Test time. Listen closely; dilated eardrum. Does a vibrated creak volley in? Almost as if the elbow of the student sitting beside you has some kind of metal contraption gyrating out answers at a superhuman pace.
The truth is, he does. He’s carefully pieced together an answering machine through years of being conditioned in the education realm. This self represents the ideal students of Hays High; those termed “good” students or “hard” workers. These descriptions suffice, but a misconception is their intellect.
Some “good” students are truly intelligent, and schoolwork simply comes with ease, and they retain their intellectual freedom.
These aren’t my muses. I’m focused on those “exceptional” students who are truly just like any average student, except, with a willingness to partially sacrifice their lives for the good of the school and personal status. Heroic. It’s how the high school institution is mantled. Our school is one of many and only shines if its students are emitting bright test scores.
Why should we have to give away slices of life to those who have already chosen their puppeteers? We’re only seduced into the trade through an adolescence of a grading system, misleading status arrangements and the guise of our best interest perfectly aligning with theirs.
Why do you think we take the state assessments? It isn’t for our benefit; it’s for the schools. They’re meant to gauge our improvement and help improve our school’s future–a truly noble quest.
However, somewhere along the way, current students are left to take the fall for the good of future students. We really have no personal need for taking these assessments because they don’t have any effect on colleges, and yet our learning is poisoned with a curriculum designed for these tests.
Where’s the freedom of the teacher gone? In certain classes the subject matter deemed worthy of memorizing isn’t due to the will of the teacher, but to the will of those turning the cogs.
Free teachers to pass on their passions and interests. Allow students to thrive in learning through emotion and creativity as opposed to memorizing and tests.
"Why do I need to know this?” Teachers face this question consistently. If a student doesn’t feel the subject matter is important, then allow the student and his or her parents to seek alternatives.
Who has a better idea of what we need to learn: a faceless school board or us? Only we know what we value and should thus learn accordingly.
Those students who merely fix their minds on the plan aren’t teaching themselves anything aside from general knowledge and fostering an addiction to guidance. They are followers and shouldn’t be praised for conformity but rather encouraged to discover their education for themselves.
In our current state this isn’t possible and therefore the option I’ve concluded is to pull from each course what you choose to take, not what’s being forced upon you. I’ve done this to an extent, and have managed about a 3.0 GPA by choosing to get by with their guidelines but in the process not giving up my freedom in learning.
I don’t have the option of taking all the classes I’m interested in since they aren’t offered at Hays High and thus I self teach myself outside of school. Homework only imposes on my own learning, so why do homework I disagree with and which I’ll forget immediately?
I profess everyone should do what they love, teachers and students alike. Teachers, spread your interests with passion, and students, discover yourselves with interests instead of acting as the “good” student or “proper” teacher we’re conditioned to idolize. Life feels either too short or too long; your choices determine its tolerance.