Focusing on Education
Food for Thought — By trench on October 2, 2006 at 4:49 am | 441 VisitorsI’ve been teaching elementary students for the last six years and I’ve watched many of my students grow from young adolescent children into bright young teens. It makes me very proud to see many of my students continue to succeed in school, but it also bothers me when I see many of them struggling just to pass to the next grade.
The biggest changes I’ve seen in my former students is their attitudes towards doing school work and towards academic acheivement. Most of the students I’ve talked to who were doing poorly simply said that they didn’t really care about their grades. Studying for tests and doing homework are for kids with no life.
Growing up, I always did well in school. I actually found girls with brains to be very attractive. Even when I had crushes, extra curricular activities, and other hobbies, I was always able to maintain my grades. Succeeding in school was always a top priority, and I did a very good job at it. I don’t know why my attitude toward school was good, but I maintained it throughout my academic career, including college. I think that my mother had a very strong influence on me, but then again, my brothers didn’t do as well as I did. Perhaps its my personality? Im not sure. I do know that I’ve always been very ambitious and willing to go beyond the call of duty to achieve my goals regardless of what they were. Perhaps this is the key. A strong ambition. A strong drive to succeed in general.
Whatever the reason may be, Im hoping to find a way to instill the importance of a good education to my present and future students. I’ve noticed that the importance of school work in the minds of many of my students have seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. Every year it gets tougher to teach my students because many of them just don’t have the proper attitude about school. Of course there are the exceptions to the rule, but the amount of negative attitudes about school in general has doubled in just the six short years I’ve been in the classroom. This is what I’ve noticed.
What must we do to teach the importance of school? How can we teach the value of a proper education? How can we implant in our youth, that success in anything starts with a proper attitude? These are just some questions to think about.
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I have mixed heritage of Chamorro, Filipino, and Japanese and I currently reside on the beautiful island of Guam. My interests include critiquing films, eating out, import cars, gaming, web design, MMA, and bodybuilding. I'm also a die-hard fan of both the Los Angeles Lakers and San Francisco 49ers. I hate bandwagon fans!
10 Comments
What you do is hard work. I’ve always said I’d never be good at teaching because I just don’t have the patience. I like to say something once and never have to say it again. Of course, as I’ve gotten older that’s changed. I have more patience to repeat things… but I still don’t think I’d have what it takes to be a good teacher. I may not have seen you in action but I like to think that I know you well enough to say that of all the teachers these students come across, I’m sure you’re one of those that make a good lasting impression. Just the fact that you care, comes across more than you know.
It involves a lot of psychology dealing with kids… and it’s even harder because what will work with one kid won’t necessarily work with another (of course this applies to adults too). But I have faith that you’ll get through to them… :D
I’ve got a massive post, currently only in outline form, for Education as a whole or as an institution. I don’t know when it will be published and given the influx of articles that keep supporting my view, I want to keep incorporating them, so it’s taking a long time. Anyway, I definitely feel for ya.
Speaking of tests, I gotta go take one. Later. :P
Like you, I always got good grades in school. A “C” was just unnacceptable to my mother and she made sure I never brought one home by making sure I did my homework (even checking it for mistakes and making me do them over), attending P-T conferences, and just generally being aware of my progress at school. If I didn’t meet her expectations I would be put on restriction of some kind until I improved.
When I came to Guam to live with my dad, he was a lot more lenient about school. Though I appreciated it at the time, in hindsight I see that my mother’s methods, however hard they seemed, were far better for me and it was because she was involved. I didn’t excel in school soley because I had a good teacher or a good school, but also because my mother took it upon herself to carry on when I wasn’t in the classroom. I think parent involvement really is key in a kid’s attitude towards school and their motivation to succeed and it’s not enough to just ask your kid “Did you do your homework?” at the end of the day.
@ Reggie: Thanks for the words of encouragement. Honestly, Im losing paitence. I may be switching careers in the near future. Its up in the air right now.
@Kyle: Im looking forward to your article. Sounds interesting.
@Josie: Parent involvement definately plays a big role in education. The last PTO meeting, only 8 parents showed up out of a student population of a little over 1000 in our school! I dont think its the key though. Its important, but I’ve seen so many students who’s parents try their hardest to help their kids, but it just doesnt do any good. Education is so complicated. Maybe its time we ask countries such as Japan what they do because they are so successful in the classroom. I think discipline is a huge issue too. Teachers can’t do anything to discipline kids. I still think that some students need a good whooping whether it be by the teacher or by the principal.
Have you ever read tito rolly’s blog? He is an educator as well and I think you would enjoy discussing the finer points of education with him. Here is his blog http://titorolly.blogspot.com
Having teachers like you care about students make a big difference!
Thank you for visiting my site and commenting. please thank Pink for me for having recommended my site.
I share your observations a hundred per cent. And you do ask valid questions. What must a teacher do to instill the importance of education? In my opinion, number one is the motivation that shall be used to make the student work. Just giving the lesson won’t cut it. The teacher must not only make the lesson interesting, he/she should show the relevance to the student’s life. Nowadays, students are plagued with too much distraction. Media, computer via the internet, malls, commercialism not to mention drugs, and I have not yet rubbed the surface. It seems to be a losing battle but we must do our best to make education work.
i have a four year old nephew who always refuse to go to school, instead, watch tv the whole morning… he invents several alibis just to keep away from school… generally, children nowadays are distracted by several media… tv, computer, gaming among others… parents should know how to avoid these stuffs or to limit their children… personally, i’d rather want my nephews and nieces play with other children than stay watching tv…
when i was able to do tutorials a year ago to two high school students, i appreciated teaching… it was fulfilling… i have this tutee who barely pass all his subjects, and if he does, it’s only about the passing mark… he’s got separated parents and maybe this has something to do with his effort in his studies… he doesn’t rebel only that he doesn’t give enough attention to his studies since he thought his parents wouldn’t even bother about his grades… he always forget what we learn in just an hour so i decided to alot more time to the kid at no extra cost… sometimes it even costs me our snacks… but slowly, he’s getting higher grades, more than he ever should have to pass all his subjects… thankfully, he graduated high school with flying colors… his ambition was to become an actor and singer, talk about attention…
True that, true that. Oh, and you get to hear this before any other blogger… my brother is passing math with a 79! Sylvan is paying off!!!
Congrats April. Im very happy for SHAQ
what a terrible picture! the one with the snake swooping in to eat the bird. terrible, but it cracked me up.