paige Sumowski

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School is built on the foundation of learning. We wake up early, go to school, sit down for nearly five hours and listen, so, when we leave school, we can do more work and get a good grade. Our focus has shifted. We have turned to a number to represent a student's intellectual worth, have gotten caught up in the thrills of bells and whistles, have forgotten why we get up at five in the morning, why we listen to our teachers speak, why we even go to school. Our motivations and methods, while created to encourage kids, have gotten in the way of the real goal: learning.
When we tell students to study to pass the test, when we pressure students to do well on a final exam on the first day of school, while effective for provoking preparation, a detrimental motivation is established: getting a good grade. More often than not, when pressured into performing well on paper, students think more about the test on Friday, than what is actually on it, than what skills are required gain this knowledge, than what skills are required to use this knowledge. A student will take an AP class in something they are not passionate about, so they can earn college credits. A student will spend hours perfecting their knowledge for a quiz only to lose all that information soon after. A student will fear to make mistakes, despite their incredible contribution to learning (I, admittedly, being one of them). Of course, our teachers warn students against some of these things. I hate to say it, but this does not do much, especially with the way our system is designed. Especially with Parent Portal fueling the desire for perfect grades (whether from students, or, perhaps more dangerously, parents). Especially with the fallacies that only people in the highest classes are the "smart kids." Especially with summer itself, encouraging the idea that we only have to cram for so long and then we are free to lose all of that information.

 Even our daily schedules, even waking up early to go to school, can hurt our learning. As stated by the National Institutes of Health, "sleep deprivation among adolescents is an epidemic," partially due to teenagers' delayed circadian rhythm (or "internal clock"), but also due to early school start times. Running on little sleep, not just because of work, but because of how our bodies are built, it is a lot to ask for us to perform at our best early in the morning. Regardless of extracurriculars, regardless of new bus routes, regardless of teacher commutes, when it comes to our education, when it comes to the reason we come to school, it would be far more beneficial if the school day were to start later. As of right now, we have an unhealthy cycle: wake to work, work for grades, stay up late because we cannot go to sleep, and eventually sleep so we can work in the morning.

 Why do our policies fuel the very things our school warns against? Why don't our policies match the science? When can we stop trying to accommodate for the unbeneficial procedures and actually fix them to improve our educational experience? When can we stop saying "Oh well, this sucks," and start saying "What can we do to fix this?" When can we stop blaming only ourselves for our performance, for falling asleep in class, for failing a test we studied so hard for, and think about the other factors involved? When can we finally recognize what students need? When can we finally change?

 While the policies and procedures are largely created and enforced by administrators, students, it's time to take control of our learning, and finally speak up for what we need to do just that.



Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2019 at 6:31 PM

    As I was reading this, I found myself constantly nodding my head because unfortunately I relate to most, if not all, of the things that you mentioned. I find myself constantly checking Parent Portal because I'm stressed about how I did on a certain test. Let me make that a little more clear: I DO NOT find myself stressing about whether or not I actually learned the material. Instead, I stress out over what percentage I see in the grade book. My thought process is this: "If I do bad on this test, I'll for bad for a marking period, which means my GPA will go down, which means I won't get into a good college, and if I don't get into a good college, I won't get a good job". I also find myself staying up late to finish my homework, seeing that its 12:00 AM, then after finally turning off the lights, not being able to sleep because I'm thinking about how I'm not getting any sleep. School would be much more enjoyable, in my opinion at least, if we focused more on the learning and less on the grades and the tests.

    ReplyDelete
  2. DanielleSeptember 9, 2019 at 6:24 AM

    Great post and you are correct! I hate that students are in it for the grade more than the learning. Some high schools have done away with grades and they've seen positive changes. Imagine what that would be like!

    ReplyDelete

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