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| No | 29% | 181 votes |
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Add to FavoritesWhat rights do students have? What rights do teachers have? These questions loom heavy on the horizon of issues staring down our schools today. As a student in my final year of trudging through the state-governed school system, I take the time to reflect upon these two vital questions before I spread my wings and, as I fly toward the firey sun of college and independence, pray that my education has not left me with wings of wax. The balance of power as I have observed it over the years of my schooling is much different from that of my parents. It seems as though when my parents graduated, Icarus flew into the sun against his father's warning. Now Dedalus is the fool, for he made the wings of wax.
The teachers and administrators I have encountered have been sniveling, fearful beings cowering before the looming threat of being devoured by the bureaucratic behemoth that is the sociopolitical engine of academia. Egalitarianism, mixed with the chronic shirking of responsibility that parents so lavish upon their own children, has created a system that fails its very constituents as it caters to the indignities of well-meaning but ill-acting parents as well as state testing that fosters rote memorization over true learning. The students who have sincere desires for knowledge study on their own, which in and of itsself signifies the true lack of stimulus in a classroom swamped with studends who should be in lower-level classes. This is catering to the student, or more accurately, the student's parents, in an attempt to create a one-for-all system that twists the individual into a diluted, uniform product of a "politically correct" society in which God forbid someone is more intelligent than his peers.
Teachers are left powerless over unruly students who clearly aren't shown discipline at home. Even in my advanced placement classes, i have bore both witness and martyr to teachers falling beneath a barrage of bullets fired by oh-so-clever opponents of learning, students firing impudent remarks in an attempt to stall class and hopefully homework or turning deaf ears to outraged pleas for silence. If proper discipline is executed, then the school faces bad publicity and lawsuits it is far too ill-funded to stand against. In normal classes, I have suffered through learning at the pace of those who are, barring all attempts at political correctness, lightyears behind my own capacity. You say I boast? I assure you I do not. Though not proud to admit it, I slept through my U.S. History class last year. I passed it with a high B. Although I could say that had teachers not been so focused on the slower students, they could have taught in a way to spark my interest, I won't. It was my own foolish disregard for the class and lack of will to apply myself. Yet had the class not been so forcefully homogenized so as to protect the fragile, glass self-esteem of the others my folly would have afforded me a much lower score.
That Dedalus was the idiot who made the wings of wax, I believe, is an issue that starts in the home and leaks insidiously into the classroom. Never mind that Icarus was told expicitly to fly away from the sun. Although to the cynics it may seem strange, I do not complain if I fail a test or dislike a teacher. If I make any less-than-perfect scores, it is my foible and mine alone. That is how I was raised, and yet many children have not been so fortunate. While my parents never excused any failures I have made in my life, many parents wrap their children tightly in bubble wrap, offering protection from bumps and bruises, but never from the blazing fury of adulthood. As they rush forward with psychobabble about sel-esteem and hidden ability, wielding the sword of lawsuits and the battlecry of "Equality!", teachers are rendered helpless to encourage learning.
Greece has fallen to Rome, and its citizens are being slaughtered in vicious Roman blood sport undertaken in the Coliseum of politics and overprotective parents. Where is the student accountablity? Who alone has the courage to stand before the lion and fight? No, Johnny and Jane aren't equal. Johnny is average, and Jane is above. No, Suzy and Matt aren't both special education students. Matt is just misdiagnosed, and there is no justice when a condition as manageable as ADHD is lumped with Down Syndrome. No, the teacher never made Beth fail. Beth played videogames when she should have been studying. The national outlook on education and egalitarianism has set up a lion that serves no function but to pray on the children of our nation. The teacher is the crusader kept behind the wall, helpless to watch the slaughter. Please, for the sake of our furture, let them go to battle.
Learn more about this author, Kara Cain.
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No
There is a small town in Connecticut where it is so tough to get a teaching job the school board actually auditions teachers in front of classes. The students rate the teacher for effectiveness and likeability. These "grades" are used to determine who gets hired or promoted.
Instances like these are rare. Connecticut pays its teachers better than any other state and that's only one reason it is so tough to find a teaching job there. It also has some of the toughest standards for teachers to meet. Auditioning teachers is an example of a hiring policy that has veered off the road of high expectations and over the cliff of irrationality.
It is much more common for school children to have little or no control over their teachers or their school. I taught for 6 years in one of our nations most miserable urban school districts and I know first hand that there, the students had no power. Ineffective and abusive teachers ruled the day. Impoverished and poorly educated parents could do little to tip the balance of power in their favor.
Race and class differences are all about differences in power, so it's time to ask the question, have we designed our school system to keep certain groups powerless? Beyond the inner city, isn't the way we educate our children in the suburbs and rural areas just as oppressive?
The tragedy is that many people see powerlessness as a natural part of childhood, like ice cream sundaes or birthday cakes. When we grow up, instead of remembering the feelings of powerlessness and advocating for children we fall into the trap of believing that what we went through was actually good for us, part of growing up.
As a teacher it is my job to protect my students in instances of powerlessness. By law I must report suspected instances of child abuse. I cannot, no matter how spoiled or poorly behaved the child, over react in an abusive manner. That would undermine my role as advocate and protector.
In affluent communities the assumption is that children don't need protection. To the contrary, the best private school teachers on the high side of the income scale instinctively know how to protect their students from parents who spoil their children with lavish gifts and then are too busy to show meaningful affection. They help ground their students and give them a much needed glimpse of reality.
In any community you can find examples of students running over teachers. The more common occurrence is to see teachers using their institutionally backed power to control students. The solution is to rethink the student/teacher relationship altogether. It should not be about power in terms of a tug-of-war. We are not really at opposite ends of the rope. It should be about the kind of power that is generated in a mutually caring relationship. That's the power that creates good citizens and elevates society.
Learn more about this author, Nathan Munro.
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